THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



179 



The Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THE I'osiTioN oi affairs remains much the same — plenty of 

 urders on hand and difficulty in executing them, owing to 

 strikes in this or that direction. Transport and the delivery 

 of leilers were much hampered by the nine-day railway strike, 

 which undoubtedly owed its collapse to the rapidly improvised 

 motor truck service all over the country. The strike of iron 

 molders, which lasted three weeks, caused serious delay in the 

 engineering trades, and rubber works in course of installing 

 new machinery have had a serious setback. 



DETERIORATION OF RUBBER. 



It is not often that rubber works keep their purchases of plan- 

 tation rubber for three or four years without turning the rub- 

 ber out of the bo.xes for use or inspection. I had a case of this 

 sort before me recently, however, when it was found that the 

 rubber was very much decayed and quite unfit to be used for 

 a good class of work. I do not suppose the seller would be 

 prepared to consider redress after three years, though, I hardly 

 think that much good quality plantation rubber will be found 

 to have gone wrong even if it is kept for three years. I have 

 reason to suppose that in this case the rubber which was sold 

 as clean brown crepe was not Hevea rubber but the product of 

 some other tree which yields a rubber more prone to decay. 

 I do not know that it is always customary for the term Hevea 

 to be used in dealings between buyer and seller, and the point 

 seems one of importance as premature decay of the rubber after 

 manufacture might lead to considerable trouble. This would 

 be especially annoying to firms with a reputation and desirous 

 of buying a high quality rubber for import. 



BENZOL POISONING IN PROOFING. 



In the Factory Inspector's Report for 1918 reference is made 

 to several cases of poisoning by benzol fumes, two or three of 

 which proved fatal. I remember that early in that year all rub- 

 ber works received an official request to state whether they 

 used benzol in their establishments, though the reason for the 

 inquiry was not stated. Speculation, therefore, was rife on the 

 matter which it was thought had something to do with attempts 

 to cheapen production of government munitions by the use of 

 benzol at a low controlled price instead of solvent naphtha 

 at over 4 shillings per gallon for which it was then selling. 

 However, it is now clear that the inquiry was on hygienic 

 grounds only. As a solvent in proofing, benzol has never been 

 popular because of its high volatility, as compared with solvent 

 naphtha, and because a solvent boiling at a uniform temperature 

 does not give as good results at one boiling over a range of 

 30 to 40 degrees, such as solvent naphtha. In the case of rubber 

 solutions as distinct from rubber "doughs," volatility has always 

 been a desideratum, and it has been a common thing to use a 

 mi.xture of solvent naphtha and light petroleum spirit. 



It would seem from the reports of the fatal cases that these 

 need not have occurred if there had been proper ventilation of 

 the work rooms. It is now recognized by the Factory Inspec- 

 tion Department that the alternative for forbidding the use of 

 benzol in rubber works is the installation of efficient ventila- 

 tion, and this requisition seems now to have been generally and 

 readily complied with by the manufacturers. Now that benzol 

 has risen in price and the sale is controlled by a ring of pro- 

 ducers, mainly for motor purposes, I doubt if it will con- 

 tinue to find its war-time uses in rubber works. 



The report contains an interesting reference to a new rubber 

 solvent which was recommended to the trade by a government 

 department in 1918. It is a xylol compound, stated to consist 



half and half of hexamelhylenc and metc.xylol. Members of the 

 -Medical Research Committee reported that it could be used as 

 a rubber solvent with much less danger than benzene. 



NORTH BRITISH RUBBER CO., LIMITED. 



The profit to the North British Rubber Co., Limited, for 1918, 

 after making allowance for excessive profits duty, was £180,512, 

 and with the balance brought forward there is iI45,842 for dis- 

 posal. It goes without saying that the profits were maintained 

 despite the fact that labor, coal and all other charges showed 

 an increase. This is almost the univarsal case with reports of 

 manufacturing businesses at the present time. 



The report states that since the signing of the armistice, and 

 notwithstanding the cessation of practically all war contracts, 

 the output of the works has not been seriously affected. Certain 

 important resolutions referring to alterations in the articles of 

 association and to the increase of capital are to be submitted 

 to an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. It is 

 proposed to transfer to reserve ilOO.OOO in respect to deprecia- 

 tion previously debited to profit and loss in excess of what was 

 necessary, and to capitalize that amount by issuing fully paid 

 shares to the ordinary shareholders on the basis of two shares 

 of £1 for each ordinary share of is, it being proposed to divide 

 these £5 shares into £1 shares. It is further proposed to issue 

 £150.000 ordinary shares at a premium of 2s. 6d. per share in 

 order to develop the productiveness of the works. 



RUBBER RESEARCH ASSOCIATION FORMED. 



The Research Association of British Rubber & Tyre ^lanufac- 

 tnrers was registered in London on October 9, 1919 as a limited 

 liability company, not joined for purposes of profit. Its objects 

 are to promote research and scientific work that may be of use to 

 the rubber, tire and kindred industries. The number of members 

 is declared to be 200; they are divided into ordinary, associate 

 and honorary. The association is to be run by a board of man- 

 agers, and care is taken in the articles of incorporation to keep 

 out foreign control. 



ABNORMAL DEMAND FOR TIRES IN ENGLAND. 



There is an abnormal demand for motor tires in England, 

 owing to the railroad strike during which the wear and tear 

 on the tires of the cars used for transportaion was very great. 

 The shortage is likely to continue for some time. It is under- 

 stood, also, that Germany is going to set up motor transporta- 

 tion on a large scale, as the German railroads are badly worn 

 out. This would call for something like 20,000 tons of rubber 

 for tires, which would have to be imported from the United 

 States and England. 



G. E. C. RUBBER-COVERED CABLE. 



The Pirelli general cable works at Southampton, England, is 

 producing G. E. C. tough rubber-covered cable in all sizes — 

 single, twin or three-cored, which is particularly suitable where 

 a flexible cable, likely to be subjected to rough usage, is needed. 

 Each core, of the best H. C. tinned copper wire, is insulated 

 with vulcanized India rubber, and the whole is then sheathed 

 with tough rubber that is water, oil, alkali and acid proof, and 

 v.ill withstand the roughest use that can arise in industrial work. 

 It can be put directly into new plaster when used for house 

 wiring. On account of its peculiar qualities the Institution of 

 Electrical Engineers provides in its wiring rules for the em- 

 ployment of that cable 



