192 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March i, 1904. 



productions there has always been a sedateness about the Brit- 

 ish catalogue which I personally have no desire to see trans- 

 formed. There are, however, adventitious aids to securing at- 

 tention at which no possible objection can be levelled, and in 

 this category must be placed inter alia the catalogue under no- 

 tice for its technical information, and that of the Dermatine 

 company for its scientific survey of the raw materials from which 

 its products are manufactured. 



One of the novelties at the forthcoming motor show at the 



Crystal Palace will be this tire, which has now for some time 



occupied the attention of the De Nevers Tyre 



thedenevers Co. of Bendon Valley, Eirlsfield. London, S. W. 



GROOVED r~ ... ■ i • j *u j- 



solid tire Greater resiliency is claimed over the ordinary 

 solid tire on account of the transverse grooves 

 on the outer periphery permitting easy expansion on the part 

 immediately under pressure without communicating stress all 

 round. I propose to refer to this tire again when in possession 

 of fuller testimony as to its worth. 



As notified in this correspondence some two years ago, this 



concern was sold by auction to a syndicate who bought it as a 



speculation and not with any idea of restarting 



droylesden j t ag ru bber works. In the interval a good 



RUBBER WORKS. , , & 



deal of the machinery has been sold, and now 

 the whole property has been disposed of to the Stockport com- 

 pany, engaged in the manufacture of Markalite — a rubber sub- 

 stitute brought out by Mr. Markus, who was formerly engaged 

 in the proofing trade at Fleetwood. I cannot say that I have 

 come across any of this substitute, but the fact that the Stock- 

 port premises have proved too small for the business, is an in- 

 dication of a considerable demand. 



The Manchester and District Cycle Show held at the St. James 

 Hall from January 30 to February 6 did not produce anything 

 of particular novelty. This year there were no 

 motor cars and but few motor tires were on view. 

 The three rubber firms having stands were The Dunlop Co., 

 The North British Co., and David Moseley & Sons, the latter 

 showing their " flexifort " fabric, cycle tire tubes and covers, as 

 also solid and " pram " tires. A memento consisting of a pure 

 rubber pipe cover was given to visitors as an index of the qual- 

 ity of the rubber used in their tires. The Dunlop company, 

 besides tires had a display of waterproof clothing, while the 

 North British in addition to their well known makes of cycle 

 tires, had the " Clincher-Michelin " moter tire on view. A spe- 

 cial feature of the show as a whole was the motor cycle, which 

 is undoubtedly increasing in popularity. 



I examined recently a sample of liquid cement described as 

 a prepared composition for the repair of cycle tires without the 

 aid of rubber or solution. The solution was de- 

 scribed as a patent. I found it to consist of a so- 

 lution of rubber in bisulphide of carbon and this will at once 

 account for its objectionable smell. I have no wish to say any- 

 thing disparaging of this particular solution, which I have no 

 doubt answers its purpose admirably, but I rather doubt if it is 

 fair on purchasers to sell it without some warning as to its in- 

 flammability. It has been well shown that the dread in which 

 naphtha rubber solution is held by carrying companies is largely 

 due to misconception as to the degree of danger involved but 

 about carbon bisulphide there can be no two opinions as to its 

 danger. I suppose that by rubber solution the carriers under- 

 stand solution in naphtha and I should think they would have 

 a strong case in the event of an accident arising from the use 

 of a more inflammable solvent. It is stated that this solution 

 rapidly vulcanizes in the air after it is dry ; loose statements 

 such as these hardly inspire our confidence as to the technical 

 qualifications of the manufacturers thereof. 



CYCLE SHOW. 



TIRE CEMENT. 



Mr. J. E. Baxter, of the Leyland and Birmingham Rubber 



Co., has left for a tour in South Africa with some members of 



his family. I understand that he intends to motor 



ersonal f rom Cape Town to Johannesburg and the run 



MENTION. K J s 



should prove a good test of the capabilities of the 

 Collyer tire.==I regret to announce the death, on January 30, 

 of Mr. Harry Grimshaw, of the Recovered Rubber Co., Lim- 

 ited, and the United Rubber Co., Limited, of Clayton, Man- 

 chester. Mr. Grimshaw was a chemist of some repute and at 

 one time in his career held the Dalton chemical scholarship 

 at Owens College. In conjunction with Mr. Thomas Rowley 

 he has been closely identified with several departments of the 

 rubber trade for a good many years, his most recent appear- 

 ance as an author being in a paper on Rubber Analysis, read 

 before the Manchester section of the Society of Chemical In- 

 dustry last session. = = An interesting addendum to some re- 

 cent remarks of mine in the connection of the rubber trade 

 with Parliament may be made by announcing the selection of 

 Mr. Philip H. Lockhart as Unionist candidate for North Wilt- 

 shire. He is a director of Messrs. W. & A. Bates & Co., Lim- 

 ited, of Leicester, and present chairman of the India-rubber 

 Manufacturers' Association. His views on the fiscal question 

 are those of Mr. Chamberlain and it will be interesting to see 

 how far the Rubber Manufacturers' Association will follow his 

 lead.==The retirement of Mr. William Weston from the posi- 

 tion of chief chemist to the Admiralty under the age clause of 

 the Civil Service regulations, has just taken place. A good 

 many members of the rubber trade have made Mr. Weston's 

 acquaintance during the long period he has reigned at Ports- 

 mouth dockyard and all will testify to his affable demeanor. 

 All the same there are those who wish that the undoubted skill 

 and energy with which he pursued his investigations into alloys 

 and fuels, had led him to examine more closely into the ade- 

 quacy of the tests which he applied in the case of India-rubber 

 goods. I am not going into details, but my own opinion is that 

 if some of the stringency with which he detected and animad- 

 verted upon an extra tenth per cent, of sulphur had been ap- 

 plied in other directions it would have been more in the inter- 

 ests of strict justice all round. 



RUBBER SHOE TRADE IN CANADA. 



NEW prices are to be announced by the Canadian rubber 

 shoe manufacturers on March 1, which are expected to 

 represent some such advance as has been made in the United 

 States. The annual meetings of the Rubber Boot and Shoe 

 Manufacturers' Association and the Wholesale Boot and Shoe 

 Jobbers' Association were held at Toronto on January 19. At the 

 Jobbers'convention it was decided to request the manufacturers 

 to put on the market a special line in a second grade men's 

 rubber boot and a second grade boys' and youths' arctic. It 

 was stated that the average sale of men's arctics are 20 of sec- 

 ond grade to every one of first grade, and it was urged that 

 the same rule would apply to boys' and youths' arctics if such 

 were available.>= = The Canadian Shoe and Leather Journal 

 says that the rubber shoe business in the Dominion promises 

 to be on a better basis than ever before. The Jobbers' associa- 

 tion now embraces every wholesale handler of rubber footwear 

 in the country, and absolute uniformity in selling price is 

 thus assured. It is safe to assume that the discount for early 

 orders will be larger than last year, as well as the regular 

 trade discount. It is a matter of congratulation that the dis- 

 tance between the large store or combination of stores and the 

 ordinary retailer is to be lessened, and a volume point fixed, 

 and any retailer who sells the amount can have the same ad- 

 vantage as the largest buyer. 



