42 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[November i, 1907. 



is obviously open to controversy, but while it remains unsettled 

 it must of necessity militate against the work coming in the 

 rubber analyst's direction. In the course of a recent conversa- 

 tion with the writer, a well known tire manufacturer expressed 

 the opinion that 50 per cent, of the wear and tear of a tire lies 

 in the details of its construction rather than in the actual quality 

 of the rubber, and that the best rubber as shown by analysis if 

 badly manufactured or in conjunction with poor canvas w'ould 

 show up badly in practice compared with a much cheaper rubber 

 mixing made up with the best textile material in the most ap- 

 proved manner. This would apply, of course, more to pneumatic 

 than to solid tires, but it has a general application to our subject. 



Physical tests are, it should be mentioned, specially referred 

 to by Messrs. Beadle and Stevens as of value, and it is possible 

 that their extended application along with chemical analysis will 

 serve to dissipate the idea of the futility of chemical investigation. 

 The above authors confess to a weak point in analysis and that 

 it is the great difficulty if not impossibility of estimating the 

 amount of reclaimed rubber in a tire mixing. It is acknowledged 

 by them that the use of this material is reprehensible, though 

 this dictum might possibly be challenged by some of the re- 

 claimers. With regard to the particular rubber which has been 

 used they also acknowledged the difficulties confronting the 

 analyst. This latter problem is the more difficult of the two to 

 my mind, but even with regard to reclaimed rubber I should 

 hesitate before making any categorical statement such as would 

 be necessary in a court of law. But to conclude these observa- 

 tions, in one respect at any rate chemical analysis can hardly fail 

 in its purpose ; this is in showing whether two tires sold as of 

 similar composition really answer to this description. If they are 

 not practically identical in composition, analysis will assuredly 

 point out the discrepancies and it is hardly necessary to indicate 

 how much information could be usefully applied in trade circles. 



Not much has been heard of the Radax tire for some time 

 past, but from a conversation I had recently with Mr. L. John- 

 stone, who has the practical management of the 

 No'^^. Radax company's affairs, it appears that the con- 

 struction of the motor tire is being actively 

 carried on at the works of one of the cable companies, where the 

 necessary plant is available. It is not surprising to hear that 

 owing to the prevailing competition and cut prices nothing is 

 being done with the Radax cycle tire. 



As already mentioned, Mr. L. Swain has severed his connection 

 with the Dook-Swain Tyre Co., of Ancoats, Manchester. He is 

 now to be found at 277 Deansgate, Manchester. Besides the 

 Parsons non-skid Mr. Swain represents the interests of the 

 Collier tire. I understand that in the last eighteen months, since 

 this tire has been made with beaded edge, it has gained con- 

 siderably in popular favor, as it can now replace other types of 

 tire at the motorist's will. Formerly, when it was bolted on to a 

 special rim, such substitution could not of course be effected. 



Despite the laudatory press notices which accompanied the 

 evolution of the Halle spring wheel it cannot be said to have 

 proved a success, the complication of its construction being 

 doubtless the main factor which has militated against it. 

 . A new tire fabric, said to be of exceptional strength, has been 

 produced recently by Mr. J. Whittaker, a cotton spinner of 

 Stockport, and if report is to be believed, the mill is unable to 

 respond to the demands made by tire manufacturers for the 

 material. 



.•\ somewhat new departure is seen in the Thomas solid motor 

 tire made by the Avon India Rubber Co. In this tire provision 

 is made by means of a special rim for expansion all round, and 

 not as in the ordinary tire for expansion at the sides only. By 

 this means it is claimed that a much greater resiliency is obtained. 



RUBBER INTERESTS IN EUROPE. 



At a special meeting of the shareholders of the Scottish Vul- 

 canite Co., Limited (Edinburgh), on September 12. it was re- 

 solved to go into liquidation. 



GREAT BRITAIN. 



