178 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 1, 1912. 



THE AMERICAN CONSUMPTION OF GOLF BALLS. 



' I 'O THE Mditor of the India Rubber Worlo: The number 

 of golf balls manufactured in this country every year is a 

 trifle over 100,000 dozen, in fact, the figures will not exceed 

 110,000, and if you name the latter figure, you may feel sure that 

 you are within 5 per cent, of the correct amount, possibly even 

 closer than this. Naturally, tliis is somewhat different from one 

 million dozen. 



I should think that England used two or three times more 

 than we do here. This is easily accounted for, because the Eng- 

 lish people play far more golf during the week than we do in 

 this country where golf is largely confined to Saturdays and 

 Sundays. 



You may also be interested to know, and you can state this, 

 if you wish, in your January issue, that the price of golf balls 

 will be reduced this year, tlie cheapest grade going back to the 

 old price of $6 per dozen, or SO cents each at retail. We were 

 compelled to make an advance on account of the increased cost 

 of rubber, and this advance having held for two years, we now 

 return to the old figures. 



Daily papers love to publish sensational figures, and really no 

 one cares, but a trade paper like your own, which is considered 

 an absolute authority, and which is so considered by this firm, 

 copies of it being constantly carried on file not only here, but 

 at our factory, should publish only facts, and these facts regard- 

 ing the athletic goods business, I am always prepared to give 

 you. Yours very respectfully, Juli.\n W. Curtiss. 



Second vice-president, A. G. Spalding & Bros. 



A NEW USE FOR GARDEN HOSE. 



A N inventive member of Engine Company 23, New York, 

 ■'"*• has devised an altogether new use for garden hose, and, 

 if it proves successful, a very important use ; namely, to supply 



Rubber Nose Guards for Firemen. 



firemen who are working in the smoke of a burning building, 

 with fresh air. The method is as follows : 



A length of garden hose is attached to the water hose, one 

 end, which is covered with a screen so that nothing but air can 

 enter, being outside of the building. The other end, which is 

 attached close to the nozzle of the hose pipe, is carried into the 



building with the firemen. It is a well-known principle of 

 physics, that the high pressure of the stream as it leaves the 

 nozzle of the hose, creates a temporary vacuum at that point. 

 The result is, that air from the outside rushes through this hose 

 to fill this vacuum. Attached to the inside of the garden hose 

 are several small tubes a few feet long, having at their other 

 end a device similar to the nose-guard worn by football players. 

 This nose-guard fits tightly over the fireman's nose, being held 

 in position by the teeth. When the firemen wear these devices, 

 they can get a supply of pure air in the midst of the densest 

 smoke. The invention has been tested several times by New 

 York firemen, with satisfactory results. If further tests con- 

 firm the good opinion created by the tests already made, the 

 device is likely to be adopted generally. 



A NEW COMMITTEE ON RUBBER ANALYSIS. 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World: It is a well- 

 recognized fact that the art of analyzing rubber compounds has 

 not reached the state of perfection which the commercial impor- 

 tance of rubber products seems to warrant. Various chemists 

 have developed methods of analysis possessing more or less 

 merit, but at the present time these methods cannot be relied 

 upon to give concordant results. Users of rubber insulated wire 

 are particularly interested in the analysis of rubber compounds 

 owing to the recent practice of inserting chemical clauses into 

 specifications. The manufacturers are equally interested, because 

 in the present state of the art they are likely to have insulation 

 refused by their customers, not because it is defective, but because 

 some unforeseen method of chemical analysis indicates that the 

 specifications have not been complied with. Chemists are inter- 

 ested not only in the scientific aspects of the problem, but also 

 in its commercial aspects, because the chemical specification for 

 rubber, with all it implies in its relation to chemists, will drop 

 out of use unless the chemists are able to stand back of it with 

 an analysis that cannot be controverted. Realizing these condi- 

 tions, Mr. E. B. Katte, chief engineer of electric traction of the 

 New York Central Railroad, invited a number of prominent 

 manufacturers, consumers and chemists to a conference, at which 

 the subject of rubber specifications could be discussed and steps 

 taken to secure the desired uniformity in rubber analysis. 



The conference was held on December 7 at 335 Madison ave- 

 nue, the attendance including representatives of the United States 

 Army, the New York Central Railroad, the Pennsylvania Rail- 

 road, the General Electric Company, the Standard Underground 

 Cable Company, the Simplex Electrical Company, the Hazard 

 Manufacturng Company, the American Chemical Society and 

 several chemists who have made a specialty of rubber analysis. 

 Major Samuel Reber was elected chairman, and after a dis- 

 cussion of the various aspects of the problem the following com- 

 mittee was nominated to determine a standard procedure in the 

 analysis of rubber compounds: 



Mr. H. B. Rodman, chemist, Pennsylvania Railroad, Altoona, 

 Pennsylvania. 



Mr. C. R. Boggs, chemist, Simplex Electrical Company, Cam- 

 liridge. Massachusetts. 



Mr. W. B. Gieser, chemist, New York Central Railroad, Al- 

 bany, New York. 



Mr. P. Poetschke, chemist, the Lederle Laboratories, 39 West 

 Thirty-eighth street. New York. 



Mr. James P. Millwood, consulting chemist, 246 Willoughby 

 avenue, Brooklyn, New York. 



Mr. Wallace Clark, head of the wire and cable department of 

 the General Electric Company, Schenectady, New York. 



Mr. W. A. Del Mar, assistant engineer, New York Central 

 Railroad, 335 Madison avenue. New York. 



The work of the committee will be largely in the nature of 

 laboratory tests and comparison of results by correspondence and 

 periodic meetings. — W. A. Del Mar, Secretary. 



