February 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



231 



the free acid and treat under pressure with a 3 per cent, solution 

 of sal-soda (presumably the carbonate) or caustic soda, whicii 

 they say facilitates the ultimate result very materially. The tem- 

 perature of treatment is 310 to 335 degs. F, and the time three to 

 five hours. 



The acid treatment inter alia rots the canvas and the alkaK 

 finally removes it. Except that the time is much shorter, there 

 does not seem any particular difference in the latter part of the 

 process from Marks' patent, as worked by the North Western 

 Company, Limited, at Liverpool, nor in principle from Price's 

 patent, worked by the Rubber Regenerating Company, Limited, at 

 Manchester, On the face of it, it would seem by the granting of 

 this new patent that any one can use the alkali process as long 

 as he follows it or precedes it by some other process of more or 

 less utility. This is an interesting supposition, and one that is not 

 without importance to large commercial interests. The resultant 

 rubber by the new process should have a high rubber content, as 

 the acid will remove much of the fillers and the alkali the resins 

 and substitutes. 



Mr. Maldwin Drunimond. who a few months ago retired from 

 the directorate of the Crude Rubber Washing Company, Limited, 

 has been elected a member of that very 

 exclusive club the Royal Yacht Squad- 

 ron. He is a member of the Drummond 

 family so long known in connection with banking in London, and 

 is married to the widow of the son of Mr. Cyrus Field, whose 

 name and achievements w-ill, of course, be familiar to American 

 readers. Mr. Drummond had for some years been prominently 

 associated financially with the British Murac Company, Limited. 



Mr. T. Hallas has severed his connection with the firm of T. 

 Hallas & Co., Limited, of Cinder Hill, Todmorden, Lancashire, 

 which he founded a few years ago for making reclaimed rubber 

 and substitutes. He has joined the Haycliffe Rubber Company, of 

 Great Horton, Bradford, as a partner with Mr. A. Crowther, and 

 he intends to enlarge the works and take on the manufacture of 

 other rubber goods than the heel pads, which are now the princi- 

 pal output of the company. 



]\lessrs. W. H. Veno, T. Jackson and H. B. Rudolf have been 

 elected additional directors of the Gorton Rubber Co., Limited. 

 They are all well-known local commercial men, having sub- 

 stantial holdings in the company. 



PERSONAL 

 MENTION. 



LONDON RUBBER NOTES. 



(By a Sfi'cial Correspondent.) 



THE ARMY AND NAVY STORES. 



A T all the important shopping centers in any leading town, 

 ■'^ the public should be able not only to purchase time-honored 

 lines, but to inspect a wide range of .the latest novelties in such 

 classes of goods as these emporiums make it their business to 

 supply. 



"But think how valuable is every inch of our show-rooms and 

 stock-rooms," I seem to hear many shopkeepers e.xclaiming. 

 "Would you have us turn half our premises into a lumber-house 

 for the thousand and one useless inventions that are patented 

 year in, year out ?" 



To which I reply that no one with the ghost of an instinct for 

 business expects or wishes the tradesman to be a philanthropist. 

 Business is business, and admitted without reserve that it must 

 be pursued in the purely commercial spirit, nevertheless there is 

 no denying that there are good, bad and indifferent commercial 

 policies under which it is carried on. The question which vitally 

 concerns us at the moment is whether those up-to-date business 

 houses known as "stores" are governed by a progressive policy 

 with regard to new lines of goods, particularly those in which 

 rubber plays a constructive part. 



Every inventor naturally looks upon his latest achievement as 



the one thing wanted to revolutionize the world. That is pre- 

 cisely how he ought to feel about his work. Who is likely to 

 believe in his invention if he himself has only a half-hearted 

 faith in it? How can he ever hope to succeed in the always 

 difficult task of making converts unless his enthusiasm is so 

 keen that it tends to become infectious? Every shopkeeper is 

 inclined to think that there are rather too many new things under 

 the sun nowadays, to look upon the inventor as a crank, and 

 to regard his latest patent with suspicion. This conservative 

 attitude of traders is all the inore to be regretted seeing that 

 manufacturers as a body are very progressive. The manufacturer, 

 as a rule, encourages the man with ideas ; time after time he 

 takes the risk of materializing such ideas on a wholesale scale; 

 time after time he has to face the difliculties of getting the new 

 goods on the market. If the trader had to deal directly with the 

 inventor, there would be sound reason for his extreme wariness — 

 it behooves the business man to be wary of all forms of genius, 

 from madness upwards. But it is the manufacturer who has 

 the responsibility of dealing with the inventor ; the trader is 

 only called upon to decide whether he will stock the goods made 

 by men who are certainly his peers in matters of business. Little 

 shopkeepers can hardly be blamed if they do not take the risk 

 of buying new lines of goods with the enterprising idea of in- 

 troducing them to the public ; nor even if, considering the lim- 

 ited accommodation of their premises, they will not consent to 

 take a stock of such goods on consignment. But let a shop call 

 itself a "Stores," and unless it be a village depot where lollipops, 

 candles and sundry articles of clothing hobnob on the same 

 shelf, people expect it to be quite up-to-date as regards its stock. 

 Personally. I think that not only the manufacturers, but the pub- 

 lic might reasonably expect even more of the really first-class 

 stores in a big city; their stock should be ahead of the times, in 

 that it includes a good show of latest inventions, and their as- 

 sistants should be well informed in the current history of in- 

 dustrial development in so far as it affects their particular depart- 

 ment. In a word, "Stores" should be run on exhibition lines to 

 a great extent. 



I am at present engaged in the interesting and illuminating 

 business of going the round of the big London stores, trying to 

 discover by a method of my own the policy under which their 

 rubber department is carried on. My role is that of a quite or- 

 dinary member of the intelligent public. Being interested in 

 rubber goods, I read all the advertisements in the leading British, 

 American and foreign periodicals that are wholly or partly devot- 

 ed to the interests of the rubber industry. In imagination I 

 put myself in the place of all manner of people : I am worked 

 up to a fever pitch of anxiety to try this and that new tire for 

 my motor ; various new kinds of waterproof garments appeal to 

 me as just the thing to include in my kit when next I go to the 

 tropics, indulge in a round of winter sports, or join in a fishing 

 expedition ; as a surgeon, such and such rubber appliances seem 

 to me decided improvements on others I am using ; I feel sure 

 I could win any golf tournament if only I used such and such 

 a make of golf balls. Then I go the round of the stores, and 

 ask to look at the various goods to which I have been attracted 

 by advertisements. Can they or can they not show them to me? 

 That is one great question, in the nature of a searching test of 

 their efficiency and general usefulness. Again, if they have any 

 of these goods in stock, can the assistant who is attending to me 

 point out to me the special advantages of the new lines over 

 their predecessors of the same class ? Can he, in the case of a 

 new invention, explain to me its advantages? And yet again, if 

 the goods I want to see are not kept in stock, has the assistant 

 ever heard of them? Moreover, I try to find out whether the 

 assistant can discuss with me various current topics connected 

 with the rubber industry. And sometimes I adopt the bold test- 

 plan of asking to be shown the very latest thing made of rubber 

 that has been taken into stock. 



In relating my experiences gained during such expeditions, I 



