THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



533 



This is the main outline of the reaction without reference to 

 certain details which must be attended to in order to produce 

 a uniform rubber. The process obviously opens up a vista of 

 possibilities in one branch or another of the rubber trade. One 

 branch which is very much to the fore at the morhent is the 

 production of compound rubber soles for boots, and here, I am 

 credibly informed, some very good and quite cheap material 

 has been turned out by aid of the new vulcanizing process. 

 Moreover, the soling material already cold cured is readily 

 vulcanized on the boot by means of the rubber solution with 

 the mixed gases in it, thus obviating the use of nails. There 

 would certainly seem a wide and useful field for the process 

 in connection with the use of organic materials such as saw- 

 dust in cheap mixings or in utilizing the process in bodies such 

 as linoleum, where the presence of a little vulcanized rubber 

 might well be expected to be of benefit and where the employ- 

 ment of the ordinary hot sulphur cure would be out of the 

 question. 



It will be interesting to watch the development of a vul- 

 canizing process which may fairly be considered the only one 

 which has any serious claim to consideration since the distant 

 date of 1846 when Parkes brought out the present-day cold 

 cure process. It is somewhat unfortunate that it seems to be 

 the fate of cold-cure processes to be concerned with atmos- 

 pheres which — well, are not in the same street with attar of 

 roses, but still a new smell in a rubber works will not suffice 

 in itself to destroy interest in a process which has merit be- 

 hind it. and really, as far as I know, the smell vulgarly asso- 

 ciated with election eggs may not make itself evident to the 



TIRES FOR TRUCKS. 



A development which is attracting a good deal of attention 

 has to do with the extended use of pneumatic tires on heavy 

 commercial vehicles. At present from the two-ton vehicle up- 

 ward the solid tire is practically the standard. There is an 

 insistent demand, however, in many classes of traffic for free- 

 dom from road shocks, and there is also a call for less damage 

 to the roads, and because the pneumatic tire is the best shock 

 absorber it is felt that its upward development into the region 

 of the heavier commercial vehicle is bound to materialize. 

 The big pneumatic is not now entirely a novelty because it has 

 been put to practical test in aviation, for the landing wheels of 

 the giant airplanes used in the war. Personally I have made 

 acquaintance with these tires only on the rubber reclaimer's 

 premises, but it is understood that the special plant which 

 turned them out is still in existence, although the specialized 

 demand has ceased. Should a new demand arise in connection 

 with commercial vehicles, no doubt the supply would soon be 

 forthcoming. Meanwhile the number of rubber firms putting 

 solid tires on the market continues to increase. 



BRITISH RUBBER EXHIBITION-192t. 



The Fifth International Exhibition of Rubber, Other Tropical 

 Products and Allied Industries will be held at the Royal Agri- 

 cultural Hall in London. June 3 to June 17, 1921. The organizing 

 manager is H. Greville Montgomery, formerly Member of Parlia- 

 ment for the Bridgewater division, of Somerset, who takes the 

 place of the lamented A. Staines Manders. the founder of these 

 exhibitions. Sir Owen Philipps, G.C.M.G., M.P.. will be honor- 

 ary president and Prof. Wv-ndham R. Dunstan. L.L.D.. F.R.S., 

 director of the Imperial Institute, honorary vice-president ; Miss 

 D. Fulton, secretary of the late Mr. Manders, and Miss Edith 

 P.rowne, F.R.G.S., are interested in the enterprise. On the 

 Executive Committee are Dr. Joseph Torrey, who will again act 

 as chairman of the congress; the Right Honorable Lord Lever- 

 hulmc; Sir Harry Wilson; Sir Daniel Morris, D.C.L.. D.Sc. ; Sir 

 Francis Watts, D.Sc, and others prominent in the rubber indus- 

 tries. The advisory council is drawn from officials in all tropical 

 countries. 



The offices of the organization arc at 43 Essex street. Strand, 

 London, W.C.2. 



PROWODNIK REPORTED TAKEN OVER BY BRITISH CAPITAL. 



In the rush to secure Russian markets British capital is an- 

 ticipating peace settlements and the recognition of whatever .mov- 

 ernment Russia may have, and has already invaded the new 

 countries that have been formed from former Russian territory, 

 Letvia, Lithuania and °Esthonia. A powerful British group of 

 capitalists is reported to have made arrangements with the au- 

 thorities in these lands to handle their natural resource.-^ and 

 industries. Among these it will reconstruct at once the works 

 of the Prowodnik at Riga. 



The Prowodnik, the full name of which is "The Prowodnik 

 Russian-French India Rubber, Gutta Percha & Telegraph Works," 

 was the largest rubber goods factory in Russia, and came into 

 existence about 1889, French capital being employed. In 1916 

 when the German advance brought about its removal to Moscow, 

 the company had a capital of fifty million rubles ; its plant cov- 

 ered 3,000,000 square meters of ground ; it used 20,000 horse- 

 power in its engines; and the number of employes was IS.flOO. 

 It made every kind of rubber goods, turning out 1,000 tires and 

 100,000 pairs of rubber shoes a day and doing 65.000.000 rubles 

 worth of business a year. 



The removal of the plant to ^loscow was regarded as a won- 

 derful feat of efficiency. Reports came at that time that the 

 company had been nationalized, together with the other great 

 company, the Treiigolnik or Russian-American which, with it, 

 monopolized the Russian rubber trade and, before the war. was 

 mainly run by German capital. It is the plant abandoned in 

 1916 that the British capitalists are said to have taken over. 



TARIFF REGULATIONS AND CHANGES. 



Greece proposes to put a duty on "metallic wires covered with 

 rubber or gutta percha," at the rate of 10 drachmas per 100 okes 

 or 19.2 cents on 280 pounds. 



Brazil imposes an export dutv' of 3 per cent ad valorem on 

 rubber exported after June 1, 1920. 



Latvia imposes duties of 5 per cent ad valorem on crude rub- 

 ber and of 15 per cent on manufactured rubber goods. 



Persia imposes duties of 12 per cent ad valorem on rubber 

 manufactures. 



Switzerland intends to exact duties of one franc on a hundred 

 kilos of crude or waste rubber or gutta percha and of five francs 

 per hundred kilos on threads of rubber for elastic tissue, which 

 have heretofore been admitted free of duty. 



According to the proclamation in the " Rekhsanzciget'' of 

 March 6. 1920. no license is required for the importation into 

 Germany of india rubber, raw or purified; gutta percha, raw or 

 purified; balata, raw or purified; india rubber, gutta percha and 

 balata waste; waste wares of india rubber, gutta percha and 

 balata. 



Switzerland exacts no individual export license since February 

 20. 1920. for rubber and gutta percha in bands, sheets, plates, 

 plugs, molded articles, threads, balls, rods, etc., without internal 

 layers of metals or tissues; plates, rings, strips, etc. of rubber, 

 with internal layers of metal or tissues. 



From October 20, 1920, for gummed fabrics of rubber for in- 

 dustrial use. rubber fabrics for cards, cylinder covers for print- 

 ing, insulating materials of rubber; rubbered fabrics (double 

 stuflfs) for cart tilts, etc.; elastic tissues of all kinds, of rubier 

 combined with cotton, wool, silk, etc. ; rubber or gutta percha ap- 

 plied on tissues or other materials ; waterproof sheeting, rubbered 

 on one or both sides. 



On the other hand the General Export License has been abro- 

 gated for mechanical stoppers of all kinds of bottles, including 

 those combined with rubber. 



