684 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



The Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



B\ Our Ki\Ki(lar Correspondent 



A POINT about the increasing prices of rubber goods, notably 

 those in which cotton and other high-priced materials 

 figure largely, has been brought forcibly to my attention. 

 This is that large buyers such as the big manufacturing com- 

 bines are not replacing their rubber goods so frequently as has 

 been their wont. They have discovered that where more care 

 is taken of them their life and utility can be made to last longer; 

 in other words, they are getting more work out of them, and 

 subordinates have been instructed to fall in line with the new 

 policy. I met a rubber manufacturer recently who was taking 

 quite a gloomy view of this new procedure which had led to 

 certain customary orders being adjourned'to some future date. 

 This cannot, fortunately, have anything to do with the Greek 

 Calends because with the most careful usage rubber manufac- 

 tures have only a finite life. 



The centenary of the foundation of Thomas Hancock's rubber 

 works in Goswell road falls in the present year, and it is inter- 

 esting to hear that the directors of the present company are 

 recognizing the event by reprinting his "Personal Narrative" of 

 the origin and progress of the "Caoutchouc or India-Rubber 

 Manufacture in England." I do not know whether there has 

 been a previous reprint, but the date of publication of the copy 

 in my possession is 1887. No doubt there will be many among 

 the younger rubber chemists, if not among those of mature 

 years, who will be glad of the opportunity of possessing a copy 

 of the book. 



THE PROOFING TRADE. 



The fall which has taken place in the price of seed oils is 

 somewhat slow in its effect on the price of rubber substitutes, no 

 change to the advantage of the buyer of the latter having oc- 

 curred at the time of writing. Of course the increased cost of 

 substitutes is not all attributable to oil values, as labor and chemi- 

 cals are also up. With regard to vulcanizing, although sulphur 

 may be e.xpected to come down, there seems little likelihood of 

 bisulphide of carbon and chloride of sulphur following in its 

 wake. This bears upon the relative cost of the dry-heat and 

 cold-cure processes. At one time the cold cure was decidedly 

 the cheaper of the two, but now they are much the same and 

 it has become customary to take the costs of the two processes 

 as similar in works calculations. 



Recrimination between the cloth supplier and the waterproofer, 

 where there is any complaint by the purchaser of the finished 

 article, is a well worn theme, each in perfect faith putting the 

 blame upon the other. One or two cases which have given 

 rise to the customary amenities have been associated with khaki- 

 dyed cloth as a component part of rubber-proofed clothing, and 

 altogether the defects seem trivial enough. Nothing is alleged 

 against the waterproof properties of the garments, the com- 

 plaint being limited to the fact that when tested with water 

 by the special method adopted by the purchaser some altera- 

 tion in the tint of the khaki color takes place. With regard 

 to the various methods used by purchasers to test waterproofs, 

 it certainly seems desirable that some standard test should be 

 adopted and also that this test should be specified and particu- 

 larized when the goods are being contracted for. As it is, the 

 person is at a disadvantage in not knowing to what test if 

 any the goods are to be subjected. 



Reports from the works indicate that as regards new busi- 

 ness, slackness is somewhat prevalent, and this may be taken 

 as supporting the statements emanating from other trades to 

 the effect that the populace is not spending money so freely 

 as was the case a year ago. It must be remembered in this 

 respect that the millions distributed among officers and men 



have now been spent, except in those few cases where the 

 gratuities were invested. 



.■\nother instance where the making-up side of the business 

 is to be carried on by a separate company associated with the 

 rubber works is that of the Premier Waterproof and Rubber 

 Co., Limited, of Manchester. A new company called Premier 

 Garments, Limited, has been registered with a capital of 

 £90,000 in il shares, of which 80,000 are cumulative preference, 

 to take over the making up and selling of the waterproof gar- 

 ments and piece goods of the above company. Until the new 

 premises are ready for occupation the new company will con- 

 duct its business from the rubber works. W. Lilley is on the 

 board of both companies. 



The police in some of our smokiest towns are now being 

 supplied with the well-known white, single-te.xture mackintoshes 

 worn in the past almost exclusively by coachmen. They are 

 certainly more conspicuous than the ordinary dark blue or black 

 coats hitherto worn, but it is to be hoped that the makers 

 will not be held responsible if the white color undergoes a 

 change. 



The report of J. Mandleberg & Co., Limited, the Manchester 

 waterproofing house, for 1919 is of the usual satisfactory na- 

 ture, the distribution on the ordinary shares including a bonus 

 of /Va per cent, being 22"/ per cent. As in many other businesses 

 the high cost of materials and the necessity for e-xpansion to 

 cope with new business have made it imperative to issue fur- 

 ther capital and it is proposed to issue a further 150,000 ordi- 

 nary i\ shares and also to create 150.000 eight per cent preferred 

 ordinary shares. These shares are to be offered at par to 

 directors and others engaged in the management of the company 

 at the directors' discretion. 



SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY'S ANNUAL REPORTS. 



The volume for 1919 is now at hand, and, as was the case 

 in 1918, the chapter dealing with progress in the rubber in- 

 dustry is from the pen of . Dr. Twiss, chief chemist of the 

 Dunlop Rubber Co., Limited. He mentions that now the war 

 is over, details referring to manufactured goods are more fre- 

 quent, and gives footnote reference to various papers that have 

 been published in The India Rubber World. To the busy man 

 who, despite the best intentions, cannot always manage to keep 

 up with the flow of technical literature, the summary given by 

 Dr. Twiss of the scientific papers relating to the industry pub- 

 lished during the year will be found very useful. Rubber patent 

 literature as such is not specially dealt with, perhaps because of 

 the dreary monotony of the rubber-like bodies made from fish, 

 tar or what not, and which the inventor rarely lives to see in 

 regular use. The tendency of fine powders, such as precipitated 

 barium sulphate, to become coarser under the mixing process 

 is specially referred to in connection with Harting's United 

 States patent covering the use of minced powders in the form 

 of a paste with water or other liquid. Dr. Twiss, however, 

 thinks that the practical difficulties in the way of doing this 

 appear to be serious, though he suggests that glue and other 

 colloids might usefully be applied in the form of an aqueous 

 jelly. Referring to the use of glue in rubber. Dr. Twiss quotes 

 American practice without saying whether it is used in Europe. 



FUSION OF TIRE MAKING AND COTTON SPINNING INTERESTS. 



It is announced that Belgrave Standard Tyres. Limited, of 

 Oldham, has acquired a controlling interest in the Beldam 

 Tyres, Limited, of Brentford, near London. Other firms in 

 this fusion are the Belgrave Mills Co., Oldham, the Standard 

 Tyres Co., Oldham, the Standard Tyre and Rubber Manufac- 

 turers, Limited, of London; the spinning and manufacturing 



