September 1, 1912.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



581 



isolation of certain carbo-hydrates with two double linkages ; 

 on the one hand, from the gases obtained in the conversion of 

 coal into coke, and on the other hand, from those which accom- 

 pany petroleum, and are found in its first gaseous distillation of 

 the same. He expresses the opinion, that if this principle can be 

 carried out in conjunction with a sufficiently favorable yield, a 

 source will have been discovered for the production of a certain, 

 though probably limited, quantity of artifical rubber. The solu- 

 tion of the problem thus involved has already been accomplished 

 from a scientific point of view. 



Meanwhile it has been found possible, by a technically simple 

 process, to transform into rubber these basic carbo-hydrates, 

 which are extremely volatile, and constant in a limited degree. 

 This result was accomplished with all the homologues of isoprene, 

 hitherto obtained from natural products or accessible by means of 

 synthetic processes, as well as with isoprene itself. Prominent in 

 these researches in Germany were the Elberfeld Farbenfabriken, 

 already referred to. as well as Professor Harries, the Badische 

 Anilin und Soda Fabrik, and the Chemische Fabrik, formerly E. 

 Schoring, Berlin. 



In England Hodgkinson, Matthews and Strange, partly alone 

 and partly in conjunction with Perkin, Weizmann and others, first 

 succeeded in defining advantageous methods for carrying out the 

 same work, their discoveries, besides having scientific value, be- 

 ing protected by patents. According to the Hodgkinson process, 

 sodium amid, and by that of Matthews and Strange, alkahne and 

 earthly metals, metallic nitrogen compounds and like substances 

 are used. Rosins of various origins and other natural products 

 have also been employed as basic materials. 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF SYNTHETIC RUBBER. 



Everything repeated again and again in the daily papers as to 

 the technical production of artificial and synthetic rubber is. Dr. 

 Frank remarks, nothing else than beating up froth. Rubber 

 cannot be made from any desired material, but its production is 

 connected with scientific principles. The latter are, in any case 

 up to the present, based upon materials difficult of access, and 

 under the most favorable circumstances to be prospectively ob- 

 tained only in limited quantity. 



The above. Dr. Frank remarks, is a rough outline of what has 

 up to the present been done in this extensive field, although it has 

 been impossible to present it in complete scientific form. 



He makes the following deductions from his review of the 

 synthetic rubber question : 



SUMMARY. 



1. The production of synthetic rubber has been successful in 

 the scientific laboratory, and in a small scale in the factory. 



2. The rubber obtained has partially the same properties as 

 inferior natural rubbers. 



3. The technical problem of the production of synthetic rubber 

 has not begim to be solved, and will still have to face inter- 

 minable difficulties. 



4. Above all, no reliable proof has been adduced, which renders 

 certain the competition of synthetic with plantation rubber. 



5. An equality of price between the synthetic and the natural 

 product is to be expected in years, but as to a parity of quality 

 nothing can at present be said. Meanwhile, from a technical 

 standpoint, the synthetic products are wholly of low value. 



scene. Attention is further called to the fact that the amount 

 of capital alleged to have been subscribed up to July 6 was only 

 £80,000, forming about one-sixth of the total of preference 

 shares for which subscription had been invited. 



It is further added that: "Enthusiastic England has not 

 troubled about synthetic rubber, and has quietly gone upon its 

 summer holidays, after having qualified the whole matter as a 

 'bluff.' 



"Had the matter taken the form of a national subscription 

 for continuing the experiments, it would have met with abun- 

 dant support from the thrifty but adventurous Enghsh. 



. . . But by extrene haste, and the premature disclosure 

 of the discoveries of their scientists, the financial advisers of 

 the syndicate have done much injury to the cause of future 

 researches as to artificial rubber. . . . English rubber manu- 

 facturers have not been disturbed, but have been endeavoring 

 to keep up with their orders." 



THE ENGLISH FINANCIAL WOELD AND SYNTHETIC RTTBBEH. 



In commenting upon the latest developments in the synthetic 

 rubber question, the London correspondent of the "Gummi- 

 Zeitung" remarks that the directors of the new company could 

 have done nothing more unskillful, than to mix up their future 

 (which perhaps was favorable as to the acetone and fusel-oil 

 patents) with the question of artificial rubber. The English 

 press, it is added, was annoyed, not at the discovery itself, but 

 at the manner in which the whole matter was brought upon the 



THE NEW BRITISH SYNTHETIC RUBBER PROCESS. 



AS having organized the committee of investigation, rep- 

 resented by Professor Perkin at the recent meeting of 

 the Society of Chemical Industry, Messrs. Strange and Graham 

 have addressed a letter to the "Financial Times." They re- 

 mark that the starch used in the manufacture of synthetic rub- 

 ber contains various substances as basic materials. Starch 

 from maize costs on an average less than a penny (2 cents) 

 per pound ; only five operations being needed to convert it into 

 rubber. The only supplementary materials required are : com- 

 mon salt, costing about 30s., or $7.50 per ton; lime, which 

 costs about the same; and coal, costing ISs., or $3.75 per ton. 

 Taking this basis of raw material cost, it is added, a pound 

 of manufactured rubber would not cost more than 2 pence, ot 

 4 cents. With such cheap and abundant raw materials, it is 

 urged that there is a large margin for expenses of manufac- 

 ture, if a shilling (24 cents) per pound, is taken as the cost 

 price. It is, in fact, considered probable, that when experience 

 will have perfected the manufacturing installations, about to be 

 constructed on a large scale, the price will be established at 

 between 4d. (8 cents), and 6d. (12 cents) per pound. 



With reference to Professor Penkin's opinion that the sell- 

 ing price for several years would be 2s. 6d. (60 cents) per 

 pound, it is remarked that with such a price, more than one- 

 half of the world's rubber crop would leave no profit. This 

 proportion would include all the wild rubber collected, in- 

 cluding Para. It is. therefore, considered probable that the 

 first phase of the struggle which will inevitably take place, will 

 be between plantation rubber and synthetic rubber. 



Consequently, it is deduced, allowing for a rapid and steady 

 increase in consumption, that several years will elapse, before 

 synthetic rubber will notably affect the plantation industry. 



A BELGIAN EXPERT'S OPINION. 



In dealing with this subject, M. Gustave Van Den Kerck- 

 hove, of Brussels, the rubber expert, remarks that a general 

 misconception prevails, to the effect that researches as to syn- 

 thetic rubber only date from the time of the "boom" of 1910. 

 On the contrary, as he remarks, they have extended over a 

 much longer period. But. he adds, out of the numerous sam- 

 ples of artifi'.-ial rubber he has examined during the last twenty 

 years, he never found one meriting comparison with natural 

 rubber. 



In reply to the contention which has been put forward that 

 synthetic indigo, camphor, silk, vanilla, musk and other sub- 

 stances have proved successful, he answers : 



"In all these products, it is not necessary to iiicorporate elas- 



