September 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



929 



The Rubber Trade in Great Britain 



By Our Regular Correspondent 



THE exceptionally hot and dry summer we are experiencing 

 has been altogether against the sale of the accumulated 

 stocks of waterproofs and raincoats. Moreover, there can 

 be no activity in the sale of garden hose when the authorities 



forbid its use. 



THE PLANTATION RUBBER SITUATION 



These are insignilicant matters in comparison with tlie imme- 

 diate future of the rubber planting industry, a topic that is re- 

 ceiving serious consideration now that the Rubber Exhibition is 

 out of the way. It has been pointed out by an authority that 

 there is no other great industry producing a raw material in 

 which one class of owner forms 75 per cent of the whole, or in 

 which one nationality — British — is in the position to control 

 nearly three-quarters of the world's production. 



With regard to decreased output the Rubber Growers' Asso- 

 ciation did not propose a 25 per cent restriction on the 1920 out- 

 put, but a similar reduction on the estimated output for 1921, 

 and allowing for the average nonnal increase on the total area 

 held by both old and young producers it means in reality a re- 

 duction of 18 per cent, which, under the circumstances, is of little 

 or no use. There has been a tendency to say that no universal 

 policy of restriction is possible, owing to the diversity of interests 

 involved. Although the small native producer markets rubber of 

 quality inferior to that of the large companies, yet his producing 

 costs are so much lower that he is not faced with the bank- 

 ruptcy which threatens the producer of superior rubber who can- 

 not expect to get his costs down to 4rf. a pound. 



It now remains to be seen what response will be given to the 

 new scheme for the salvation of the industry, an outline of which 

 is published elsewhere in this issue. The plan is, in effect, a 

 thoroughgoing valorization scheme, whereby the Rubber Pro- 

 ducers' Corporation, Limited, is to be formed with a capital of 

 £2,000,000. Whatever its merits or defects it is drastic enough. 



It may be taken that this attempt to exercise effective control 

 upon output will cause a "ring" whose operations will be looked 

 upon with suspicion by outside planting interests. The con- 

 sumers' interests would seem to be jeopardized, not perhaps at 

 present, but certainly when demand does overtake supply, be- 

 cause the corporation will 1)e in a position to exercise monopoly 

 powers to the detriment of the consumer, .^s a means of sup- 

 port to the weaker companie; by the stronger in the present 

 acute state of depression there is nothing against it, as it will 

 prevent land from going out of production. It is only with the 

 continuance of such philanthropy when normal conditions are 

 restored that resentment will probably be felt by those who look 

 upon all trusts and combines in trade as inimical to the general 

 welfare of the country. 



TIRE AND RECLAIMING ACTIVITIES 



On the manufacturing side the principal item of note is a 

 distinct revival in the tire branch. The Dunlop works at Bir- 

 mingham have now been put on full time and in other works 

 there is decidedly more doing. To some extent this may lie at- 

 tributed to the export of pneumatics to America, emissaries hav- 

 ing been over to get details regarding the American requirements 

 in cord tires, those now being supplied by some of our firms 

 apart from the Palmer company. This company's cord tire, 

 which dates back eighteen years, is now being made after a new- 

 type called the "Flexicord." 



The reclaiming business shows decided signs of improvement. 

 The Rubber Regenerating Co., Limited, Trafford Park, Man- 

 chester, after being closed for a Period, restarted on full time 

 in the middle of July, while the Xylos Rubber Co., Limited, a 



near neighbor which never came to a full stop, reports a de- 

 cided improvement in business. 



THE ACTION OF MANGANESE ON RUBBER 



That the origin of tackiness in raw rubber may probably be 

 due in many cases to the presence of manganese compound was 

 contended by G. Bruni and C. Pelizzola in an interesting paper 

 read at the late International Rubber Conference. The figures 

 given certainly support the view put forward by Thomson and 

 Lewis in 1891 that manganese oxide follows soon after copper 

 oxide as a deleterious constituent in rul)ber proofings, more 

 especially those which are cold-cured. 



The case of chromium oxide is at the moment receiving special 

 attention in America, it having long been a question whether 

 It is dangerous or not. It has been customary to test constituents 

 of rubber mixings for manganese compounds, not so much in 

 the case of metallic oxides like zinc, where it may occur in traces, 

 but in regard to ochres and umljers, the latter especially being 

 proven to contain it in quantity. 



The origin of the manganese found in raw rubber appears to 

 be two-fold, it coming either from the soil or from traces of 

 liermanganate used as a disinfectant. .^11 possessors of old text- 

 Ijooks on analytical chemistry know of the warning given against 

 using burettes with rubber connections for standard permanga- 

 nate solutions, and the recommendations to deodorize rubber 

 goods by permanganate solution have only emanated from people 

 ignorant of the chemistry of rubber. With regard to the presence 

 of manganese in the ash of raw rubber, no doubt careful testing 

 will find that it is quite widely distributed in the soil. Like the 

 so-called rare element, titanium, which careful examination 

 has shown to be widely distributed in the earth's crust, manga- 

 ie.se and other metals may be discovered albeit in infim'tcsimal 

 amount by the dissector's scalpel. 



I am reminded here of the recent investigation into the com- 

 position of coal ash by Sinnatt. Manganese in greater or lesser 

 quantity has been found as an almost invariable constituent and 

 it has been plausibly advanced that it acts as a catalytic agent 

 in the case of certain coals notorious for liability to spontaneous 

 combustion, the amount of manganese in such coals ha\ing been 

 found high. 



HEAT EFFECTS 



Considering the number of cases of fire, whether by spon- 

 taneous combustion or not, during the hot summer, the rubber 

 industry has been surprisingly immune. In France the large 

 celluloid factory at Epinay took fire and was burned out on 

 July 12. On the following day a large government dump of 500 

 tons of scrap rubber at Iver Bucks was destroyed by fire, and 

 as it was presumably vulcanized it is not surprising that the fire- 

 men had to wear gas-masks. It is a coincidence that when this 

 rubber was previously stored at Wapping on the Thames estuary 

 last October it was on fire. On this occasion three firemen died 

 and several other men were seriously injured. 



On July 23, an outbreak of fire, the cause of which is unknown, 

 occurred at the old established rubber works of J. L. Hancock, 

 Limited, London, E. C. Two buildings of four floors, one 120 

 by 60 feet, and the other 60 by 40 feet, were involved, though the 

 damage done was not very serious. 



SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY 



The annual meeting of the Society of Chemical Industry was 

 held at Montreal, Canada. August 29 to 31. and those members 

 who attended derived much pleasure and instruction from the 

 elaborate program prepared by the Montreal and Toronto Sec- 



