284 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Mariii 1. 1912. 



A Danish View of Rubber Reclaiming. 



A WELL kiKwn manufacturer of rctlaniied rubber in Den- 

 mark thus discusses his line of business. When he 

 began, some years ago, thirj were only a few grades 

 known, and rubber manufacturers in many cases showed a dis- 

 inclination towards their use. Opinions have meanwhile 

 changed, so that rubber goods factories, he remarks, now have in 

 various cases their own reclaiming plants. 



Doubt is, however, expressed whether privately owned plants 

 will finally prevail over those which reclaim for the trade, owing 

 to the limited experience of the former. 



While some manufacturers have thus installed regeneratinj; 

 plants as a part of their equipment, they would seem to havr 

 done so experimentally, rathei- than with the idea of permanentlx 

 doing this work for themselves, and of thus solving in their own 

 factories the various prol)lems affecting the reclaiming of rulibcr 

 To use his own words : 



"In my opinion, the rubber goods manufacturer has so many 

 difficulties to conquer in his cwn work that he should leave the 

 unsolved questions f f reclamatirn to special concerns; Operating 

 such a plant is a piece of pioneer work, as the ijHancial results 

 have shown that none of the existing plants has been perma- 

 nently run at a profit." 



The difficulty lies not on'y in the qicstion of de-vulcariizatirn. 

 but also in the nature of the waste treated, whicli is no lon;jci 

 what it was five (or even two) years ago. Owirg to the situ 

 ation of crude rubber, waste now contains a notable quantity of 

 reclaimed rubber. It constantly deteriorates in quality, and is 

 gradually becoming less and less varied in character. This 

 partly results from compounding formulas being transplanted 

 from one factory to ancther, thrrugh changes in the technical 

 stafif. 



Another factor by wliich reclaiming is unfa\nral)ly influenced, 

 consists in the fiucti atfons in the prices of waste. T lie profits of 



Tre.;ti.n'c Kou.m i.n .\ U.\nish Reclaiming Iactorv. 



the operatic n naturally dcpcrd i pon the cost of the waste and 

 upon its yield, as affected by tie inferiority of the original manu- 

 factured product. It would, therefore, be to the interest of the 

 reclaiming industry for the prices of wrste to continue at a low- 

 point. If, however, hundreds of rubber goods manufacturers 

 were themselves to carry on the process, this object would not 

 be attainable. In any case, the hcpe is expressed (from the 

 reclaimer's point of view) that manufacturers v/ill abstain from 

 themselves carrying on the process, according as they more 



clearly see ils iiiipniiitable nature when undertaken upiiii ,i small 

 scale. 



One reason for the prejud ce entertained by manufacturers 

 against purcha.sed reclaimed rubber is that they do not sufficiently 

 test its pliysical and chemical properties, with the result that they 



STorK Room in .\ D.vnish Recl.mming ]■'^^■TllR^. 



use it tile wrong way. Those concerns which have nut a trailed 

 cheir.ist of their own would do better to let such investigations In- 

 carried out by a rublier laboratory. This fact is unfortunately in 

 most cases not appreciated, and an objection expressed to the 

 purchasing of reclaimed rubber, on the ground that the irticle 

 cannot be examined. In undertaking the process for themselves, 

 they entrust it to a workman, thus leading to a good deal of 

 trouble and annoyance, and not considering that it is much easier 

 to thoroughly test a product than to make it themselves. 



It would be equally unreasonable fcr the rubber goods manu- 

 facturer to reproach the reclaiirer with the mistakes of the in- 

 itial pericd, with a view to proving the necessity of carrying out 

 the process for themselves. The conditions attending early de- 

 velopment apply to the reclaiming industry in the same way as 

 they do to rubber manuf:icture. 



With regard to a suggestion which had been made of waste 

 dealers themselves becoming reclaimers, he expresses the opinion 

 that a waste deiTer witli a few thousand marks capital could nt I 

 succeed in such an enterprise. 



As to the waste arising in the process of manufacture (con- 

 sidered separately from old manufactured rubber) it is sug- 

 gested that such waste should be sorted, instead of red, white 

 and black being thrown together ; its further treatment by the 

 manufacturer, or otherwise, being thus facilitated. 



The annexed illustrations ;how the boiling and washing de- 

 partment, containing in the foreground the "sand-wasin r," in 

 which the particles of sand are removed: also a part of the stock- 

 room in a Danish reclaiming factory. 



DANISH RUBBER FACTORY REORSANIZED. 



The Aktieselskabet Roulunds I'alirikcr of Odense, an important 

 Danish belting concern, which went into liquidation a year ago. 

 has been reorganized with a capital equalling $22,400. 



Jend for Index (free) to l\!r. Pearson's "Crude Rubber and 

 Compounding Ingredients." 



