October 1, 1911.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



35 



A NEW PNEUMATIC SUSPENSION WHEEL. 



SCRAP RUBBER AND THE 10 PER CENT. DUTY. 



CIVE years ago a pneumatic iron tire was brought out and 

 ^ put on the market intended for heavy trucks and sight- 

 seeing autos. The general principle of the wheel was that it 

 was made in two parts, an inner wheel and an outer wheel, and 

 between the two, about eight inches from the extreme rim, was 



Rutherford's Iron Tire Pxeumatic Wheel. 



a pneumatic rubber tube. This wheel did not make any great 

 progress towards general adoption, but the principle on which 

 the wheel was operated has been the subject of a great deal 

 of thought among inventors since that time. As a result of 

 this a new auto wheel called the Pneumatic Suspension Wheel, 

 and made by the Pneumatic Suspension Wheel Company, of 

 Stamford, Connecticut, lias recently been thoroughly tested on 

 30 heavy motors in New York and Brooklyn, some of the trucks 

 weighing as much as 12 tons. 



This wheel also consists of a wheel within a wheel, an inner 

 pneumatic tube within a rubber shoe being placed between the 

 two parts of the wheel. Steel plates and spokes keep this rub- 



Pneumatic Suspension Wheel. 



ber tube rigidly in position. It is claimed that this new wheel 

 distributes the weight over two-thirds of the rubber tire instead 

 of having it fall directly on the one point of contact. If this 

 new wheel is a success, and it seems, to have been thoroughly 

 tested, it will be possible for the heaviest trucks to enjoy the 

 advantage of pneumatic tires. The actual tire on this new wheel 

 is composed of sectional wooden blocks, five inches deep, made 

 of rock elm, and said to be capable of running 1,500 miles with- 

 out the necessity of replacement. Side view and sectional view 

 are shown in the accompanying cuts. 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World: 

 'T'HE scrap rubber trade of this country has of late been greatly 

 ■'■ disturbed in the execution of its peaceful calling by the in- 

 quisitorial activity of the United States Customs Department. • 



A number of consignments coming from abroad have been held 

 up at the piers and submitted to the most minute examination, 

 thus often delaying their delivery into the hands of the consignees 

 for several weeks and inconveniencing .practically the whole of 

 the reclaimers' and rubber manufacturers' trade. 



The fundamental reason for these vexatious proceedings is to 

 be looked for in the wording' of the customs tariff, which runs as 

 follows : 



No. 479. Waste, not specially provided for in this sec- 

 tion, ten per centum ad valorem. 



No. 591. India rubber, crude, and milk of, and scrap of 

 refuse India rubber, fit for re-manufacture, 

 and which has been worn but by use, to 

 enter free. 



Up till a few months back, every importer paid willingly 10 

 per cent, duty on all parcels of new scrap which he imported, 

 and all other consignments were passed by the Customs free of 

 duty. Of late, however, the Treasury Department has thought it 

 advisable to submit the latter consignment to a closer inspection 

 which, on the face of it, would not have disturbed anybody in 

 the trade, as old rubber is always sold separately from the new. 

 This, of course, is only reasonable as the rubber reclaimers often 

 pay a fraction of a cent more for the latter, it being clean and 

 ready for the machine, while the old scrap has to be submitted 

 first to an expensive sorting and cleansing process. By going 

 through the old scrap, the custom house authorities have now 

 decided that any scrap which does not show actual signs of 

 deterioration by use— even if it is made useless for its originally 

 intended purpose by mechanical means, such as tearing or cutting 

 lip — must be classed as new scrap and 10 per cent, ad valorem 

 duty paid on it, and they have even claimed this in some instances 

 on the whole of the shipments, which, in their idea, contained 

 new scrap. Now anyone who has the slightest knowledge of the 

 grading of scrap knows that a good many articles, although used 

 for years, might not show any outer signs of wear, as for instance, 

 gas-piping, bottle rings, pump-washers, flanges, hard rubber 

 goods, motor inner tubes, bicycle inner tubes, etc., etc. Some 

 of these must be scraped for hygienic, others for mechanical 

 reasons, and we repeat, would not show any signs of previous use. 



There is no question of a doubt that these paragraphs were 

 not originally intended to penalize the whole of the rubber trade, 

 but that the wording of same has been misconstrued in a way 

 which hampers the manufacturer, reclaimer and dealer alike in 

 an unheard-of manner. 



It is intended to bring this matter before Congress next session 

 and to do everything to abolish these vexatious impositions. 



We must have foreign scrap, if our manufacturers would not 

 lose their position in the world's trade and we must have jt 

 enter free of duty whether it is rendered unfit for its originally 

 intended purpose by use or by other means. 



A powerful firm of attorneys has already been retained to 

 take up this question at Washington and it is hoped that the 

 whole of the scrap rubber trade, all india-rubber manufacturers 

 and reclaimers will join hands. Several important firms have 

 already expressed their willingness to give every assistance, but it 

 is necessary that everybody in the trade should help and thus 

 bring about the looked-for change. W. F. P. 



Send for Index (free) to Mr. Pearson's "Crude Rubber and 

 Compounding Ingredients." 