A T the annual meeting of the Premier Cycle Co., Limited 

 ■^^ (.London, September 11), the profit for the last business 

 year was reported at £34,111 [$162,011.82], against £32,420 for 

 the year preceding. These figures cover the operations of the 

 company's branch factory at Xiirnberg, Germany. 



The directors of British Insulated and Helsby Cables. Limited, 

 announce an interim dividend for the half year ended June 30 

 last at the rate of 8 per cent, per year. 



There has been organized among the rubber workers of Edin- 

 burgh a branch of the National Amalgamated Union of Labour. 



The directors of J. Mandleberg & Co., Limited (Manchester), 

 have declared an interim dividend of 10 per cent, for the half 

 year ended June 19. 



Mr. Isidor Frankenburg, head of the rubber manufacturing 

 firm of I. Frankenburg & Sons, Limited, of Solford, Man- 

 chester, has consented to serve for the third year in succession 

 as mayor of Salford. 



GERMANY. 



Dr. Heinr. Tr.wn & Sohne, successors to the Harburg Rub- 

 ber Comb Co., have been enlarging their two plants at Hamburg 

 and Harburg, as they have been obliged to do so often in order 

 to keep pace with the growth of their trade. 



A strike was in progress lately at the Asbest- und Gummiwerke 

 Alfred Calmon, .-X.-G.. at Hamburg. 



Koln-Ehrenfelder Gummiwerke, G. m. b. H., established in 

 1905 with 390,000 marks capital, has been converted into the 

 Koln-Ehrenfelder Gummiwerke .Aktiengesellschaft, with 1,000,000 

 marks [=$238,000] capital for the manufacture of a variety of 

 rubber goods. The chairman of the board is M. Streffler, of 

 Cologne. The factory was occupied prior to 1905 as the German 

 branch of the Colonial Rubber Societe Anonyme, having been 

 organized for the manufacture of rubber balls under the Cox 

 patents. L'pon the reorganization of the business in that year 

 Herr Julius Balla, formerly with the "Prowodnik" rubber works 

 at Riga, became the technical director, and the extensive manu- 

 facture of "patent gum" was taken on. 



FRANCE. 



SociETE Industrielle du Caoutchouc (63, rue Taitbout, Paris), 

 organized with 1,350,000 francs [=$260,055] capital, and now in 

 its third year, has acquired from Auguste Harispe (who becomes 

 technical director of the company) the sole rights to use his new 

 processes in the rubber manufacture. 



SWITZERLAND. 



The firm of R. & E. Huber. whose rubber works at Pfaffikon, 

 in the canton of Zurich, were illustrated in The Indi.\ Rubber 

 World November i, 1905 (page 55) have been succeeded by the 

 Societe Anonyme R. & E. Huber, Manufactures suisses de Cables 

 et Fils electriques, d'Articles en Caoutchouc. During the past 

 two years the buildings of the rubber department have been con- 

 siderably enlarged and the scope of production widened. They 

 are now manufacturing all kinds of hose, packings, mats, brake 

 blocks, perambulator and carriage tires, rubber rolls, erasers, and 

 hard rubber articles and also solid automobile tires. 



RUSSIA. 



The Russian-French India Rubber Works "Prowodnik," at 

 Riga, had net earnings of 1,750.148 rubles [^901.326.22] for the 

 business year 1906 and paid IJ per cent, in dividends, against 

 earnings of 1,013.495 rubles [=$521,949.93] in the preceding year, 

 with 8 per cent, dividend., according to St. Petersluirg Ilcrold. 

 AUERICAN TIRES IN ENGLAND. 



I.\ the directory of rubber tires in the British trade, appearing 

 periodically in The India-Ruhbcr Journal, the products are named 

 of the following American makers : The Fisk Rubber Co.. the 

 G & J Tire Co., the B. F. Goodrich Co., the Goodyear Tire and 

 Rubber Co., and the Pennsylvania Rubber Co. 



