October i, 1903.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



13 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



IN the August number of The India Rubber World ap- 

 pears a communication entitled " Obscure Causes of Fac- 

 tory Fires " which invites a word of comment, because the 

 author seems to have cast his net of suspicion rather too 

 widely, and to have caught in it substances which are out of 

 place therein. He says litharge, whiting, and lamp- 

 rubber black are all used in practically all rubber factories, 

 factory j 11 Q j tnem are subject under wrong conditions 



FIRES- ' . . 



to spontaneous combustion. Now it seems to me 

 that this statement is calculated to cause unnecessary alarm in 

 the factory, as far as litharge and whiting are concerned, be- 

 cause not only have I never heard of these bodies evincing a 

 tendency to spontaneous combustion, but also because it is dif- 

 ficult on chemical grounds to understand how they could act 

 in this way. It would have aided to completeness if the author 

 had stated the particular wrong conditions under which these 

 bodies become dangerous, but information on this interesting 

 point is withheld. With regard to lampblack, the case is differ- 

 ent, and the hand of warning is rightly extended. Lamp- 

 black as used in rubber factories is of various origins and densi- 

 ties, and although it is difficult if not impossible for any one ob- 

 server to speak precisely, I may say that in my own experience 

 it is only the heavy variety prepared by the carbonization of 

 cellulose in retorts that needs to be looked upon with suspicion. 

 This variety unless carefully prepared with the view of pre- 

 venting spontaneous combustion may easily give rise to this 

 phenomenon, and it is always advisable to buy it in small 

 casks and to store these in a place where an accident would not 

 be likely to lead to a general conflagration. However, if care- 

 fully prepared it is safe enough, and it is a long time since I 

 heard of any trouble in a rubber works from this source. The 

 gas blacks so largely produced in America do not seem at all 

 liable to spontaneous combustion to judge by British experience 

 of them. The reference to the possibility of a bubble or flaw 

 in a window pane acting as a burning glass is not at all super- 

 fluous, and I have every reason to suppose that a case in my ex- 

 perience where a cold curing machine was fired was brought 

 about by this agency. With regard to insurance, the British 

 firms make a strong distinction between the different portions 

 of our large factories, those few rooms where bisulphide of car- 

 bon or naphtha is used being either not insured at all or only 

 at a prohibitive rate, while the rest of the factory comes under 

 lenient treatment. With regard to spontaneous combus- 

 tion of coal used as fuel, it does not seem at all necessary to con- 

 sider the question, it being very rare for stocks to be accumu- 

 lated weekly as daily delivery being the rule. 



In an important paper on "Problems in the Fat Industry" 



(Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry, June, 1903) Dr. 



Lewkowitsch makes a brief reference to 



dr. lewkowitsch'S the rubber substitute industry. He says : 



REMARKS. 



"Oils vulcanized with sulphur have al- 

 ready acquired commercial application, on account of their 

 cheapness, as witness the sad state in which we find our India- 

 rubber tubing after very short use." This statement no doubt 

 applies correctly to a good deal of the elastic black rubber 

 tubing which used to be made of pure rubber, but as regards a 

 good deal of the red and grey tubing used in chemical labora- 

 tories I think the defects are due to over compounding with 

 mineral rather than to the use of substitutes. Another remark 



of his, although not particularly original, is of sufficient import- 

 ance to be reproduced verbatim: " Vulcanized fish oils have 

 also been brought somewhat prominently into the market, and 

 it must be a matter for regret that the working out of the pro- 

 cesses for the preparation of such products as Volenite, Mapo- 

 nite, etc., have not been completed on a small scale before they 

 were placed before the public, as non-success only serves to 

 discredit further technical efforts." With regard to this para- 

 graph, with which I cordially agree, it recurs to my mind that 

 Dr. Lewkowitsch's name appeared on the prospectus of Vole- 

 nite, though only in connection with a certificate as to the cost 

 of treating the oil. I don't think he ever pronounced upon the 

 capabilities of Volenite, a fact which no doubt contributes to 

 his peace of mind at the present time, as no expert cares to be 

 associated with vain prophecies. 



The recent patent of The Rubber Balloon Co. of America 



(Brooklyn, New York) for a seamless balloon is of interest. As 



stated in the specification, the ordinary method of 



rubber manufacture as carried out in England by welding 



BALLOONS. , - , , . 



the seams together by hammers leads to a consid- 

 erable loss during the inflation process. From a hygienic 

 point of view the seamless process seems to me desirable, be- 

 cause of the deafening noise the workers — generally girls— are 

 subjected to by the rapid work of the machine hammers. Pos- 

 sibly, as applied to balloons, the process is patentable, though 

 the idea of the manufacture of seamless articles from rubber 

 solution by applying the latter to a mold of the required shape 

 is not at all new, it having been carried out in England at least 

 fifteen years ago. Some firms were more successful than oth- 

 ers, a quick-drying naphtha being an important desideratum. 

 Of course it is one thing to patent a process and another to 

 ensure its satisfactory competition with existing processes ; 

 those who still use the jointed sheet rubber process will there- 

 fore look with interest for the practical results of the Brooklyn 

 firm. Whether it is because the business does not offer suf- 

 ficient attractions financially or because the rationale is not well 

 understood I am unable to say, but the manufacture of balloons 

 is, I believe, still limited in Great Britain to two firms, and one 

 of these does not manufacture the raw material itself. The 

 home of this class of business is to be found in France, the rub- 

 ber having for many years, at any rate, been supplied by the two 

 large Manchester firms of Charles Macintosh & Co. and David 

 Moseley's Sons. 



A considerable change has come over this business in the 

 last few years. Formerly it was all made in the rubber works 

 and sent out in tins, but now owing to the 

 larger retail demand among cyclists and elec- 

 tricians, and also to the increased cost of rail- 

 way freight, the larger number of dealers make their own, buy- 

 ing the masticated rubber from the rubber works. This has 

 brought about a change in the quality of the rubber used, 

 though I am not prepared to say that the change is altogether 

 for the worse. Competition has led practically to the exclusion 

 of soft fine Pard, and a mixture of fine and Congo, and, indeed, 

 in some cases, Congo alone, is used. For cyclists' use a solu- 

 tion containing 11 per cent, of rubber is usual and this can be 

 made by dealers at about 6 pence per pound, and this put 

 up in tubes is retailed at about 2 shillings per pound. The 

 profit here is not so large as it might seem, because of the 



india-rubber 

 solution- 



