November i, 1907] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



41 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



PASSAGE 

 OF GASSES. 



HARDLY any original work has been done in this subject 

 in recent years, and modern authors usually quote the 

 experiments of the late Dr. Mitchell, of Philadelphia, and 

 of Graham, of London, when referring to the topic. In a recent 

 paper, however, written in our London contemporary, the ver- 

 satile Dr. Ditmar attacks the subject 

 afresh. Probably the account of the ex- 

 periments and the numerous figures 

 given will not be closely studied by the man of business, and to 

 the scientist it is not particularly reassuring to be told in the 

 last paragraph that the results are in the highest degree remark- 

 able and cannot be satisfactorily explained at present. The 

 matter is not without importance in several branches of the 

 rubber industry, of which hollow balls, gas tubing, and pneu- 

 matic tires may be mentioned. I cannot give the reference, but 

 I am sure some one has proved that gas tubing containing a 

 certain amount of mineral matter is more resistant to the passage 

 of coal gas than is pure rubber. The subject acquires new in- 

 terest for tlie motorist in connection with the use of Parsons's 

 Sparklet inflators, a novelty introduced by the Parsons Non Skid 

 Co., of London. The inflator consists of a solid drawn steel 

 cylinder containing compressed carbonic acid in the liquid form, 

 and by means of the special valve attachment with which it is 

 fitted tires can be rapidly inflated with a minimum of effort up 

 to 80 pounds pressure. With regard to any action of the gas 

 upon the rubber I see no reason at all why anything injurious 

 should be apprehended as long as pure gas is used. With regard 

 to the question of diffusion of gases, according to Dr. Mitchell, 

 gases which are easily liquefied by pressure penetrate rubber 

 most readily. From this we might conclude that the carbonic 

 acid would pass through the tire more readily than air with its 

 large content of nitrogen. The figures given by Graham for 

 their rubber films show that carbonic acid passed 13^4 times 

 as quickly as nitrogen. The conditions in the case of a 

 tire are of course quite different, and against any theories which 

 may be adduced there is practical evidence that tires inflated 

 with carbonic acid have shown no slackening after more than 

 six months use. 



A MONTH or two ago it was mentioned in these notes that a 



local firm of repute would probably acquire this concern, situated 



at Bradford, Manchester, from the 



BHOADOTROT^& CO., liquidator. A limited company with a 

 capital of £40,000 has now been formed 

 in which Charles Macintosh & Co., Limited, hold a controlling 

 interest, Messrs. P. A. Birley and F. H. Smith being the first 

 directors. As in the case of the new Eccles Rubber Co., in which 

 the Macintosh firm are also largely interested, the Broadhurst 

 company will be run as a separate concern, with its own officials 

 and not merely as a branch of Messrs. Macintosh. 



From a general point this new flotation would appear to be 



sound, especially as the Peruvian consul general is on the board. 



,. , There is certainly plenty of rubber and 



THE PERUVIAN , , ,. . '^„ ■' , , 



of good quality m Peru, and the pro- 

 RUBBER CO. vision of greater facilities for its gather- 



ing is a much wanted step for its exploitation. With regard to 

 the quality of the rubber the prospectus only mentions IMollendo 

 fine. This is a Hcvea product and the fact that it generally 

 fetches about 2 pence per poimd less than Bolivian fine may be 

 attributed to its after condition. Nothing is said as to the ex- 

 istence on the property of caucho rubber. This grade has of 

 late become popular in England, coming as it does in large quan- 

 tities and of comparatively even quality. I refer to this specially 

 because if this tree occurred largely in the new company's ter- 

 ritory one might expect that an improvement in the procedure 



of collection might be initiated; that is, the substitution of tap- 

 ping for felling the trees. From a Peruvian official publication I 

 glean that tlie Hevea or "Jebe" rubber trees grow to 20 to 25 

 meters high. The quality of the product is judged by the color 

 of the latex, the best being violet, and the second quality red or 

 white. The yield depends, among other circumstances, upon the 

 quality of the soil and the altitude where found. It is contended 

 that plantations could be successfully inaugurated if laid out on 

 lines closely approximating to what is found in nature. 



In September a change took place in the directorate of this 



company, whose works are situated in Cornwall street, Open- 



shaw, Manchester, Mr. George Spencer 



GORTON RUBBER ,...,,, , • 



havmg jomed the board as managmg 

 CO.. LIMITED. director. Mr. Spencer has held various 



important positions with Charles Macintosh & Co., Limited, for 

 the last twenty years, more particularly in connection with tires. 

 I understand that the Gorton company intend to double their 

 capacity of output in order to manufacture many other classes 

 of goods besides the tires which have been the principal product 

 of the works so far. That the business previously done is by 

 no means insignificant is seen in the statement that 9000 or 

 10,000 both of covers and tubes have been turned out per week 

 during the past season. 



Messrs. Ci-avton Beadle and Henry P. Stevens have con- 

 tributed an artice to the Chemical News dealing with their 



analyses of solid motor tires. The de- 



MOTOR TIRE ., ^ , . , 



tails of the mineral constituents are not 

 ANALYSES. given, and altogether there is little in 



the paper to which the manufacturer might object as giving 

 away trade secrets. No novelty is claimed by the authors in 

 regard to methods of analysis, and there is nothing in this direc- 

 tion which appears to call for comment. One or two points of 

 a general nature, however, call for notice. The conclusion they 

 draw from their work is that a thorough chemical and physical 

 examination of a tire will lead to a reliable estimation of its value. 

 This conclusion was also arrived at by Messrs. Schidrowitz and 

 Kaye in a paper referred to recently in these notes, and indeed 

 it is difficult to see how any professional chemist could arrive at 

 any other, human nature being what it is. From a purely per- 

 sonal and business point of view I am quite at one with the 

 above authors in their conclusions, but I recognize that it will 

 not be an easy matter to effect the conversion of the tire buying 

 public, to the extent at least of tnaking them pay cheerfully for 

 the analyses. 



Messrs. Beadle and Stephens make sundry references in their 

 paper to the time occupied by a complete analysis such as is 

 necessary to determine the vulcanization coefficient, and there is 

 very little disposition on the part of the motor tire purchaser to 

 pay the fee, which cannot by any means be considered excessive 

 having regard to the labor involved. Then with regard to the 

 motor car builders, there is less disposition than there was to 

 contract with one tire firm for the supply of tires over a certain 

 period. In miny cases the customers specify which tires they 

 want fitted and the car builder does not concern himself as to 

 their quality. Altogether, important as are the monetary interests 

 involved, there does not seem to be a very fruitful field for 

 the rubber analyst's labors in connection with it, unless per- 

 chance he cares to work at the bed rock prices prevailing now- 

 adays in some other branches of analytical work. There is also 

 another view of the matter which is expressed in no hesitating 

 terms by those sceptical of the analyst's prowess. This is that 

 analysis may give you the component parts of the rubber right 

 enough, but that it is of little value in indicating the wearing 

 capacity or probable longevity of the tire. This is a point which 



