220 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January 



The author considers that the pecuHar structure of Para 

 rubber is the cause of its superiority to synthetic and the other 

 natural rubbers. A feature common to both Para caoutchou- 

 gutta and that from synthetic isoprene rubber is the presence 

 of a constituent (A-caoutchougutta) soluble in chloroform, and 

 a second (B-caoutchougutta) insoluble but turgescent in that 

 solvent, this second constituent acting as a solvent of the first 

 and forming the reticulate structural component. Methyl rub- 

 ber contains no turgescent component and dissolves slowly and 

 completely to a viscous, clear colloidal solution in chloroform. 

 Great stress is laid on the nature of the turgescent component 

 as an indication of the technical value of rubber. The propor- 

 tion of this component is lowered by the process of mastication. 



CHEMICAL PATENTS. 

 THE UNITED STATES. 



PROCESS OK ReCOVHRING pLASTlC RlBBER fROM FABRICS which 

 consists in progressively disintegrating the fabric in pres- 

 ence of water and simultaneously stripping the plastic rubber 

 from the fabric and from the threads and fibers resulting from 

 its disintegration. (Theodore F. Furness, Cynwyd, Pa., assignor 

 by mesne assignments to Acushnet Process Company, New Bed- 

 ford, Mass. United States patent No. 1,321,200.) 



Process for Reclaiming Rubber and Cotton erom Rubber 

 Waste which comprises the steps of wetting the waste, passing 

 it between rollers whereby the waste is formed into a sheet, and 

 feeding such sheet gradually to a high speed picker causing the 

 fabric to be torn from the sheet in the form of threads and fibers 

 while the rubber is torn from the sheet in small balls and par- 

 ticles. (Philip E. Young, Fairhaven, Mass., assignor to Acush- 

 net Process Company, New Bedford, Mass. United States pat- 

 ent No. 1,321,201.) 



Reclaiming Rubber. — In the manufacture of rubber a method 

 which consists in adding proteid to a fresh rubber stock prior 

 to the vulcanization thereof, vulcanizing the fresh product, re- 

 claiming the vulcanized product and revulcanizing the reclaimed 

 product. (Clayton W. Bedford, assignor to The Goodyear Tire 

 & Rubber Co., both of Akron, Ohio. United States patent No. 

 1,321,501.) 



Rubber Substitute. — The process and product which consists 

 in combining fish oil and sulphur in the presence of heat and 

 resubjecting the resultant combination to heat under pressure. 

 (Morton Gregory, assignor to Western Rubber Co., both of 

 Tacoma, Washington. United States patent No. 1,321,788.) 



Process for Devulcanizing Rubber.— Comprising boiling rub- 

 ber with a liquid of which a large proportion is a hydrocarbon 

 of a viscid and gummy nature, forming a yeasty froth on the 

 surface of the liquid and having an affinity for sulphur, under 

 the conditions created, greater than the lessened affinity for 

 sulphur possessed by the rubber, whereby combined sulphur will 

 be liberated from the rubber. (Cyrus Field Willard, San Diego, 

 California. United States patent No. 1,322,077.) 



Devulcanizing Process and Product. Boiling vulcanized 

 rubber with a viscous mixture of a tar and a flux of a liquid 

 hydrocarbon in the presence of water. (Cyrus Field Willard, 

 San Diego, California. United States patent No. 1,322,151.) 



Process for Devulcanizing Vulcanized Rubber, comprising 

 eflfecting the liberation of more or less of the combined sulphur 

 by boiling the rubber w'ith an emulsoid colloid solution and a 

 detergent or cleansing solution. (Cyrus Field Willard, San 

 Diego, California. United States patent No. 1,322.152.) 



Treating Rubber by incorporating therewith sulphur and 

 titanic oxide and vulcanizing the mixture. (Louis E. Barton, 

 Niagara Falls, New York, assignor to The Titanium Alloy 

 Manufacturing Co., New York City. United States patent No. 

 1,322,518.) 



