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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October i, 1903. 



SOME FACTS REGARDING L1THOPONE. 



IN an article in the Zeilschrift fur angewatuite Chemie Dr. E. 

 Kochs and Dr. F. Seyfert call attention to the fact that 

 lithopone, the pigment so much employed in the manufacture 

 of rubber goods and in the linoleum industry, is capable, by 

 reason of its excellent covering power and cheapness, of prov- 

 ing a serious competitor to the expensive body colors. The 

 manufacturers of lithopone at present guarantee a certain 

 amount of zinc sulphide in the various grades (green, red, 

 white, blue, or yellow seal), but the analyses carried out by the 

 authors for a number of years have demonstrated that very few 

 samples actually contained the percentage guaranteed. The 

 authors, after reviewing the various modes of production of 

 lithopone and also the manufacture of sulphopone, discuss the 

 method of analyzing lithopone and give as a reason for the 

 non observance of the warranty the fact that the entire per- 

 centage of zinc contained in the lithopone is not in the form of 

 zinc sulphide, but that zinc salts soluble in acetic acid of 5 per 

 cent, are likewise present. They occur therein, generally in the 

 shape of zinc carbonate, up to 12 per cent., which is due to a 

 defective mode of production. 



For the purpose of separating the zinc sulphide from the 

 other zinc salts, acetic acid of 5 per cent, should be used and it 

 is necessary, besides, to determine the amount of sulphur con- 

 tained in the lithopone for verification. The final conclusion 

 arrived at by the authors is that 1 to 2 per cent, of zinc soluble 

 in dilute acetic acid hardly has any influence upon the quality 

 of the lithopone, but a larger percentage should not be coun- 



tenanced by the buyer. Only fifteen of the samples received 

 showing the guaranteed amount of zinc sulphide, it is within 

 the buyer's interest to always have the merchandise analyzed. 

 The dealers, in giving the guarantee, take it for granted that 

 in the production all the zinc combines with the sulphur, while 

 as a matter of fact this is not always the case, if the manufac- 

 turing process is imperfect. The duty, therefore, devolves upon 

 the manufacturer to have the article analyzed so as to be sure 

 that the merchandise actually contains the warranted amount 

 of zinc sulphide. If the entire amount of zinc found isaccepted 

 as zinc sulphide almost all the lithopones conform to the guar- 

 anteed amount. For this reason the manufacturers are unwill- 

 ing to accept analyses in which this is not done, losing sight of 

 the fact that with a faulty mode of production the reaction 

 between barium sulphide and zinc sulphate does not always 

 take place in a perfect manner, 



Moreover, attention is called to the fact that lithopone of 

 good quality should not contain more than 0.2 to 0.3 per 

 cent, of moisture. A lithopone holding in its composition 

 more than 2 per cent, does not mix with oil as thoroughly as 

 it ought. The paper closes with the advice to pay attention 

 to a very careful taking of the samples; this is essential for 

 the conformity of the analysis, but is still frequently lost 

 sight of. 



As lithopone is extensively employed in the rubber manu- 

 facture, as well as in the linoleum industry, the above informa- 

 tion may also interest our readers, since frequently a higher 

 percentage of zinc carbonate as well as an increased amount of 

 moisture have a disturbing action. — Gummi Zeitung. 



REVIEW OF THE CRUDE RUBBER MARKET. 



AT the time of going to press with this issue crude rubber 

 is selling at higher prices than at any time in the past 

 history of the trade, with the single exception of a brief 

 period in 1882, when the extreme price of $1.20 per 

 pound was reached. From present indications it is possible 

 that, before these pages reach our readers, an equally high price 

 may again be reached. The market was firm and with an up- 

 ward tendency throughout September, but the most marked ad- 

 vance occurred immediately after the Antwerp sale, on the 17th, 

 where all the grades offered brought much higher prices than 

 the brokers' estimations. 



The advance has given rise in some quarters to conjectures 

 that speculative trading is the cause. Such reports are always 

 rife at such a time, but they are not always verified by subse- 

 quent developments. It is exceedingly doubtful whether any 

 influence in the trade could long hold the price of crude rub- 

 ber at an unwarrantably high figure, and the risks attending an 

 attempt to "corner" rubber — greater, perhaps, than in the 

 case of any other commodity — are too great and too well un- 

 derstood to be attempted by a house expecting to be engaged 

 permanently in the trade. A glance at the diagram on another 

 page of this Journal will show that rubber prices never remain 

 long at one level ; advances are apt to be sudden, even when 

 rising to a very high figure, and the decline is equally sudden 

 and just as marked. 



Even if control of the market could be gained by speculative 

 traders, the length of time during which extreme prices can be 

 maintained is never longer than a manufacturer, with a fair 

 supply on hand, can afford to remain out of the market. The 

 India Rubber World is assured by the management of one 

 of the largest manufacturing concerns in the trade that all of 



its factories can be operated for the next five months without 

 the purchase of another pound of rubber, and an extreme ad- 

 vance has seldom been maintained for five months at a time. 

 Of course all the manufacturers are not so well supplied, and 

 there is always somebody forced to pay the highest current 

 price, or forego business. 



But to recur to speculation. To a certain extent all buying 

 and selling is speculation. The question here is whether, in a 

 period of short stocks, control of them has been obtained for 

 the purpose of forcing consumers to buy at exorbitant prices. 

 When Vianna got up his great rubber " corner " years ago, al- 

 though he actually controlled most of the supply of Para rub- 

 ber, he was kept in a nervous state because small lots of rubber 

 not under his control kept dribbling into the market at lower 

 prices than he demanded, and every such sale, no matter how 

 small, weakened his position. A similar experience awaits 

 every effort to buy up all the rubber in sight with a view to 

 making large profits at the expense of the manufacturer. Be- 

 sides, the market is infinitely wider today than in Vianna's 

 time, and the task of gaining control of all the sources of sup- 

 ply would be proportionately greater. After a "corner " has 

 been effected it cannot last beyond the arrivals from a new 

 crop; besides, it may collapse any day through a decline in 

 prices from causes beyond the control of speculators, and im- 

 possible for them to foresee. 



But high prices of a commodity due to short supplies at the 

 moment is another thing. It is what happens when there is a 

 coal " famine " ; even cabbages cost the housekeeper more when 

 the market gardener has had a poor season. It would be a 

 strange thing now, in view of the undoubted small supplies of 

 rubber, and the active consumption, if prices were not high. 



