November 1, 1920 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



79 



will not perceptibly lessen the caliber or impede the flow of 

 gasoline as do many now in use. Something in spun metal is 

 suggested as the desideratum. 



Most "gas" stations have very good rubber equipment, the op- 

 erators having found that the best is the cheapest in the long 

 run ; and the big oil companies on the Pacific Coast, which op- 

 erate long chains of stations, have standardized with a gasoline 

 hose having a strong duck lining that quite effectively keeps the 

 gasoline from acting on the rubber. Within such 54 or 8-inch can- 

 vas core is a helical flat wire further to safeguard the rubber, and 

 surrounding the rubber are four plies of fabric, and finally a heavy 

 spiral of flat wire to. keep the hose from bending sharply and 

 to add to its wearing quality. This type of hose is exceptionally 

 durable. The stations are also supjilied with 5 to 7-ply air hose, 

 a strong tubing with a rubber covering, and with the further 

 protection of a spiral flat, round, or half-round wire. 

 FIRE HOSE 



For emergency fire needs the oil companies equip their sta- 

 tions with a folding, unlined, linen duck hose that is easily packed 

 away; but in their oil fields and at their refineries they always 

 keep on hand a great amount of very flexible, double cotton- 

 jacketed hose of from 2 to 2^4 inches in diameter to meet an 

 ever-present danger of conflagration. Some concerns, however, 

 use in their fields, instead of cotton -jacketed hose, a good grade 

 of rubber-covered rubber-lined fire hose made in four plies, with 

 a fifth ply at each coupling. 



PUMP VALVES, SI-EEVES, AND PACKING 



In the slush pumps of the oil fields rubber gets its severest 

 test ; and it is here that it is used quite exclusively for ready- 

 made or wrapped-on sleeves for plungers. As these pumps must 

 be used for cleaning out bore-holes after the sand in them has 

 been flushed out with water, and must also do the hardest kind 

 of service night and day in sucking up into the sump cisterns 

 heavy oil often much mixed with grit, the rubber sleeves, vary- 

 ing in diameter from five to six inches and in thickness from J/2 

 to ^ of an inch, have to be made of specially compounded stock. 

 Not only does the rubber sleeve aid in producing the requisite 

 pumping vacuum, but to a considerable degree it also prevents 

 the scoring of the pump cylinder by allowing the sand to work 

 above the piston, which could scarcely happen if the plunger were 

 wholly of steel, as plungers are at the refineries, where only 

 strained oil is handled. 



Sometimes in the pumping of crude oil the sleeves are changed 

 as often as twice a day, while in other cases they may last a month 

 or two if but little abrasive substance is drawn up from the well. 

 Hence the life of the rubber sleeve varies with the character of 

 the oil field and the earth strata through which the well has 

 been driven. One make of sleeve for light service is of very 

 pliable stock, and, when worn on one side, may be twisted inside 

 out and used on the reverse side, thus giving double service and 

 effecting a saving. Instead of sleeves many workers still use 

 sheet packing, which, if of good quality and snugly fitted, gives 

 very good service. Many use such packing only when short of 

 sleeves. 



Many are the varieties of rubber valves used for oil pumps, 

 each manufacturer endeavoring best to adapt goods to the special 

 needs of customers. The softer compounds are used where the 

 pressures are below 80 pounds, while the tough, high density 

 valves are utilized where the pressures range up to 200 pounds 

 and the temperature reaches up to 212 degrees F. 



Rubber packings for oil machinery range from the thin 2 

 and 3-ply stock to be cut by hand as needed to the special pack- 

 ing made to order and having a dozen or more layers of specially 

 frictioned fabric cut transversely to the weave or on the bias, 

 the advantages claimed for the diagonal cutting being that it 

 wears longer, the fabric exposed thus is more compressible, and 

 that it aids much in lubricating. .A spiral packing much used 



for rods running in oil is made of tightly-woven asbestos with 

 a rubber core. 



A considerable amount of pipe rings, gaskets, casing cups, 

 hose washers, split stufting-box rings, swab rubbers, and oil-well 

 packers are also consumed in the oil industry, being supplied in 

 a practically endless variety of sizes, forms, and qualities. A 

 great deal of trouble used to be occasioned on natural gas lines, 

 especially those near the oil fields, by gasoline condensate col- 

 lecting at the rubber joints in the iron pipe lines, and which 

 neither the gas well pressure nor the pumping suction could 

 wholly remove. The result was the steady deterioration of the 

 rubber couplings and clamp rings, with much expense for re- 

 newals and loss in time and in gas delivery while repairs were 

 being made. This difficulty has been quite overcome with cou- 

 plings and clamp rings made of a special "gas" resisting com- 

 pound, which, it is said, will remain unaffected by the condensate 

 for five years or more. 



One article which is manufactured in large quantities is brake- 

 shoes that are used on heavy oil drilling machinery. These are 

 made of a particularly tough rubber compound, in which are 

 inlaid several layers of woven brass wire and thick asbestos 

 fabric. It is claimed these are practically indestructible. 



Nor does the foregoing enumeration of rubber needs in the 

 oil fields take into account many other articles that are quite 

 indispensable in the handling of oil from the time when the 

 heavy, black fluid is drawn from the depths of the earth to the 

 time when, highly-refined, it is finally delivered to the consumers. 

 Such miscellaneous articles may include tires used on fleets of 

 trucks, and the rubber boots and shoes, gloves and helmet hats 

 worn by small armies of men working in rain and sunshine in 

 fields fairly flooded with oil. 



INTERNATIONAL CHAMBER OF COMMERCE ORGANIZED 



The recent organization of the International Chamber of Com- 

 merce at Paris is the fulfilment of plans launched at the inter- 

 national trade conference at Atlantic City, New Jersey, a year ago, 

 and further elaborated at the conference at Paris, France, in 

 June. It is a voluntary body thoroughly representative of many 

 nations ready to discuss and adjust such important questions as 

 finance, raw material, production, shipping, unfair competition 

 and numerous other phases of international trade. 



Like the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, the con- 

 stitution of the international body provides for submitting inter- 

 national trade questions of general and immediate interest to the 

 membership for a vote. The referenda will be taken in the 

 associate countries and the result published by the International 

 Chamber. 



There are two classes of membership, organization and asso- 

 ciate. The annual dues of each class are fixed at three hundred 

 francs, except that in the case of organizations this fee is used as 

 a basis, and is a minimum charge for organizations entitled to 

 only one delegate. Organization members will comprise national 

 and local commercial, financial and industrial organizations rep- 

 resentative of the interests they embrace. Associate members will 

 consist of individuals, firms and corporations. 



A board of three directors and three alternates is selected by 

 each of the countries represented. The American directors are 

 John H. Fahey, formerly president of the Chamber of Commerce 

 of the United States, of Boston; Willis H. Booth, of New York, 

 and Edward A. Filene, of Boston. The alternates are : Harry A. 

 Wheeler, formerly president of the Chamber of Commerce of the 

 United States, of Chicago; William Butterworth, of Moline, 

 Illinois, and Owen D. Young, of New York. 



Temporary headquarters for the new organization have been 

 established at 33 rue Jean-Goujon, Paris, France. The perma- 

 nent headquarters, which will be determined by the Board of Di- 

 rectors, will probably be located at the seat of the League of 

 Nations. 



