September i, 1904.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



415 



THE INDIA-RUBBER TRADE IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



IN the course of an editorial in the May issue of The India 

 Rubber World it is suggested that the limit has not 

 been reached in the utilization of the lower classes of 

 rubber or rubber like gums. Reference is made to the 

 success attending the use of Pontianak, a material which 

 seems to be more highly thought of in Amer- 

 ica than in Europe. Though of course it is 



THE USE OF 

 LOW GRADE GUMS. 



always a feather in the cap of the technolo- 

 gist to make satisfactory use of materials which have been over- 

 looked or thrown aside as valueless, yet in this case of rubber 

 there are many who look with suspicion upon the introduction 

 into rubber mixings of low class rubber like bodies ; enough 

 damage has already been done to the trade, they say, by the 

 eflforts to utilize this, that, or the other substance instead of 

 sticking to genuine rubber. The correct way, however, I take 

 it, of looking at the subject is for the manufacturer to have a 

 clear idea of the properties expected of the goods and to act 

 strictly in accordance with what is known. Thus where elas- 

 ticity and strength are of the first importance it would be 

 supreme unwisdom to introduce bodies admittedly lacking 

 these properties. This of course is a mere truism, but I men- 

 tion as a prelude to what follows. Outside the rubber mer- 

 chants proper there are several shipping houses in England 

 who occasionally have parcels of rubber to dispose of. This 

 rubber may be of very variable quality and its disposal a mat- 

 ter of some concern to those who are not versed in the sub- 

 ject. But what I wished to refer to was a plaint made to me 

 by one of these occasional rubber merchants, that the British 

 were behind the times because they would not buy rubber of 

 any sort, as the Germans did. British manufacturers, my in- 

 formant said, wanted brands of certain quality and would not 

 quote at all for poor quality stuff they were unfamiliar with, 

 while with the Germans whatever the quality there was always 

 a quotation forthcoming. My friend seemed to think that the 

 adaptiveness of the German to low quality rubber was neces- 

 sarily a sign of technical superiority, but 1 was unable to agree 

 with him. When I can have it definitely proved to me that 

 technical training can enable a manufacturer to turn out strong 

 elastic goods from African flake then I shall acknowledge that 

 the Germans can beat us. 



My attention has been called to a misstatement in the few 

 remarks I made on this subject in the July issue of these notes. 



The facts of the case, as regards the rubber pave- 

 pavements ment at Euston, are that it is under the hotel and 



not actually at the station, and that the original 

 pavement was the work of Messrs. Charles Macintosh & Co. 

 and not the North British Rubber Co. Some relaying, how- 

 ever, which has recently been done was carried out by the latter 

 company. As showing further that Messrs. Macintosh are by 

 no means novices at this class of work, I may mention that 

 previous to laying the Euston pavement they laid some down 

 under the Midland Grand Hotel, St. Pancras, in 1875. [See an 

 article on this subject on another page of this issue. -The Editor.] 

 A paragraph headed " Killed Through Wearing India-rub- 

 ber Heels" caught my eye in one of the papers. According to 



the evidence the deceased slipped on the stairs 

 rubber an( j broke her neck. The coroner having ex- 



HEEL PADS = 



amined the shoes said the heels were more like 

 the screw of a steam launch than anything else, they would 

 revolve so easily. A witness said she had repeatedly warned 



the deceased about wearing those heels as they were very un- 

 safe indoors. This seems to me rather a severe indictment of 

 the revolving heel ; personally I know nothing of them, and by 

 some remarks recently made in this Journal, I gained the im- 

 pression that the use of the term revolving was wrong, as the 

 heels were merely capable of being turned round when one side 

 was worn. Evidently, however, this is not correct, but as 

 attention has now been prominently drawn to the undesirable 

 nature of this type of heel the time is opportune for makers of 

 non-revolving heels to advertise the merits of their goods. 



Despite the undoubted progress made by more than one 



system of wireless telegraphy, the efflux of time has shown that 



shareholders in the submarine telegraph com- 



-r^TooffiL panies have no need to be unduly anxious as to 

 the value of their holdings. The fact that nearly 

 all European governments are exercising control over the instal- 

 lation of the new systems on account of their real or supposed 

 danger in times of warfare is a somewhat awkward matter for 

 the several companies and a rather unexpected development. 

 Another important fact in the situation is that the Eastern 

 Telegraph Co. have announced their intention of using a wire- 

 less method in certain parts of their system where its appli- 

 cation promises to be of great utility. 



I understand that the Russian- French Rubber Works, 

 " Provodnik," of Riga, Russia, are about to engage in the rub- 

 ber thread branch, and that plant is about to 

 be installed on a large scale. Mr. William 



NEW BRANCH OF 

 MANUFACTURE. 



Coulter, who was formerly engaged in this 

 manufacture with Messrs. Charles Macintosh & Co., Limited 

 (Manchester), has been appointed manager and has left Eng- 

 land for the scene of his new labors. 



I noticed lately an advertisement in some journal of a 



large rubber factory requiring a superintendent for its thread 



department. I imagine that the right man will be 



rubber v difficult to obtain, that is if he is to be one 



THREAD. ' 



who is an expert in the manufacture throughout. 

 In the few factories in England where this article is made the 

 superintendence is sub-divided among responsible foremen, 

 each of whom understands his own department but accepts no 

 responsibility for the work of other departments. Thus, one 

 man will go as far as the mixing, rolling, and vulcanizing; 

 another looks after the cutting, and the third the winding into 

 hanks and the careful testing which is necessary to detect un- 

 der or over vulcanization. I imagine that the men who under- 

 stand the whole manufacture are very scarce, and it is to be 

 hoped that the firm advertising will do better than a certain 

 British firm which entered lightly upon the manufacture, only 

 to give it up again after a period of disaster. 



As on one or two former occasions, my notes of this month 

 are shorter than usual owing to traveling interfering with or- 

 dinary business procedure. I am posting this 

 from Copenhagen, a town of considerable size 

 and interest, but which does not seem to contain anything par- 

 ticularly worthy of comment here. The rubber factories of 

 Denmark and Sweden where I am proceeding on my way north, 

 are not situated in the capital towns, but in somewhat out of 

 the way places, thus making a visit to them rather a tax on 

 the tourist's time. The weather here as in England and Ger- 

 many continues very hot, and not at all conducive to the inter- 

 ests of the waterproof trade. 



COPENHAGEN. 



