412 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



air pressure chamber for a brazing or soldering torch. The cut 

 ends of the tube may be sealed by two clamps consisting of two 

 pieces of wood drawn together by screws. The bag is inflated 

 in the ordinary manner by a tire pump. For an outlet hose con- 

 nection, a second valve stem and base from another discarded 

 lube should be attached to the tube section and the valve inside 

 removed. 



Inner tubes cut with shears transversely into narrow strips 

 furnish e.xcellent elastic bands to put around documents. Length- 

 wise strips cut from them offer good substitutes for the long, 

 slender coil springs used for sash curtain rods and to close 

 screen doors. Pieces of all sizes and shape may be used for patch 

 stock for mending other tubes, hot water bags, boot legs and 

 various rubber articles. With the aid of shears and rubber ce- 

 ment, aprons and even overalls can be made out of large truck 

 tire inner tubes for protection when washing cars or doing other 

 wet work. A length of inner tube closed with cement at one end 

 and having a ring support and handle of heavy wire at the other 

 end makes a handy folding dipi)er for filling automobile radia- 

 tors. 



N'ote.— The illustrations used in this article were furnished by "Popular 



ELECTRICAL YARNS. 



yarns twisted or folded together, and, second, the individual 

 yarn count; namely, that 6, 12 or 30 ends of 97s had been twisted 

 together to make ply yarns. This would be misleading for elec- 

 trical yarns, as they had not been twisted together. 



Electrical yarns imported on warp caps are usually sold to 

 thread mills or to firms which have facilities for winding them 

 on cones and grouping together the number of ends desired. 

 They supply electrical firms who use braiding machines in cov- 

 ering the bare copper wire with the grouped yarn. Yarns which 

 come already grouped are readly for braiding. The English 

 winding charges are low, but if the patented Universal machine 

 is used for patent spools, they charge more than is customary 

 in this country for the same work. The electrical yarns are 

 supplied chiefly by Manchester and Bolton ; some spinners do 

 their own e.\porting, but in 1918 half the imports were in the 

 hands of one Manchester agent who passed them on to one 



Groi;p-\\'ouxi 

 Wire Insi 



V.\RN I 



L.\TI0N. 



firm. 



BEFORE THE w.AR the eleclrical or insulating yarns used to 

 cover wires conveying electricity, were spun almost w^holly 

 in this coinitry. The war caused the demand for them to in- 

 crease greatly, because insulated 

 wires were used for new pur- 

 poses, as, for instance, the air- 

 plane magnetos, which demanded 

 very fine qualities. The yarns had 

 to be imported, the amount in 

 1918 being 651,887 pounds, where- 

 as in 1914 the importations were 

 12.256 pounds. 



The electrical yarns imported 

 are all gray, combed, mule-spun, 

 single yarns, made of long-staple 

 cotton, chiefly Egyptian (Abbassi 

 (white Egyptian) or Joannovich. 

 The growing of these cottons has 

 nearly ceased and in 1918 much 

 yarn of inferior tensile strength, 

 in which American .\llen seed was 

 used instead of Abbassi, and Mita- 

 fifi (brown Egjptian) in place of 

 Joannovich, was imported. For 

 extremely fine combs Sea Island 

 cotton is essential; that was cut 

 off by the British restrictions on 

 the e-xportation of Sea Island, and 

 by the ravages of the boll weevil 

 in this country. 

 In 1914 the chief item of import was 8.058 pounds of 117/1: 

 in 191^ there were imports of 301,441 pounds of 97/1, of 181.- 

 829 pounds of 98/1, of smaller amounts of 78/1, 120/1, l'40/l 

 and 117/1 and of a very little 200/1. Part came with a multiple 

 number of single ends wound together on cheeses (tubes or 

 cones), and part with one thread on large warp caps. The 

 leading import is usually described on invoices as "97s super 

 combed Joan twist on cheese, 6 ends laid flat," which, being in- 

 terpreted, means that it is made of Joannovich Egyptian cotton, 

 carefully combed, spun with a warp twist, and put up on cheeses 

 with 6 ends wound on side by side. The number of ends grouped 

 together in winding varies from 3 to 30, though 5 or 6 is the 

 usual number. Occasionally the yarn is invoiced as 6/97, 12/97, 

 30/97 and so on ; this would indicate, first, the number of single 



Electrii 



it C0L> 



WOULD STIMULATE FOREIGN TRADE. 



.\ special invitation has been extended to members of the rub- 

 ber industry to attend the Seventh National Foreign Trade Con- 

 vention to be held in San Francisco, May 12-15. when special 

 trade advisers will be present from the Far East, .\ustralia and 

 South .'Vmerica, and may be consulted by .American business men. 

 The Los .Angeles and Seattle Chambers of Commerce are pre- 

 paring special trade exhibits and a large number of Americans 

 who are now doing business in foreign countries have been in- 

 vited to attend. The National Foreign Trade Council is headed 

 by James .\. Farrell, president of the United States Steel Corp., 

 and among the active members are A. C. Bedford, chairman of 

 the board of the Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey ; Robert Dollar, 

 president of the Robert Dollar Co.. San Francisco. California; 

 Alva B. Johnson, former president of Baldwin Locomotive 

 Works. Philadelphia. Pennsylvania : William Cooper Procter, 

 Procter & Gamble Co.. Cincinnati, Ohio ; W. L. Saunders, chair- 

 man of the board, Ingersoll-Rand Co., New York City; John N. 

 Willys, president of Willys-Overland Co., Toledo. Ohio ; and 

 Thomas E. Wilson, president of Wilson & Co., Chicago, Illinois. 

 It is pointed out that Europe's debt to the United States means a 

 drive of imports, and methods of offsetting it by expanding ex- 

 ports will be one of the chief subjects of the convention. Such 

 kindred subjects as credit information, direct and commis- 

 sion selling, financing of foreign trade, etc., will be discussed. 



