236 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April i, 1904. 



of critics of his own work and often has special tests of new 

 processes or appliances going for years before he accepts or re- 

 jects the results that they develop. 



Not only has Mr. Forsyth brought to a successful issue a 

 host of experiments in mechanical rubber goods, to which he 

 has rigidly held the production of the Boston Belting Co., but 

 he has been interested in pioneering other lines by assisting 

 those who had ideas but not the knowledge or ability to de- 

 velop them. Thus it is a matter of history that his helpfulness 

 was a factor in starting other lines like footwear, insulated 

 wire, clothing, and surgical goods, etc., and made them suc- 

 cessful much earlier than they could ordinarily have hoped 

 to be. 



SQUIRES QUICK DRYING APPARATUS. 



ARTHUR C. SQUIRES, of Akron, Ohio, who is well 

 known to the rubber trade, sends to The India Rub- 

 ber World a pen drawing of a quick drying apparatus of his 

 own design, which he has already installed in a number of 

 American rubber factories. It is used for the drying of crude 

 rubber that has been washed and sheeted as thin as may be. 

 The dryer is a small room, 10 feet each way, the whole being 

 lined with sheet 

 iron. Instead of 

 hanging up the 

 rubber, it is fold 

 ed over remov- 

 able shelves of 

 iron and galvan- 

 ized wire, X ' ncn 

 mesh. These 

 shelves are 9' 6" 

 long, and 4' 8" 



wide, and when the dryer is full there rests upon each one, 

 sheets of rubber to a depth of about 3". Heat is applied 

 through steam pipes at the bottom, while a small revolving fan 

 at the top removes the moisture laden air. The dryer shown 

 will handle about 3000 pounds in 24 hours, the heat being 

 kept at 150 F. 



THE GOLF BALL TRADE. 



THE importations of manufactured Gutta-percha into the 

 United States have increased remarkably within the last 

 few years and in fact have almost quadrupled within a year. In 

 the year 1902 the importations of manufactured Gutta-percha 

 were $121,123, anc ' tr, e importations for the same goods in 1903 

 amounted to $442,580. Now what is the increase? An inves- 

 tigation into the golf ball business demonstrated very clearly 

 that the increase was not in that line. Mr. Charles Cox, man- 

 ager of the golf department of A. G. Spalding & Brothers (New 

 York), who handle more golf materials than any others in this 

 country, says that the increased importations of Gutta-percha 

 do not come from golf goods. 



" As a matter of fact," says this authority, " the importations 

 of golf balls amount to nothing. I do not believe that there is 

 as much as fifty dozen golf balls imported, and these as you 

 must know are solid balls, made for a few cranks who do not 



recognize the merits of the rubber cored ball. Three or four 

 years ago we imported about $150,000 worth of balls; now 

 there are five or ten times as many golf balls exported as are 

 imported. It is well understood that the rubber cored ball is 

 very much better than the solid Gutta-percha ball, and of 

 course this ball is a Yankee invention. We make our own golf 

 balls under the Haskell license, and the balls that are made in 

 Europe are under the same license. 



" The golf ball business in this country is many times as large 

 as it formerly was, and we sell a thousand dozen where we used 

 to sell a hundred dozen. But we do not import our stuff. As 

 the game grows in popularity in America, America shows its 

 ability to furnish what is needed. Golf was a Scotch and Eng- 

 lish game to start with, now those countries use American balls 

 to play it with." 



TELEPHONE SWITCHBOARD CLEANER. 



THE accompanying illustration shows a very useful and 

 economical apparatus for cleaning telephone exchange 

 switchboards, the utility of which is directly dependent upon 

 the use made in it of India-rubber. All those who are familiar 

 with telephone switchboards and their accessories, know the 

 difficulty of 

 keeping them 

 free from dust, 

 corrosion, and 

 the trouble re- 

 sult i n g there- 

 from. More es- 

 pecially is this 

 true of the com- 

 mon battery 

 switchboard 

 where cabling 

 and wiring are 

 more numerous 

 and difficult of 

 access. The ap- 

 paratus consists 

 of a yi HP. motor 

 belted to an air 

 blower, the two 

 being mounted 

 upon a wooden 

 horse which is 



on rollers and can easily be moved around the room by the 

 operator. There are a plug, extension cord and switch for 

 making connection with the house lighting system for operat- 

 ing the motor. The motor has an extension shaft on one side 

 that carries a buffer. This is used for polishing plugs, to ensure 

 perfect contact in the spring- jacks. The air blower has at- 

 tached about 20 feet of rubber hose with nozzle. With this 

 apparatus switchboards can receive a systematic, rapid, and 

 economical cleaning. Devised by J. E. Peavey, superintend- 

 ent of equipment of The Cincinnati Suburban Bell Telephone 

 Co. (Cincinnati, Ohio), which company have had it in satisfac- 

 tory use for some time. 



Cotton and Rubber Sporting Shoes. — An importation 

 of sporting shoes, composed of cotton and India-rubber, was 

 assessed for duty at Plattsburg, New York, as rubber goods. 

 The protest of the importer that the same should be classed as 

 wearing apparel composed in chief value of cotton and having 

 India-rubber as a component material, was sustained. 



