336 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1912. 



of the rubber manufacturer to have an analysis of the reclaimed 

 rubber as a preliminary to purchase. It is now quite the com- 

 mon thing to supply not only the chemical analysis, but also the 

 tensile strength. This procedure is not always to the liking of 

 the reclaimers, but it has been forced upon them and they submit 

 with as much grace as possible. Certainly this procedure is not 

 universal, as at least one very important concern has hitherto de- 

 clined to furnish the particulars asked for, and has announced 

 its intention to continue business on the old lines. A difficulty 

 arises in the fact that . the reclaimers get no corresponding 

 analysis from the rubber scrap merchant ; therefore the stock 

 which they buy, though sold as similar to previous deliveries, 

 may differ sufficiently to cause trouble vifith the purchase of the 

 reclaimed rubber, if he feels inclined to hold the reclaimer to 

 the exact figures of the analysis he has submitted. It seems to 

 me that a certain amount of latitude as regards the figures given 

 must be recognized by the buyer as essential under the par- 

 ticular circumstances. 



To refer to another topic the quotations for the price of scrap 

 rubber in New York as given month by month in The India 

 Rubber World, are of interest to reclaimers on this side, espe- 

 cially where they vary from English quotations. Some of the 

 figures are practically identical. In other cases I note, taking the 

 figures in the February issue, that motor tires and goloshes are 

 rather cheaper in England, while cycle tires, garden hose and mat- 

 ting are dearer. By far the greatest difference is to be seen in the 

 quotation for cab tires, the American being very much cheaper 

 than the English. This, I am told, by a man who has had ex- 

 perience in reclaiming in both countries, is due to the inferior 

 quality of the American tire. I am not saying this in any con- 

 tentious spirit or with a desire to arouse the passions of my 

 American readers, but merely pass it on as a plausible ex- 

 planation of what has struck some people as an anomaly. 



NEW RUSSIAN SYNTHETIC HUBBEE3 



With reference to the alleged sudden discovery of a synthetic 

 rubber by Professor Ostromislensky, of Moscow, it is reported 

 that in the course of a study of the properties of benzole, the 

 above-named chemist discovered a substance very similar to 

 rubber. In the further elaboration of this discovery he is said 

 to have very soon produced a synthetic rubber quite equal to the 

 natural product. Ultra-violet rays are understood to play a 

 prominent part in this process of production. The price is stated 

 to be 23 rubles per pud (about 33 cents per pound), and the or- 

 ganization is reported of a company to exploit the invention. 



Commenting upon the above statements, the "Gummi-Zeitung" 

 remarks : 



"The statement that this report has caused great sensation in 

 the rubber industry is in every respect incorrect : experts have 

 not been disturbed. Why should not a Russian scientist succeed 

 in discovering synthetic rubber, after this has already taken 

 place in Germany and England? 



"That is, however, all. That thereby the product is already on 

 the market, that a fixed price can be quoted for it, that its prop- 

 erties have been tested, etc., we doubt on the basis of the ex- 

 periments made in this branch. 



"Synthetic rubber does not appear suddenly; it does not in a 

 single day become an industrial product. Whether Germany, 

 England or Russia may first succeed in producing it in market- 

 able condition, remains to be seen. 



"For the present we are still pretty far distant from this end, 

 and even in Moscow there are no new hitherto untried materials 

 available as sources. For the present there is, consequently, no 

 ground for anxiety." 



PROPOSED FKfeNCH DUTY ON" RUBBER. 



By a motion submitted to the French Chamber of Deputies, it 

 has been proposed to levy a duty upon rubber from countries 

 other than the colonial possessions of France. In advocating this 

 measure it has been urged that the French colonies are at a 

 manifest disadvantage, as compared with the older and better 

 supported possessions of other countries. The necessity is fur- 

 ther indicated of opening up new territory for rubber and ex- 

 lending the production of existing sources of supply, with a view 

 to attracting capital to the national colonies. 



The fact is likewise prominently brought forward that rubber 

 is the only French colonial product not favored bv the French 

 tariff. 



In their patriotic zeal, these French legislators seem to have 

 ignored the fact that the rubber production of the French colo- 

 nies is far from being sufficient to cover the requirements of 

 their national rubber industry. Moreover, the grades there pro- 

 duced are not regarded with the same favor as those from other 

 sources. Satisfaction has been expressed at the French Minister 

 of Commerce having declared himself as being opposed to the 

 idea of a duty on rubber. 



TIRE PRINCIPLES MATHEMATICALLY EXPRESSED. 



In an address recently delivered by Professor Andre Michelin 

 before the Society of Civil Engineers of France, some interesting 

 statements were made relative to the relations between the 

 weight placed on a pneumatic tire and the amount of wear to 

 be secured from the tire. The professor said : 



"We have experimented to discover the relation existing be- 

 tween the lasting power of a tire and the weight it supports, and 

 from the results of a great number of tests we have been able to 

 deduce this empiric law : That the mileage of a tire is inversely 

 proportionate to the cube of the weight it supports. 



"Thus if the weight is doubled, the wear will be approximately 

 eight times more rapid. If the weight be increased by even so 

 little as S per cent., the wear on the tire will be increased about 

 14 per cent. . . . The solid rubber tire has been retained simply 

 to lessen the noise and reduce the violence of the jolting." 



He also made another exceedingly interesting statement regard- 

 ing the incompressibility of rubber : 



"Rubber, unfortunately, although elastic to a remarkable 

 degree and extremely pliable, is nevertheless almost incompres- 

 sible ; much more so, indeed, than the greater number of solid 

 bodies — a strange fact, which is but little known. 



"Consequently, tires made of solid rubber give practically the 

 same result as if hollow and filled with water. With such a tire, 

 a jolt would cause but a very small alteration in its shape, on 

 account of the slight displacement of the molecules of water, 

 which move slowlj; among themselves. 



"But in an air-filled tire a similar jolt would cause a great 

 change in shape because of the instantaneous displacement of a 

 complete layer of the compressed air, the molecules in this case 

 being extremely rapid in their movement." 



.'\ Frenth patent has been issued for a process of applying rub- 

 ber to the manufacture of billiard cues. 



Paris trade advices state that in 1910 France exported 4,76,S,420 

 pounds of rubber tires, valued at $5,334,387. The sales were to 

 all the leading countries of the world. 



A Swiss firm with an extensive business in all parts of Switzer- 

 land, desires the agency in that country for American rubber nov- 

 elties, according to Consular Report No. 8,090. 



CESSATION OF BOHEMIAN RUBBER FACTORY. 



It is reported that the machinery and stock of the Graslitz 

 (Bohemia) Rubber Works have been purchased by a German rub- 

 ber factory ; it not being in contemplation to again operate the 

 Bohemian concern. 



