688 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



June I, 1921 



PROCESSING TIRES, TUBES AND BELTING 



SOME NEW AND INTERESTING STATEMENTS 



WHAT may be termed an "elixir of youth" is administered 

 to old or new tires and tubes by a new concern, and the 

 results claimed for the treatment are marvelous. For instance, 

 one 35 by 5 "Silvertown" cord tire which had been run 10,815 

 miles was taken to an expert repair man for a retread. The 

 repairer saw the breaker strip showing in several places, the tread 

 so thin, and the tire so generally used up that he pronounced it 

 an incurable case. Some one suggested trying a new-fangled 

 "process" treatment another repair man was endeavoring to in- 

 troduce. The worn casing was duly "processed," nothing being 

 added to it nor anything taken away, and returned to the skeptical 

 owner. The latter testilies that since then the tire has run 5,700 

 miles more, and has given a year and five months of hard service 

 without retreading or rubber addition. 



Claims made for the process are that it not only imparts new 

 life to "semi-baked" fabric and rubber compounds "deadened" by 

 vulcanizing heat, adding much to cushion and resiliency, but that 

 by toughening the tread it adds from 50 to 100 per cent to the 

 mileage. It is also asserted that all oil in old tires is removed 

 and the original color restored. New tires, it is said, can be 

 benefited as much as old ones. The process has not been patented, 

 is a laboratory one, and the details are a secret. 



According to the written statement of the processing company : 

 'Tires may be processed if they have not been run too far, or 

 if there is a foundation left to work upon, giving many more 

 miles of wear and greater elasticity and physical strength to 

 both fabric and cord tires. The process is a help to both the 

 fabric and the rubber, bringing to life the fabric, and toughening 

 the rubber, making the tires all resilient. All makes of tires 

 and tubes may be processed, giving SO to 100 per cent more 

 mileage to new tires and a corresponding increase to used tires, 

 according to the life left in them." 



The inventor of the process then writes : 



"I am through with the tire people who turn over the tires, 

 after I have processed them, to the development departments, 

 where they are merely dissected to learn what I do, after it is 

 understood between us that the only test is to run processed 

 tires side by side with non-processed tires of the same kind, and 

 under the same conditions. 



"The best tire made, as regards quality and material, is not 

 prime when finished in the factory. The extreme heat and pres- 

 sure used in manufacture dries out the oil and wax that nature 

 put in the fabric, and also dries up the compound, so that the 

 tire begins aging at once. 



"I restore the pliancy and resiliency all through, and make the 

 tread tougher, staying the aging. My process can restore to good 

 condition oxercured or undercured tires, new stiff hard tires, 

 or those hardened by age, in or out of use. 



"My process consists of an unpatented chemical formula hav- 

 ing some rubber capabilities, and is to be used in a secret process 

 in combination with chemical immersions according to the con- 

 dition of the tire ; thus tending to improve, 'after manufacture' 

 into automobile tires, inner tubing and rubber belting 'composi- 

 tions,' the capacity for an increase of some of the 'attributes' 

 as provided by gum elastic rubber when used in sufficient 

 <juantities. 



"This chemical formula and accompanying processes will have 

 the effect of creating an 'auxiliary,' associated with rubber and 

 acting as a 'liberator' thereof and part substitute therefor, in a 

 stiff, continually aging and hardening rubber composition article 

 designed for active movement." 



larger cases arc said to cost no mure and the expense of closing, 

 stenciling and handling is the same as before. The customer 

 gets a better assortment of sizes, especially in heavy goods, with- 

 out so many end sizes, enabhng him to make a quicker turnover; 

 and freight and express charges are proportionally less on repeat 

 shipments. 



While United States manufacturers have not adopted the 

 methods of their Canadian confreres, they are shipping rubber 

 footwear in cheaper fiber cases. Buyers state that the goods are 

 received in good toiulition and with a considerable difference in 

 the freight rates. 



A CANADIAN LEADER IN RUBBER CHEMISTRY 



IN THIS AGE of Specialization the rubber chemist has come to 

 occupy a peculiarly important position among production execu- 

 tives. One of the most outstanding authorities whom Canada has 



produced in this important 

 field is William B. Wie- 

 gand, director in charge ot 

 rubber manufacture for 

 Ames Holden McCready 

 Limited, Montreal, Canada. 

 Mr. Wiegand was born in 

 Conestogo, Ontario, in 1889 

 and was educated in the 

 public and high schools of 

 Toronto, Ontario, and the 

 University of Toronto, where 

 he received his M. A. degree 

 in 1912 with high honors, 

 being gold medalist in chem- 

 istry, After a year of post- 

 graduate work on the fac- 

 ulty of the university, he 

 went into the Morgan & 

 Wright factory and labora- 

 tory at Detroit, Michigan. The following year he joined the staff 

 of the Dominion Tire Co., Limited, Kitchener, Ontario, as chief 

 chemist. In 1915 he was transferred to the Canadian Consolidated 

 Rubber Co., Limited, Montreal, Canada, as general technical super- 

 intendent, going in 1919 to Ames Holden McCready Limited as 

 director in charge of rubber manufacture. He is also a director 

 of the Ames Holden Tire Co., Limited, and of the Ames Holden 

 Felt Co., Limited, both of Montreal, Canada. 



Ever since 1915 Mr. Wiegand has been responsible for the man- 

 ufacturing and technical problems relating to tires, footwear and 

 mechanicals, and has made a hobby of applying the specialized 

 knowledge and "tricks" of each division to the problems of the 

 others. He is the author of several technical papers read before 

 various chemical societies, two of which have been published in 

 recent issues of The India Rubber World; he is also joint pat- 

 entee of an impregnated fiber for footwear manufacture. 



He is a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Chemistry, also a 

 member of the American Chemical Society and of the Society of 

 Chemical Industry, London, England. 



W. B. Wiegand 



STANDARD PACKINGS FOR RUBBER FOOTWEAR 



.\ Canadian rubber footwear concern has adopted the system of 

 packing 30 pairs of light rubbers in a case, instead of 25 as here- 

 tofore; and 15 pairs of heavy footwear, instead of 12. The 



CANADIAN NOTES 



Pioneer Products of Canada, Limited, 11 St. Sulpice street, 

 Montreal, handle "Air-peds" in Canada for Pioneer Products 

 Co., 35 West 39th street. New York, New York. These rubber 

 heel and two-part rubber sole "Air-peds" were described in The 

 India Rubber World, .^pril 1, 1920. 



Stephen A. Howell succeeds Harold R. Cole as manager of 

 A. Schrader's Son, Inc., Toronto branch. Mr. Howell who 

 was formerly in charge of the Chicago branch joined the com- 

 pany in 1915. Mr. Cole is now at the main office in Brooklyn, 

 New York. 



