November 1, 1919] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



115 



designed originally for use with pneumatic tires the mileage 

 would have been higher. 



Tests to ascertain the comparative advantages of solid and 

 pneumatic tires for trucks were made by the Michelin company 

 in France, using a pair of 2;2-ton trucks worked side by side, 

 one of these trucks being on solid tires and the other on six-inch 

 dual pneumatics. These tests lasted five months during which 

 time the solid-tired truck ran 6,523 miles and the pneumatic-tired 

 truck, 9,631 miles. The tests were brought to a close when the 

 solid-tired truck became unfit for further service, a rear wheel 

 being broken and the steering pivots very badly worn. The in- 

 creased mileage, by reason of the higher average speed of the 

 pneumatic-tired truck and the absence of visits to the repair shop 

 amounted to about 50 per cent. 



The following advantages in favor of pneumatics were noted 

 as the outcome of these tests : 



1. Lower cost of repairs and maintenance. 



2. Increased tonnage transported by reason of the higher 

 average speed. 



3. Lower physical effort for the driver. 



4. Better performance on snow or on heavy clay roads. 



5. Truck less dependent on road surface. 



Tire makers are not all certain that the pneumatic tire com- 

 petes with the solid for heavy haulage, certain ones holding to 

 the opinion that each type of tire has its distinct field. In France 

 the opinion is growng that modern large-size pneumatics can 

 compete with solids and such tire equipment is being offered for 

 useful loads of 2 to 3^4 tons. 



It is maintained that the 10 and 12-inch tire does not give any 

 better riding qualities than a couple of six-inch, while it has the 

 disadvantages of very high cost, great weight, and difficulty of 

 fitting. 



In France only the soft-bead tire is known and some of the 

 difficulties of mounting would disappear with the use of the 

 straight-side tire. In France, too, the value of the detachable 

 steel disk wheel has been thoroughly established by the severe 

 tests of war service. ("Automotive Industries.") 



t 



THE RECONSTRUCTION OF GERMANY'S RUBBER 

 INDUSTRY. 



HAMBURG AS A RUBBER MARKET. 



HAMBURG as a world market for middle grade rubber is a thing 

 of the past. The fact must be faced that only comparatively 

 small quantities of "wild" rubber, with the exception of the Para 

 qualities, will be collected and shipped to Europe. The experi- 

 ence of Liverpool, which was an important market for this kind 

 of rubber, has been, during the war, that the drop in the price of 

 rubber to about 50 cents a pound for the best plantation grades 

 has killed what interest the producers had in collecting wild rub- 

 ber so that they have turned their attention to other raw mate- 

 rials. 



This will naturally affect Hamburg also, which will find besides 

 in Amsterdam a new rival for the world rubber trade in addition 

 to her former competitors, Antwerp and London, which have the 

 advantage not only of dealing with their own colonies but of con- 

 trolling abundant free capital in the hands of enterprising trades- 

 men. The output of the Dutch East Indies plantations, which 

 are owned almost exclusively in Holland, amounting to over 

 50,000 tons a year, will be shipped for the most part to Amster- 

 dam or will at any rate be marketed there. 



It will take all the enterprise, the combined effort and perfect 

 organization of Hamburg business men to contend against the 

 influence of the foreign markets and secure for Hamburg inde- 

 pendence in trading and in the direct importation of plantation 

 rubber to supply the needs of the German rubber industry. 



GERMAN TRADE NOTES. 



German Government control of industries keeps on. Small 

 dealers in waste and reclaimed rubber are ordered, by a decree 



issued May 13, 1919, to turn over whatever stock they gather to 

 twenty-two specified firms in Frankfurt am Main, Hanover, Ber- 

 lin, Hamburg, Dresden, Leipzig, Koln, Minden, Breslau and 

 Liibeck. 



The German Government has sanctioned importation of for- 

 eign motor tires, under license; unlicensed importations will be 

 confiscated. The "Ciummi-Zeiluiig" criticises the measure 

 sharply; it sees no reason for hurrying automobile business be- 

 fore German manuiacturers are able to procure rubber and to 

 have their chance to compete. The Continental Caoutchouc & 

 Guttapercha Co. has published a protest against the sanction. 



A "Protective Association of Inventors" has been formed in 

 Berlin, which asks a government subvention to further its ob- 

 jects, which are to see that German inventors are protected in 

 their patent rights, which have suffered much from irregularities 

 of all kinds during the war, and also to further the use of Ger- 

 man inventions wherever they arc likely to serve German in- 

 terests and the reconstruction of German industries. 



HOLLAND'S RUBBER MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY GROWS. 



When the war broke out in 1914 the principal manufacturers 

 of rubber goods in Holland were, Hevea at Hoogezand, Pompe at 

 Amsterdam, Hollandsche -Draad & Kahelfabriek, also at Amster- 

 dam, Gebr. Merens at Haarlem, St. Joris, better known as Bak- 

 ker, at Ridderkerk and Vredestein at Loosduinen. Many of these 

 extended their operations during the war and the first two 

 amalgamated with some other firms in the N. V. Verecnigde 

 Nederlandsche Rubber Fabrieken, which has erected very large 

 works at Doorwerth near Oosterbeck. Many new firms have 

 gone into the manufacture of rubber articles, so that in the first 

 months of 1919 there were 29 factories, large and small, in 

 Holland where crude rubber was turned into finished articles. 



The closing of the ports created a great demand for tires of all 

 descriptions ; rubber insulated wire, which had before been mostly 

 imported, was made by the Hollandsche Draht & Kahelfabriek; 

 the making of ebonite wares for the electro-technical industries 

 was developed. The war introduced into Holland the cold vul- 

 canizing process and the manufacture of surgical gloves and 

 fingers, supplies, tobacco pouches, balloons, dentists' supplies, 

 valve tubing, waterproof sheeting, erasers and so on. The little 

 pilot balloons used by the Royal Meteorological Institute, which 

 used to be imported, are now home made and a beginning 

 attempted in the manufacture of tennis balls. 



ALUMINUM LATEX CUPS. 



That latex cups made of aluminum are in use on rubber 

 plantations is well known and not particularly interesting. But 

 the fact that they are made in the United States and by the 

 hundred thousands is an- 

 other matter and worthy 

 of more than passing 

 notice. 



The cup shown here is 

 an American product 

 made from a straight 

 sheet of pure aluminum, 

 No. 25 B. & S. gage, and 

 goes through six opera- 

 tions before the cup 

 assumes its final shape. 

 The cups are finally 

 cleaned in an acid bath 

 and dried in hot sawdust. The fact that they nest is a con- 

 venience, not only in shipping but on the plantation as well. 

 (American Metal Works, 4865 Stenton avenue, Philadelphia, 

 Pennsylvania.) 



Nesting Tai^ping Ci 



