July i, iqio.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



361 



RUBBER EXTRACTING MACHINES. 



' I 'HE recent utilization to an important extent of rubber yield- 

 •*• ing species formerly not recognized as having commercial 

 value lias been due to the discovery of processes of securing 

 their latex and its coagulation differing from those employed, 

 for example, on the Brazilian Hez'eas. If the production of 

 rubber from the Mexican guayule depended upon such methods 

 as are employed on the Amazon, the trade would yet be without 

 any general knowledge of the merits of guayule. There are on 



£tZc 



Wsxx^ 



The Guignet Machine. 



[Invented by Leon Guignet, of Lyons, France. French patent No. 

 399,896 (July 9, 1 909 J granted to Societe pour Exploitation dit Caoutchouc 

 an Congo.] 



other continents many plants containing rubber, but not al- 

 ways capable of being worked at a profit, which of late have 

 been the subject of much study by inventors, with the result 

 that new mechanical devices have been developed that have 

 appealed strongly to in- 

 vestors. Among the ref- 

 erences to such devices 

 that have been published 

 may be mentioned articles 

 in The India Rubber 

 World March 1, 1910 (page 

 202), and June 1, 1910 

 (page 312). The following 

 inventions may be men- 

 tioned as having specific in- 

 terest just now. 



The machine devoted by 

 Leon Guignet is designed 

 particularly for extracting 

 rubber from vines, but fur- 

 ther for purifying the rub- 

 ber. The machine is 

 planned for use in the lo- 

 calities where the vines and 

 shrubs grow. Described 

 briefly, it is a crusher which 

 reduces the rubber contain- 

 ing wood or bark to a 

 paste ; then a machine for 

 tearing and agglomerating 

 the particles that make up 

 the paste to free the bits of 

 wood. This done, any water 

 and other particles are 



floated away. This agglomerating machine is a drum in which 

 rev. lives a core shaped like a truncate cone. This core is pro- 

 vided with screw shaped teeth and the sides of the drum in which 

 it revolves are corrugated. The idea is that by alternately 

 pressing the paste together and then tearing it apart while it is 

 subjected to the curing of water, it is purified. 

 # * # 



In the line of washing lower grades of crude rubber for the 

 market is a machine which is the invention of M. M. Dessau, 

 of the British Murac Syndicate, of London. It is something 

 like the two roll rubber washer, with the addition of an enclosing 

 watertight frame into which is fitted a platen or piston operated 

 by a screw which forced the rubber into the rolls, the platen being 

 arranged so that it oscillates and thereby produces a continuous 

 surging in the water, preventing impurities from settling to the 

 bottom of the tank. 



RUBBER PRODUCTION OF THE AMAZON. 



Murac-Dessau Machine. 



[LSritish patent 24.438 — 1908, to Brit- 

 ish Murac Syndicate and Morland M. 

 Dessau, of London.] 



' I 'HE amount of rubber produced in the Amazon region for 

 A the last two crop years is stated in detail in a report by 

 the imperial German consul at Para, from which these figures 

 are compiled : 



STATE OF PARA. 



1907-08. 1908-09. 



Rubber tons 9,428 10,457 



Caucho 857 1 ,070 



Total 10,285 11,527 



STATE OF AMAZONAS. 



[Including the Federal territory of Acre.] 



Rubber tons 16,771 16,587 



Caucho 4,969 5,270 



Total 21,740 21,857 



REPUBLIC OF PERU. 



Rubber tons 3,407 3,176 



Caucho 1,720 1,853 



Total 5,127 5,029 



SUMMARY. 



Rubber tons 29,606 30,220 



Caucho 7,546 8,193 



Total tons 37,152 38,413 



Total pounds 81,905,300 84,685,300 



The first point of general interest in these figures is the fact 

 that the yearly increase of production is so slight, while the 

 world's demand for rubber grows more pressing all the while, 

 and prices constantly climb higher. 



Another fact worth mentioning is that such increase as is 

 shown is relatively greater in respect of caucho than of Hevea 

 rubber. All over the Amazon rubber region caucho trees are 

 being found nowadays, and the seringueiros are learning to deal 

 with this product. As will be seen, Peru is now shipping more 

 rubber than caucho, for which reason Pearson's "Crube Rubber 

 and Compounding Ingredients" has discarded the term "Peruvian 

 rubber" as applied to caucho, and used it descriptive of the 

 Hevea rubber shipped from Peru. 



Over a thousand tons of caucho were produced last year in the 

 state of Para, where, only a few years ago, this grade of rubber 

 was not known to exist. There is an increasing output likewise 

 up the river, in Brazilian territory. 



It speaks well for the persistence of the Hevea rubber supply 

 that the yield of Para state — the region first worked for rubber — 

 not only maintains its output, but shows a notable increase. 

 Amazonas and the Acre, on the contrary, shipped less rubber in 

 1908-09 than in the preceding crop year. 



A book for everybody interested in tires — "Rubber Tires and 

 All About Them" — this office. 



