114 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



November 1, 1920 



lengllis. Kacli hose is replaced every six months, making 10,- 

 280,000 pieces of air-brake hose necessary everj- year. Each 

 piece being 22 inches long, this means a total of 226,160,000 

 inches of air-brake hose or exactly 3,570 miles. In other words, 

 if all the air-brake hose used in the United States in a year's 

 time could be stretched out, with the individual pieces placed 



material. To compute the square loot area of rubber tiling floor 

 and step treading and rubberized curtain material used on railroad 

 trains in America would mount into figures seemingly incon- 

 ceivable. 



And back behind the scenes of railroad transportation we find 

 numerous other uses for rubber. In the round-house, for in- 



cn <ii /Cii ^^ ^^ i^Ti^Ti iCi ^:^ c:^ 



DHnnnnnnnn 



M 



nnnn 



E — Tender hose 



F — Rubber floor treads and tiling 



G — Rubber step treads 



Goodyear News Service 



A — Air-signal hose 



B — Steam-heat hose 



C — Air-brake hose 



D — Generator axle-lighting belt 



end to end, it would reach across the vast American continent, 

 from Portland. Maine, to Portland, Oregon. 



On each of the 70,000 passenger and Pullman coaches there 

 are also two lengths of air-signal hose and two lengths of steam- 

 heat hose. Figuring four such lengths to a coach, and replace- 

 ment of all hose equipment twice a year, it would take approxi- 

 mately 200 miles of such hose to meet the American railroads' 

 needs every year. Added to the 3,570 miles of air-brake hose 

 already computed, we have the amazing total of 3,770 miles of 

 hose used every year — enough to make a solid line hurdling the 

 ocean and readiing from New York to Gibraltar. 



The air-brake hose is of uniform size, measuring one and 

 three-eighths inches in diameter. The steam-heat hose is of 

 slightly larger size, ranging from one and three-quarters to one 

 and five-eighths inches in diameter, while the air-signal hose is 

 one and one-eighth inches in diameter. These dififerences in 

 size are important, for the three pieces of hose hang together 

 from the end of each coach, and the brakeman making train 

 connections can detect each hose instantly by its size and special 

 branding, and can effect the coupling without confusion. 



Modern passenger coaches are equipped with electric lights and 

 large storage batteries in which hard rubber is largely used. 

 These are recharged by means of a dynamo beneath the car 

 body, the dynamo being operated and electricity generated by 

 means of a rubberized fabric belt connected with the axle of 

 one truck. Thus with the train speeding along at 60 miles an 

 hour, the generator axle-lighting belt keeps the batteries well 

 charged. A four-ply belt is used, six inches wide and 10 feet 

 long. The average life of a belt is 25,000 miles, but in winter 

 with trains encountering ice and snow, coaches in swinging 

 around curves frequently throw the belts and lose them. This 

 means a heavy replacement of belts every year. But figuring 

 one ten-foot belt to every one of 70,000 coaches, it takes 700,000 

 feet of such belt, or 135 miles, for original equipment. To figure 

 the total amount of belting including replacements would be 

 practically impossible. 



Every locomotive must have two lengths of tender hose con- 

 necting with the tender, to syphon water into the boilers. 

 This hose varies in size from a diameter of two and one-half 

 inches to three and one-half inches, and varies in length from 

 36 to 72 inches. Each locomotive also has what is known as a 

 squirt hose, connecting the engine-man's cab and the tender. 



On locomotives, also, rubber packing of special make is used 

 for cylinder-head packing and air-pump packing, while the gage- 

 glass gaskets in the engine-man's cab are of rubber.' Going back 

 through the train we find rubber floor treads and step treads 

 used on the steps and in the vestibules of coaches, with rubber 

 tiling used in many passenger coaches and Pullmans as flooring 



Showing Uses of Rubber in Railroad Practice 



H — Rubber vestibule curtains 

 I— Rubber window curtains 

 J — Cylinder-head packing 



K — Air pump packing 

 L — Gage glass gaskets 

 M — Squirt hose 



Stance, we find "blow-off" hose used to remove water and steam 

 from engine boilers. Then there is a specially designed "wash- 

 out hose" equipment for cleaning boilers, also "fill-up" hose, 

 engine-washing hose, steam and water hose and pneumatic tool 

 hose, all used every day in the year in hundreds of round-houses. 

 AW these various type of hose are maimfactured according to 

 master car-builders' specifications. Needless to say, the best of 

 materials and the best of workmanship available are necessary 

 to the successful manufacture of such rubber equipment for the 

 railroads, for the safety and comfort of railroad travel today 

 depend very largely upon rubber. 



RUBBER IN THE MANUFACTURE OF DYNAMITE 



MORE high explosives are used in pursuing the arts of peace 

 than in times of war. The modern farmer would scarcely know 

 how to get along without them. They do the work of the hired 

 man who used to toil patiently roofing out stumps, digging ditches 

 and drains and holes for posts and for young orchard trees. 



Urrciih-! I'v-Micr L. 



klHHKK-I.INED (lUTTKli.S CoNVEY NITROGLYCERINE TO THE 



Storehouse 



Dj'namite does all these things for the farmer nowadays — what 

 would he do without its willing power in these times of high- 

 priced farm labor? It never strikes, never takes holidays, and 

 never objects to working overtime. .'\nd even the poorest farmer 