Plastic Composition consisting of caoutchouc, wax, non-dry- 

 ing oil, inert filler, and coloring matter. (Stanley H. Rood, 

 Hartford, Connecticut. United States patent No. 1,322,823.) 



THE UNITED KINGDOM. 



RlBBER Co.mposition consisting of powdered slate mixed with 

 rubber, rubber substitute or waste or recovered rubber and 

 sulphur. Example: 50 parts of slate, 35 of rubber and 15 of 

 sulphur yield a product suitable for packing, tires, mats, etc. 

 (W. F. Macdonald, 53 Palace Court, Bayswater, London. British 

 patent No. 130,528.) 



GERMANY. 



Process for Making Hard and Soft Rubber Factice. 



Soft Factice. Into a mixture of 100 parts of linseed oil, 10 

 parts of acetic acid, and 10 parts of a 10 per cent solution ot am- 

 monia are poured in a thin stream 20 parts of chloride of sulphur 

 thinned with 20 parts of water and neutralized with 20 parts of 

 a 15 per cent solution of ammonia. The mixture is steamed 

 and dried until thick flowing. The product is a very elastic, 

 soft, rubbery mass, which, on being heated to 240 degrees C, be- 

 comes homogeneous and weatherproof. Formic, acetic, or other 

 fatty acids, or unsaturated acids of the acetic series, may also be 

 used. 



Hard Factice. Liquid emulsions prepared according to above 

 example are neutralized with ammonia, steamed until they are 

 plastic, and mixed with three parts by weight of lead, zinc 

 or iron oxide and sulphuret of antimony. The mass is 

 pressed in vacuum at 50 to 70 degrees C, then dried and pressed 

 for six hours at six or more atmospheres. The result is a solid 

 rubber-like mass w'hich can be used as a substitute for hard 

 rubber. (H. Otto Traun's Research Laboratory, Hamburg. Ger- 

 man patent .Vo. 314,560. February 25, 1915.) 



OTHER CHEMICAL PATENTS. 

 GERMANY. 



PATENTS ISSUED, WITH DATES OF APPLICATION. 



31", 641. (April 16. 1916.) Artificial arm. Allgemeine Krankenhaus- 

 Einrichtungs Gsschellschaft m.b.H., 20-21 Johannisstrasse, 

 Berlin, and Karl Albert Scherer, 113 Hartwigstrasse, Ber- 

 lin-Pankow. 



317.695. (April 25, 1917.) Packing with rubber ring, particularly for 

 coolers with interchangeable parts. Suddeutsche Kuhler- 



fabr 



Feuerbach, Wiirttenberg. 



A Novel Still. 



LABORATORY APPARATUS. 

 AN ALUMINIUM WATER STILL. 



Dure distilled water especially free from potassium, sodium 

 ■* and copper is obtainable by the use of an aluminum still 

 described by T. O. Smith in "The Chemist- Analyst." 



The apparatus is set up as follows: a hole is punched from 

 the inside of an alum- 

 inum tea kettle, about 

 two inches from the 

 bottom, with a sharp 

 punch so that the edges 

 of the hole are smooth, 

 without cracks and 

 flared as much as pos- 

 sible. Into this hole is 

 fitted an aluminum tube of convenient length for connecting a 

 leveling bottle as shown in the drawing. The tube is secured 

 and the hole made water-tight by wrapping the flared edges 

 and the tube with cotton yarn to a thickness of about one-half 

 inch. A Liebig condenser is fitted with an inner tube of alu- 

 minum into the spout of the kettle, and connection made tight 

 with cotton yarn wrapping. The lid is held on by small clamps 

 A three-hole Woulfe bottle connected with the leveling tube 

 from the kettle receives the overflow from the condenser 

 through a rubber tube and maintains the water in the kettle 

 at the level of the overflow opening from the bottle. This 

 overflow opening is provided with a curved glass tube for 

 equalizing the air pressure in the bottle. In this manner the 

 waste water from the condenser is made to replace the water 

 in the kettle as fast as it is removed by distillation. 



