August i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



375 



trying to lay down any hard and fast rule oh the matter ; each 

 inventor must decide for himself as to the best course to pursue ; 

 but where a chemical process is carried out in part by different 

 men who are not in direct communication with one another and 

 where moreover there is good reason to believe in their trust- 

 worthiness, substantial reasons seem to exist why the aid of the 

 Patent office should not be evoked. 



Though no doubt the majority of people are exultant at the 

 continued sunshine we are enjoying this summer in contradis- 

 tinction to the prevailing conditionsof the last two 



weather vears the f ac t forms a source of jeremiads on the 



AND THE , , » T • 



trade P art °' man y rubber manufacturers. No one is 

 particularly keen to buy waterproofs, while with re- 

 gard to garden hose the hot weather seems to have come some- 

 what too late, ff people do not purchase in May they think 

 they can get along till next season. The people who can have 

 nothing to complain of are those interested in the sale of lawn 

 tennis balls. The game is going stronger than ever, and the 

 number of tournaments shows its increase. I understand that 

 six gross of balls were used at the All England tournament at 

 Wimbledon, these being supplied by Messrs. Slazenger, who in 

 this respect still hold the position from which they ousted 

 Messrs. Ayres two years ago. The fact that the Doherty Broth- 

 ers, who took the Davis Challengecup from America last year, 

 are on the board of Messrs. Slazenger, Limited, is not without 

 significance. There is a slight difference between the Ayres 

 and Slazenger balls, and as the leading players like to stick to 

 one brand, it follows that the bulk of the tournament business 

 of a season goes to one firm. 



There is nothing surprising in the fact that a rubber trust 



has been formed in Austria, at least to those who have followed 



the progress of Teutonic industry. Over produc- 



THE tion is always followed by a combination of manu- 

 austbian , . ' ' , . . ... 



kartel facturers in Germany and Austria — a lact which 



has had a very great deal to do with the dividends 

 paid by various branches of the chemical manufacture. This 

 is generally overlooked by our education enthusiasts who are 

 never weary of pointing to German education and industry as 

 the main cause of their preeminence in the chemical trades. 

 Not that I wish to pose as an antagonist of the kartel ; in a 

 great many cases it is the only way out of intermarine compe- 

 tition. I merely wish to point out that the technical-education 

 people are often ignorant of a good many important facts con- 

 nected with a fair comparison of home and foreign industries. 

 As some of the Austrian rubber firms have branch houses in 

 London, English firms will of course watch with interest the 

 new state of affairs in the dual monarchy. 



I am not here going into a medical matter, but the report of 

 an expert committee appointed by the Home office to enquire 



into the increased mortality among Cornish miners 



MINERS' 

 PHTHISIS. 



has a remote bearing on the rubber industry. It is 

 recommended that the dangerous dust from the 

 rock drills be rendered innocuous by a water spray, and to put 

 this recommendation into practise the use of rubber hose must 

 be resorted to. It is suggested that the water shall be taken 

 along the levels by iron pipes and taken to the jets by armored 

 rubber hose of narrow base. As there is little doubt that regu- 

 lations enforcing the use of water jets with rock drills both in 

 England andthe Transvaal will shortly be issued, thereshould be 

 a considerable demand for the necessary rubber tubing, and those 

 makes which are best calculated to withstand the rough usage 

 they must expect will naturally be in the greatest demand. So 

 far the electric rock drill has not made much progress in metal 

 mining, and the prospect of dry mines being pretty generally 

 converted into wet ones is not in favor of their further adoption. 



JELUTONG. 



The laying of cables in wet mines is a somewhat risky proceed- 

 ing, because even with the lead covered cables there is constant 

 danger of corrosion from the presence of acids m the water. 



With the remarks on scrap rubber in the July issue of The 



India Rubber World, I am quite in accordance. Slackness 



in trade in the articles into which scrap enters cer- 



rubber tainiy accounts for a decreased demand and there 

 scrap. . , . . . 



is also the increased amount put on the market by 



collectors. All sorts of old rubber articles which formerly 

 went on the waste heap are now carefully put on one side 

 to await a dealer's offer, and the rubber manufacturers say that 

 scrap sellers are multiplying to an undue extent. Of course 

 the term " scrap " is a wide one and while some brands have a 

 ready sale there is a good deal of stuff which the dealer finds it 

 very difficult to get rid of, and it is open to doubt whether stor- 

 ing it up (or better times is the best policy to pursue. 



It is to be hoped that the "safety " vapor and shower bath 



illustrated in the last issue of The India Rubber World is 



really what is implied by the title. There have 



dangerous Deen some fatal cases in England in connection 



GOODS. 



with the cheap Turkish bath at home, and in 

 the case of a recent inquest the inventors or sellers were severe- 

 ly reprimanded ; indeed the question of prosecution for man- 

 slaughter was raised. I don't profess to have mastered the de- 

 tails of the apparatus, but I think the use of spirit lamps by 

 women in such a connection ought to be discouraged. 



In an article on Gutta-percha reprinted in our London con- 

 temporary the two following passages occur: " Jelutong is ex- 

 tensively used in American industry, especially for 

 manufacturing toys," and later on: "Increasing- 

 ly large quantities of Jelutong go to America. It would be 

 worth while for manufacturers in the United Kingdom to try 

 and ascertain in what special directions it is used there so ex- 

 tensively." Not to comment on the fact that the author has 

 previously answered to a great extent his own query there are 

 many who would like to know if the toys referred to are rubber 

 toys. Surely it is not to this use that the bulk of the Jelutong, 

 or Pontianak, as it is best known in England, is put. 



A new motor tire combining, it is claimed, all the proper- 

 ties and virtues which the ideal article should possess, will 

 shortly be before the public. The prospectus 



new tire f ^ company, called the Securitas Motor 



company. ! . , . _, 



Tvre Co., has been in private circulation. The 



capital is to be ^50,000, of which ^29,000 is offered for sub- 

 scription. Evidently some flaw has been detected in the speci- 

 fication, as we are told that this is to be amended on the ad- 

 vice of Mr. Bousfield, K. c. The upkeep of a set of the new 

 tires is to not exceed £3 to ,£15 per annum against (it is said) 

 ^oto^ioo in the case of other makes. 



In the person of Mr. Thorp, late general manager of the 



Continental Caoutchouc and Gutta-percha Co. of Hanover, the 



rubber trade has recently lost by death a promi- 



OBITUARY. „ ■ 1 l-l 



nent man. From occupying in early Iile quite 

 subordinate positions in the works of Messrs. Charles Macin- 

 tosh & Co., Limited, he rose in the course of a few years to the 

 managerial position just mentioned, which carried with it a 

 salary running into four figures, and retiring therefrom a few 

 years ago on a pension. 



The desire of the big cable firms on the Thames to become 



free of the restrictions of the London County Council has been 



mentioned before. Henley's Telegraph Co. are 



NEW about to build extensive premises at Northfleet, 



PREMISES. , „ _. n » 



while the new works of Messrs. Siemens Bros. <x 

 Co. are situated at Stafford, though this is not a case of entire 

 removal, the old works on Thames side being still in full use. 



