April 1, 1921 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



507 



conveyer for his needs. Copies of the catalog will be sent free 

 upon request to the maker by interested persons. 



The Bro\vn-W.\les Co., F.\rgo .and Egmont streets, Boston, 

 has issued a handbook entitled "Steel," which covers a great 

 variety of structural materials among which are iron and steel 

 bars, floor and tank plates, corrugated sheets for roofing, asphalt 

 shingles, ventilators and wire. A copy of this ready reference 

 book will be sent to rubber engineers upon request. 



The Hood Rubber Products Co., Inc., Watertown, Massa- 

 chusetts, is mailing to the trade a handsome 56-page buying guide 

 of rubber footwear for 1921 and a 64-page buying guide of canvas 

 footwear. Both are profusely illustrated, printed in two colors 

 and depict a profusion of attractive styles. The former includes 

 net prices to the retailer. 



"Patent-Sense," published by Lacey & Lacey, United States 

 and foreign patent attorneys, 639 F street, Northwest, Washing- 

 ton, D. C, is a pamphlet which will be of interest to inventors 

 and manufacturers, as it deals with the patenting of inventions. 



The Columbus Rubber Company of Montreal, Limited. Mon- 

 treal, Canada, has issued an attractively arranged catalog on 

 their "Made to Wear Well" rubber footwear for the season of 

 1921-1922. The Santa Maria brand includes boots, lumbermen's, 

 fine Jersey overs, and light specialties in footwear for men and 

 women. The Columbus branch includes boots, lumbermen's, ex- 

 cluders and light overs. It is printed in black and red in sepa- 

 rate editions in the English and French languages, meeting the 

 requirements of the French-Canadian trade. 



Ames Holden McCready, Limited, Montreal, Canada, is 

 distributing to the Dominion shoe trade its 1921-1922 illustrated 

 catalog of rubber and tennis footwear. In parallel columns of 

 English and French text concise specifications of the goods are 

 given. The range of types and styles is comprehensive and the 

 quality of all is guaranteed to outwear any pair of similar shoes 

 of any other make, sold at the same price and worn under the 

 same conditions. The various lasts are shown in several pages 

 of profiles and plans, in half-tone and outline. The catalog is a 

 fine example of two-color printing and was designed with an 

 expert's knowledge of shoe trade requirements. 



INTERESTING LETTERS FROM OUR READERS 



WHAT THE COMPOUNDER AND LABORATORY MAN CANNOT DO 



To the Editor : 



Dear Sir: In all rubber factories whenever anything goes 

 wrong with a stock, the first impulse is to tell the trouble 

 to the compounder, or refer to the compound book, or damn the 

 laboratory. Without trying to absolve the originators of com- 

 pounds and processes, from all blame, because they are human and 

 fallible, I do want to point out that they are often made the con- 

 venient scapegoats for sins of the factory. Because brevity was 

 never so much a virtue as in these days of hustle, I will confine 

 my argument to one illustration only. 



Assuming a stock which has been working well and showing 

 a good test, suddenly goes wrong and fails under test, what can 

 happen to it, in the factory to make it go wrong? Well: 



1. The compound man may use wrong ingredients or wrong 

 weights. Of course each batch should be checked, but is it? 

 Echo answers; "Is it?" Frequently a test for specific gravity 

 shows it is not. 



2. The mixing man may overwork or underwork the rubber be- 

 fore adding the powders. This breaking down process should 

 be very carefully controlled. Then he may dump in the powders 

 and not half mix them, because he happens to be paid piece 

 work, or may loaf on the job if paid day work. Also, he may 

 scorch the stock, or work it to death, or he may use the rubber 

 for one stock and the powders for another. Of course, he should 



be checked, but is he? And echo answers, "Is he?" Sometimes 

 the laboratory man is able to prove that he is not, but the labora- 

 tory man cannot check each batch. That is not laboratory work. 



3. The calender man can do all sorts of things which he 

 shouldn't do. He can burn the stock or destroy its nerve and 

 vulcanizing properties by letting it work itself into semi-liquid 

 mud. or fail to give his rolls the right set to squeeze through 

 the duck or bedevil the stock in several other ways, perhaps quite 

 innocently, but none the less effectively. Does he do these things? 

 ."Vud echo answers, "Docs he?" The laboratory man knows he 

 does, but he cannot check this operation. 



4. The duck drying man can fail to thoroughly dry the duck 

 iir dry it and forget to keep it dry or make it only partly dry 

 like the Volstead law or as bone-dry as Sahara, or a Scotch 

 Presbyterian sermon, and then set it to recover under a leaky 

 roof where for one devil of moisture driven out seven new lively 

 little devils enter and dance with unholy glee. Does he do such 

 tilings? And echo answers, "Does he?" The laboratory man 

 says, "I'll say he does." 



5. The press man may neglect to keep his inlet valve well 

 open and his exhaust circulating freely so that he has nice stag- 

 nant pockets and pools of water in the plates instead of brisk 

 dry steam, or he may fail to watch his temperature and time 

 charts or use a 5/32-inch gage bar to get a 54-inch squeeze, or 

 overfill his press area, or not notice that the hydraulic pressure 

 has gone on strike or has a fit of indigestion, or he can burn the 

 belt or stretch the daylights out of it and otherwise gently man- 

 handle it. Does he? Oh, does he?. This writing man says: 

 "I'll say he does— I'll tell the world he does." 



Then the factory superintendent promptly refers to the never 

 failing compound book to discover what, if any, changes have 

 been made. If none, he is stupefied, but if there's so much as 

 one minor unimportant alteration, that's his "alibi." That lets 

 him out. Does the compounder ever make mistakes? Oh, yes! 

 Is his judgment always right? Oh, no. Is he always to blame? 

 Most emphatically he isn't. What's the answer? Now, don't 

 say "Search me," or "I give it up," because it is staring every 

 man in the factory right in the face and it is no "alibis," "no 

 passing the buck," but sensible, honest team work. 



Arthur E. Friswell. 



Jersey City, New Jersey. 



THE ACCELERATED AGING OR LIFE TEST OF RUBBER 



To the Editor: 



Dear Sir:— Your columns under the heading "What the Rubber 

 Chemists Are Doing," are always of interest and never so 

 much so as recently. 



Part of my work is compounding rubber to meet specifications 

 for rubber-lined fire hose, air-brake hose, r' -kmgs, etc., where 

 not only are there imposed limitations for weight, tensile strength, 

 elongation, permanent set, free .';ulphur, acetone and chloroform 

 extracts, etc., but in some cases, I'-r 'oss of strength and elasticity 

 when samples are subjected to the t. .?t forming the subject of this 

 letter. 



The question is, what if anything, does this test actually amount 

 to? One chemical consultant is on record that a week of these 

 conditions equals approximately a year's normal exposure. The 

 Bureau of Standards does not lay down any dictum, but the 

 test is part of their equipment. The Underwriters' Laboratories 

 insist upon it. The Associated Factory Mutual does not attach 

 much importance to it. Some chemists with whom I have talked 

 casually regard it as of some value in forming comparisons, but 

 not as at all analogous to normal exposure. Others seem to 

 think it is too good a ;' ing to discard, as it may lead to something 

 more definite. 



My own experience has been that where a lot of rubber has 

 proved weak by vulcanized test, goods made from it develop 



