December i, 1907.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



85 



form of manufactured goods within a month of the arrival of 

 the raw material in port. Many of the larger manufacturers 

 have rubber in store for several months ahead, and goods when 

 made up may be kept in stock for months, and even for years. 

 before coming into actual use. It is plain, therefore, that there 

 can be no close relation between the price of raw material at 

 any given period and the prices of manufactured goods. 



STANDARIZING FIRE HOSE FITTINGS. 



PROGRESS continues to be made toward the adoption, in 

 American cities, of standard hose and hydrant couplings, 

 as a part of the fire fighting equipment. There has been a lack 

 of support, however, in some quarters where the special commit- 

 tee of the National Fire Protection Association having this 

 work in charge supposed that the movement would have the 

 earnest support of city officials. Thus in Baltimore, where the 

 last great fire was fought at a disadvantage because not all the 

 equipment sent from neighboring cities could be used, on account 

 of the lack of uniformity of couplings, a large number of new 

 hydrants have since been set, but the National standard has not 

 been adopted. Nor has Toronto, which similarly suffered not 

 long ago from the lack of uniform couplings, seen fit as yet to 

 adopt the new system. 



A New York journal, Insurance Engineering, has lately com- 

 piled some facts bearing upon the subject of hose and hydrant 

 couplings, based upon reports from 75 American cities, in 22 ot 

 which thp National standard has been adopted. In 14 of these 

 ■cities the adoption occurred within the past year. For the most 

 part the cities which have adopted the new standard are small, 

 though Chicago and St. Louis have been added to the list 

 within the period covered by the report. In 15 cities usmg the 

 National standard, 2,635 new hydrants were set during the year, 

 while m 33 other cities 5,425 new hydrants were set, showing 

 that the tendency is not all in the direction of uniformity. The 

 National standard has not been adopted in New York, in which 

 ■city, including Brooklyn, 3,074 new hydrants were set in the year. 



The movement for standardization in the field above referred 

 to had its inception as early as 1873, and uniformity of fittings 

 has since been urged constantly. Finally the National Fire Pro- 

 tection Association appointed a special committee on the subject, 

 the work of which is to seek to influence the authorities of 

 cities and towns to adopt a uniform system of sizes of fittings, 

 screw threads, and so on. The work of the committee has re- 

 ceived the formal support of the American Waterworks Asso- 

 ciation, the International Association of Fire Engineers, Na- 

 tional Firemen's Association, New England Waterworks Asso- 

 ciation, National Board of Fire Underwriters, and some other 

 todies. The committee are hopeful, with this cooperation, of 

 making continued headway in its work. 



The committee make one point of interest in this connection : 

 ■"While it is not to be assumed that all couplings and attach- 

 ments for fire service which now differ from the established 

 standard can or w-ill be immediately discarded for that, it is 

 possible to make the substitution gradual, easy and inexpensive 

 by the use of adapters at all hose and hydrant couplings, until 

 the fixed connections on the established standard gage may be 

 made permanent on the plant already installed, while on the new 

 liydrants and hose, standard gage should be specified as an es- 

 sential to acceptance. We are reliably advised that adapters cut 

 to the established standard gage on one side and on the other 

 side to the present gage in use in any department, may be ha? 

 at a cost of $1 each, and can be used for either hydrant or hose 

 •couplings." 



The importance of this whole subject to the rubber trade be- 

 comes more apparent with the progress of time. A year or two 

 ago 1 HE India Rubuer World obtained some opinions from this 

 trade, which may still be pertinent. One rubber manufacturer 



wrote : "We would state, first, that we have no preference for 

 any particular thread. Second, it would make no difference to 

 us siiould a standard thread be adopted." 



The meaning of this statement, which voiced the sentiment of 

 a number of other manufacturers, doubtless is that orders secured 

 by rubber manufacturers are based upon definite specifications, 

 and one is concerned little about the specifications sent to another 

 factory. The letter continued, however: 



"On the other hand, we should like very much to see a stand- 

 ard thread adopted, as it will enable us to carry couplings for 

 fire hose in stock, which would be a great convenience, as well 

 as prove a material saving both in time and in money." 



THE TYPICAL AMERICAN MACKINTOSH. 



IT is safe to say that the average traveler from abroad, asked 

 to describe the typical American rubber coat or mackintosh, 

 will draw his recollections most from the rubber suits worn 

 by the tourist on the Maid of the Mist, at Niagara. However 

 little of this country he may see, every foreigner takes in 

 Niagara, and tliere, the chances are, gets to see more of the coats 

 in use than he will at any one other point, unless he chance on 



Waterproofs Worn on the "Maid of the Mist." 



much rainy weather. The coats, moreover, are so distinctive as 

 to impress themselves indelibly on the memory. 



Garments for men and women, differ only, to the uninitated, 

 m the matter of the former having double rows of buttons down 

 the front. The hood, too, is the same, covering the entire head, 

 except the face, and then extending out over the neck and 

 shoulders, like some ancient helmet. The suits recall to the 

 novice most some fantastic masquerade assumed by Pythian or 

 other orders, for one of their secret rites. feli.x j. koch. 



"SYMMES'S HOLE" RECALLED. 



THE Boston Herald devotes a page to stating the theory of 

 Orville Livingston Leach, of Auburn, Rhode Island, that 

 the earth is inhabitable in the interior. The name of Mr. Leach, 

 by the way, doubtless is familiar to many of our readers as the 

 inventor of a bicycle tire and of a solid rubber automobile tire, 

 but it would appear that he is no less interested in making his 

 cosmic theory known than in developing his tires. It is not stated 

 whether Mr. Leach is familiar with the work of John Cleves 

 Symmes, of Kentucky, who wrote a book early in the last cen- 

 tury to prove the globe to be hollow and habitable within its 

 shell. Mr. Symmes never was able to organize an expedition as 

 he desired to prove the existence of what the none too serious 

 public called "Symmes's hole." 



