January i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



103 



established cable works here, and no experienced cable 

 makers. 



It happens that the government did contract with 

 American firms for the few thousands of miles of cables 

 needed, and though these firms had not before made any 

 submarine cables, their product has proved wholly satis- 

 factory in practice. This successful result, however, at- 

 tracted less attention than the simultaneous building up 

 of a cable industry in Germany, for which several reasons 

 may be suggested. No new company was formed to build 

 the American cables, and no new factory was set up; 

 the average citizen didn't know that any cables were 

 being made and laid, and doesn't know to-day that the 

 Philippines and Alaska lines were made in works abut- 

 ting on New York harbor. The government gave out 

 the contracts as a matter of routine, without attracting 

 notice from the newspapers, and the details are confined 

 mainly to official reports of a character little read by the 

 public. 



In Germany, on the other hand, the establishment of a 

 submarine cable industry appealed alike to the interest 

 of the government, industrial circles, and the general 

 public, as a step in carrying out the deep seated German 

 instinct of industrial progress and industrial indepen- 

 dence of the world. Not that every soul in the German 

 empire knows or cares about the new works at Norden- 

 ham, but none the less it is a subject for national pride 

 that when Germans cable across the Atlantic their mes- 

 sages are carried by lines owned in their own country, 

 and by lines which they were not obliged to have built 

 abroad. And gradually the same is becoming true of 

 German cable connections with the rest of the world. 



The new German cable industry has benefitted by the 

 support of the government, of course, as all good in- 

 dustries in that country do, but apart from this it has 

 become a solidly founded commercial enterprise, paying 

 dividends on the money invested in it, and giving regular 

 employment to a considerable force. And when next a 

 submarine cable is to be ordered by an American com- 

 pany it will not be surprising if the Germany company 

 tender for the work. Every reader is free 10 draw his 

 own conclusions from these facts, but one point that 

 ought not to be overlooked is that an industry does not 

 require fifty years of experience in order to turn out 

 good work. 



The one hundred per cent. DrviDEND of the Dunlop Rubber 

 Co., reported in our news columns, must be studied in connection 

 with the actual resources of the company, and not merely witl? 

 its stated capital. The company is in the same boat, of course. 

 with the Dunlop tire company, and it is a simple matter of 

 bookkeeping whether one corporation or the other is credited 

 with large dividends. All the same, the Dunlop business for the 

 past year appears to have been very profitable. 



that it is a mistake to test rubber insulation by stretching until 

 it breaks, and that reclaimed rubber is good material for in- 

 sulating compounds. These points may not be new in the 

 industry, but they are to most people who prepare specifications 

 for insulated wires. But the most important suggestion in Mr. 

 Hall's paper, to our mind, relates to manufacturers in this branch 

 and their customers arriving at a better understanding as to 

 what goods are wanted and how to provide them. 



An insul.med wire expert, a recent contribution from whose 

 pen is summarized on another page, has a fashion of talking 

 which may be described as "hitting out from the shoulder." He 

 asserts that Para rubber is not essential for good insulation work. 



Wireless telegraphy "has arrived/' so far as we can see, to 

 the extent of rendering a desirable and important service to man. 

 Whether the wireless services now existing are working at a 

 profit, we have no means of knowing, but as a rule most services 

 of value do pay their expenses, and more. At the same time, it 

 does not appear that the world's systems of land and submarine 

 telegraphs are in danger of being put out of business. We are 

 convinced that there is room for cables and "wireless" at the 

 same time, and has been pointed out in these pages in the past, 

 the more the new system of telegraphy is developed, the greater 

 will be the demand for insulated wires — which is coming to mean 

 rubber insulated wires. 



Synthetic camphor has appe.ared as a commerci.^l product, 

 and if it should prove a success it will mean much to the cel- 

 luloid trade, which in turn is of importance as a competitor, 

 within certain limits, of the rubber industry. But the production 

 of an artificial camphor does not of itself prove that an artificial 

 (or synthetic) rubber is any nearer discovery than in the days 

 when 50 cents a pound for fine Para was almost prohibitive. 



The unexpected information appears in the usually accurate 

 Harper's Weekly (New York) that "several million tons of 

 rubber are annually converted into tires in this country." Then 

 it must be that somebody is actually making artificial rubber and 

 getting it into use, since we can find no evidence of so much 

 natural rubber in existence. 



THE QUALITY OF CEMENT. 



IT is not unusual, in the handling of rubber cement, to find a 

 great variation in the product put out at different times by 

 the same manufacturer. This is apt to be due to the nature of 

 the naphtha used in making the cement. The case is mentioned 

 of a large cement manufacturer who ordered a barrel of 72° 

 sweet naphtha and received a barrel billed for 72°. On investi- 

 gation the material proved to be one-half 68° and one-half 76°, 

 the whole averaging 72°. But on the principle that every chain 

 is no stronger than its weakest link, and if in the 68° naphtha 

 there was contained a certain amount of oil, mixing it with 

 an equal amount of 76° naptha would not eradicate that 

 oil from the cement, which for some uses would prove less 

 satisfactory on account of the oil. The higher the test the 

 higher the evaporation qualities of the naphtha, and the quicker 

 it will dry. It is an open question among cement men whether 

 the mixture of different degrees of naphtha will blend the 

 evaporating qualities of that naphtha or not, and there are some 

 men who contend that cement made in this way dries unevenly. 



.^.T the annual meeting of the Amazon Telegraph Co., Limited 

 (London, November 19), the accounts showed a net profit for 

 the last fiscal year, after allowing for debenture shares, of 

 £8728 — a better showing than usual on account of an excep- 

 tionally large rubber crop. The business has been operated 

 hitherto at a loss, however, and after deducting the profit re- 

 ferred to there remains a debit balance of £65,878. No dividend 

 has ever been declared, and the Para-Manaos cable continues 

 to be worked with occasional interruptions. During the year 

 20 miles of the cable had to be abandoned and relaid. 



