

THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD. 



[July i, 1910. 



carrying the rubber cloth to the vulcanizer. The cloth goes 

 under the varnish rolls, then up to the top of the machine. Here 

 it is transferred to a traveler that carries it into the vulcanizing 

 oven. The cloth then goes over the edge of the machine, and 

 when near the floor is ^ ight up by the traveler and a 



second loop carried into the vulcanizer. This is continued until 

 that section of the oven is full. The machine is then pushed 

 to the next section, and the same operations are continued. 



At the extreme left corner of the room is the door that opens 

 to the vulcanizing room, and as there is a fireproof wall between 

 the two departments the danger of destroying the finished cloth, 

 should fire break out in the vulcanizers, is practically nil. 



FRANK B. LUCAS. 

 Bri ceport, Connecticut, June 4, 1910. 



ANOTHER AMERICAN BALATA FACTORY. 



"TV IK growing employment of balata belting in the United 

 A Stales, in which country, by the way, this class of goods 

 did not come into use to an important extent until several years 

 after its merit had become recognized in Europe, has led recently 

 to plans for the manufacture of such belting on this side of the 

 Atlantic. In spite of the high duty on imports, it is stated that 

 at least $1,000,000 worth of balata belting is sold annually by 

 European manufacturers in the United States. These imports 

 are mainly from Great Britain and Germany. 



Announcement is made of a combination of German and 

 American capital for the establishment of a great balata belting 

 factory in the United States, under the corporate style of Victor- 

 Balata and Textile Belting Co., with the idea of putting up build- 

 ings and equipment, at an expenditure of $500,000, at Easton, 

 Pennsylvania, located about 67 miles north of Philadelphia, on 

 the Delaware river, and connected with the outside world by 

 four important railway lines. 



The American interest in the new corporation is represented 

 by Charles E. Aaron and John R. Stein, respectively president 

 and treasurer of the New York Leather Belting Co. (No. 51 

 Beekman street, New York), pioneer importers of balata belt- 

 ing into the United States. The German interest is represented 

 ■by members of the important firm C. Vollrath & Sohn, manu- 

 facturers of balata and other machinery belting at Blankenburg 

 (Saxe-Weimar), Germany, among the largest manufacturers in 

 the world of textile machinery belting, and making a specialty 

 of balata belts. The proprietors of the last named firm are 

 Wilhelm and Albert Vollrath. These gentlemen will be inter- 

 ested in the new undertaking, together with Edwin Vollrath, 

 a son of the first named, who will make his home permanently 

 in the United States and become the active head of the company. 

 The installation of the Easton plant will be under the personal 

 supervision of Mr. Wilhelm Vollrath. 



The officers of the new company are Charles E. Aaron, presi- 

 dent; Edwin Vollrath, secretary; and John R. Stein, treasurer. 

 It is expected that the installation of machinery in the new plant 

 will be begun in September and that the same will be in opera- 

 tion by the end of October. 



All the machinery for the operation of the important Vollrath 



factory in Germany has been constructed behind closed doors 

 in that establishment. Workmen who know the secrets live and 

 die in the employ of the concern. Specially woven cotton duck 

 is also made in this plant, on looms and by processes which 

 never have been seen by visitors under any pretext. The ma- 

 ■ iv complete for the manufacture of balata belting, as well 

 as for the weaving of the duck, is being constructed in Germany 

 for shipment to the United States at the earliest possible date. 

 The first printed reference to this new American enterprise ap- 

 peared in The India Rubber World, January 1, 1910 (page 113). 



CHUTE'S NEW DERESINATING PROCESS. 



I '11 E chief feature of a newly patented process for extracting 



A rubber, particularly from such plants as the Mexican 



guayule, is the deresination of the shrub after grinding it dry 



and subsequently extracting the rubber from the wood in the 



usual way by grinding in water. 



It is claimed that by first extracting the resin from the wood 

 by the use of solvents for resin which do not attack the rubber, 

 such for instance as alcohol, ethyl acetate, and acetone, the sub- 

 sequent separation of the wood and rubber is facilitated, as the 

 resin adheres to both gum and wood, while the rubber will 

 cohere together and easily separate from the wood if not made 

 to adhere to it by the presence of resin. The resin and solvent 

 are recovered and to completely do this the water with which 

 the wood is ground may be distilled for the recovery of the 

 solvent after the fiber and rubber are separated. The wood is 

 ground dry and solvent applied in a tightly closed receptacle. 

 After the resin is removed the wood is placed in the usual 

 pebble mill. 



The United States patent for this invention, granted to Harry 

 O. Chute and Frank L. Randel, of New York (No. 957.495— 

 May 10, 1910), comprises in its specification twelve claims, of 

 which the most comprehensive is — 



9. The process of preparing rubber which comprises deresinating a crude 

 vegetable material of the character described containing rubber by a volatile 

 solvent adapted to extract resin, but having substantially no solvent power 

 for rubber, separating the rubber from such material by maceration in the 

 presence of water, and thereafter recovering the solvents by fractional dis- 

 tillation. 



Other claims relate to the deresination only, and others specify 

 ethyl acetate and alcohol as the solvents, but all seem to con- 

 template grinding the wood dry, putting into an airtight extract- 

 ing vessel, extracting the resins with alcohol or similar resin 

 solvents, then placing the ground wood in the ordinary pebble 

 mill to extract rubber in the ordinary way. The claim is made 

 that by this method the extraction of the rubber from the wood 

 is facilitated and a rubber free from resin is produced which is 

 of high grade. 



The same process is covered by the Mexican patent, issued 

 to the same parties, No. 9441, dated August 5, 1909, the date 

 of application for the Mexican patent being the same as in the 

 United States. 



Works of C. Vollrath & Sohn, Blankenburg. 



LTlie Balata belting factory proper.] 



Works of C. Vollrath & Sohn, Blankenburg. 



[Textile belting plant and weaving department.] 



