November 1, 1920 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



113 



lowing each coat to dry seiiaratcly, and the splice will then be 

 ready for vulcanizing. Refer to Kig. 6. 



Pull out the wedge and wrap a piece of face cloth, slightly 

 damped and chalked, all round the splice. The cloth must be 

 placed evenly in position and have no creases. Remove the key 

 from the splicing mold and pass tl:e tube through the slot as in 

 Fig. 7. Replace the key and fix the tube in the center of the 

 mold. Then put back the wedge and push ii in until close 

 contact is secured between the sphcc and the mold. If it does 

 not lit closely, liners should be used to secure close contact. Fig. 

 8 shows this stage, and the splicer ready for attaching to the 

 vulcanizing plant. 



Let steam into the mold and then open the pet-cocks for a 

 moment to blow out air and condensed steam. Then close the 

 pet-cocks — keeping the main valve open — and lime the repair. 



Fig. 7. Fitting in the Mold 



The pet-cocks should be opened again for a moment after an 

 interval of five minutes. 



At the expiration of the correct period the steam valve should 

 be closed, the pet-cocks opened, and the splicer detached from 

 the plant. Remove the mold key, pass the tube through the 



Fig S. Rk \n\ n 



Ai 



\" 



slot, and then, by pulling out the wedge, the mandrel will ])e 

 contracted and can be separated from the tube. The repair is 

 then completed. 



At the end of every 2,500 miles' service, a tire should be 

 deflated, dismounted, soapstone and grit removed, and the inside 

 of the casing washed with gasoline, .'\fter drying, the inside 

 should be dusted with talc, the tire mounted and the tube charged 

 with fresh air. 



During this operation a close inspection should be made of the 

 tread for cuts and fragments of glass, and the rims should be 

 cleaned of rust and painted. — Miller News Service. 



IMPORTANCE OF RUBBER IN MODERN RAILROAD 

 TRANSPORTATION' 



AMONG the many uses for india rubber, those that apply 

 to modern railroad transportation are of great importance in 

 the economical welfare of the countrj'. In fact rubber today is 

 nearly as essential to the successful operation of railroad trains 

 as coal to create steam and motive power, the steel rails and 

 the material from which locomotives and coaches themselves 

 are manufactured. 



Because of its popular use in the form of tires, we are per- 

 haps accustomed to think of rubber as primarily essential only 

 to motoring. We fully appreciate just how essential rubber is 

 to civilization only when we can see its uses and applications 

 with our own eyes, and perhaps there isn't one in a hundred who 

 aiipreciates just how essentia! rubber in its various forms is 

 to the successful operation of a railroad train, nor how many 

 separate functions it performs. 



Take the brakes, for instance. In the olden days before all 

 tlie various possibilities of harnessed steam were known to the 

 engineering world, coaches had to be checked in their speed by 

 individual manipulation of hand-operated brakes on each coach. 

 This prevented the engineer attaining any great speed, for should 

 any emergency arise necessitating the quick stopping of the train, 

 it was impossible to operate all brakes simultaneously, or to 

 stop all coaches without their piling up in a heap. But now, 

 thanks to rubber and air, a train of a dozen passenger and Pull- 

 man coaches, or of more than a score of heavily loaded freight 

 cars, can be brought to an easy stop by a lever in the engineer's 

 cab. Thanks also to rubber, it is now possible to convey the 

 exhaust steam and heat from the locomotive boilers, through 

 pipes and radiators in every coach. 



Rubber is also responsible for the discard of the old gas- 

 lighted passenger coaches, and their being replaced by the more 

 modern coaches equipped with storage batteries and electric 

 lights. 



The matter of safety is a mighty important factor. Modern 

 steam transportation has come to be the world asset that it is, 

 not only because of its celerity in covering great distances and 

 in bridging continents, but because of the comparative immunity 

 from danger that this form of travel affords. .■\nd safety in rail- 

 road transportation depends preponderately upon rubber. The 

 air brake is comparatively simple in operation, yet without rub- 

 ber never could have been applied to railroad trains, for two 

 specially constructed, multiple-ply pieces of rubber hose form 

 the connecting link of compressed air pipes and cylinders between 

 coaches. With trains swinging around curves and swaying as 

 they speed along it would be impossible to effect ihe car union 

 of brakes with metal piping. 



Air signal hose also connects all coaches of a passenger train, 

 enabling the conductor or trainman to signal the engineer from 

 any part of the train. Sleam-hcat hose lengths also connect 

 passenger coaches with the engine, the exhaust steam and heat 

 from the boilers being forced through the runner connections and 

 through radiators in each coach. 



That makes six pieces of hose to every passenger or rulhnan 

 coach — two 22-inch lengths of air-brake hose, two 22-inch lengths 

 of air-signal hose, and two 24 or 2S-inch lengths of steam-heat 

 hose. Air-brake hose is also a necessary equipment on all freight 

 cars, there being two lengths to every car. 



Latest available statistics show approximately 2,500,000 freight 

 cars rolling in the United States, about 60,000 passenger coaches 

 and at least 10,000 Pullman sleeping and parlor cars. That 

 means a total of 2,570,000 cars and coaches, each equipped with 

 two pieces of 22-inch air-brake hose. Thus, the air-brake hose 

 equipment in the United States today consists of 5,140,000 



'By Ralpli C. Ilufljey, Goodyear News Service. 



