106 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January i, 1908. 



enter and the difference in price is not a fair indication of the 

 difference in quality The arguments in favor of using the 30 

 per cent. Para mixture are (i) that being a standard it is likely 

 to run more uniform in quality; (2) that having been long in 

 use it has had more opportunities to prove its merits under 

 trying conditions ; (3) that in case of trouble the party responsi- 

 ble for the installation would be subjected to less criticism if a 

 standard was used. Yet there are times when the additional 

 expense necessary to procure a 30 per cent, mixture is justified — 

 as for very high voltage, for all submarine work, and when con- 

 ditions of service are exceptionally severe. 



The writer refers to reclaimed rubber in these words : "A 

 manufacturer of insulated wires and cables writes these words 

 with a shudder and speaks them in a whisper, because to the 

 purchaser's mind they stand for all that is dangerous in the in- 

 sulation. Long ago the manufacturer learned that the judicious 

 use of reclaimed rubber in conjunction with raw rubber of 

 all kinds distinctly improved his compounds. He has not dared 

 to breathe this secret, however, for fear of being blacklisted." 

 Mineral matters used in rubber compounds have little dielectric 

 property; they give body to the rubber, but they are inert and 

 little real assimilation takes place. But good reclaimed rubber 

 properly treated has considerable mechanical strength, high 

 dilectric property, and long life ; it is thoroughly assimilated 

 by the raw rubber and has a distinctive advantage in the matter 

 of cost. Like many other excellent things it is the abuse not 

 the use of reclaimed rubber that is bad ; the important point is 

 the percentage and quality of raw rubber used. It is time that 

 the value of reclaimed rubber became as generally understood 

 as is the danger of its excessive use. It might be mentioned 

 that if reclaimed rubber had not come into use the cost of many 

 articles in which rubber enters would be so high that serious 

 consequences would result. 



A NEWSPAPER ON "WIRELESS." 



APROPOS of the recent opening of a wireless telegraph ser- 

 vice across the Atlantic, on a commercial scale, by the 

 Marconi system, the New York Times, in an editorial article 

 printed on November 18, read : 



"No better evidence is required of the utility of the Marconi 

 wireless telegraph system in the service of news from abroad 

 than the fact that considerably more than a page of fresh foreign 

 news and gossip in the Sunday Times was sent from Clifden, 

 Ireland, to Glace Bay by that system, and delivered in Times 

 square quickly and accurately. Our wireless dispatches from 

 Europe come to us in excellent shape, comparing favorably with 

 those sent by cable, and the facilities of the wireless system im- 

 prove weekly. 



"The cable companies will do well to recognize the significance 

 of the situation. The indisputable success of the wireless does 

 not mean a restriction of the volume of their business or a de- 

 crease in their profits; quite the contrary. It means that teleg- 

 raphing between Europe and America will become much more 

 common. It must also become cheaper. The 'wireless' is not 

 going to put the cables 'out of business,' as there will be plenty 

 of work for both systems ; but for the cable folks to 'stand 

 pat' and decry the 'wireless' seems a foolish policy. 



"The wireless transatlantic service is no longer experimental. 

 Marconi has invented and developed it, and put it successfully 

 in operation. It is a rival to the cable service, but not necessarily 

 an unfriendly rival. We cannot have too many ways of speak- 

 ing across the ocean." 



* * * 



A LETTER from the New YorliTimes to The India Rubber 

 World dated December 12 says: "Our attitude toward the trans- 

 atlantic wireless service is correctly represented in the article 

 you quote, and is now, perhaps even more favorable than it was 



at the time the article was printed, for since then we have suc- 

 ceeded in establishing as a regular feature of the Sunday Times 

 an entire page or more of dispatches from the old world, trans- 

 mitted by this system." 



* * * 



The announcement about the middle of October that regular 

 wireless service between America and Europe had been estab- 

 lished commercially is regarded by The Electrical Review (Lon- 

 don) as having been premature. Our contemporary says: "Just 

 as in 1903 when a similar attempt v^as made resulting in a com- 

 plete fiasco, so now in 1907 enthusiasm has outrun discretion, 

 and the trumpetings of a few weeks ago are succeeded by a 

 dead silence in the press." Professor R. A. Fessenden, writing 

 to the Review, from the American coast, of the results of the 

 working of the Marconi system on October 18 and for a few 

 days thereafter, points out that such troubles were experienced 

 as low speed, lack of secrecy, and atmospheric disturbances. 

 He asserts that "there is at the present time no operation [of 

 wireless] which can properly be called commercial in the same 

 sense in which we speak of the commercial working of cables." 

 Furthermore, he asserts that the Marconi system as at present 

 installed is not capable of commercial operation. Professor 

 Fessenden, whose character as an expert is vouched for by the 

 Reviezs), expresses the opinion that the premature publication 

 of exaggerated reports as to results obtained in wireless 

 telegraphy has been harmful in that it has resulted in many per- 

 sons losing their savings who could ill afford to do so, and 

 that the whole business has been brought into disrepute with 

 the public. Moreover, this disrepute has been responsible for 

 the failure of various governments to grant permits within their 

 territory for the erection of stations for working wireless 

 serv'ces. Professor Fessenden supports his contentions in part 

 by recording the history of a number of messages sent by the 

 Marconi system, showing in liow many cases it was necessary 

 to repeat them even when transmitted at a very low rate of 

 speed. 



SYNTHETIC CAMPHOR IMPORTED FREE. 



SYNTHETIC camphor evidently has reached the position of 

 a commercial commodity. An importation of such material 

 at New York was assessed for duty by the port collector as 

 "refined camphor," against which the importers protested. The 

 board of United States general appraisers sustained the pro- 

 test, and their decision was confirmed on review before the 

 United States circuit court for the Southern district of New 

 York. (Treasury Decisions, December 5, 1907.) The court says 

 that "synthetic camphor" crept into commerce after the date of 

 the tariff act. It is made by a secret process, but has come to 

 be known as camphor and to be used as a substitute for 

 camphor. Hence, following precedent, it must be classified, in 

 the customs, as camphor. Crude camphor cannot be put to any 

 important use, for which reason it was placed upon the free list 

 in 1897. The celluloid manufacturers, who are large purchasers 

 of crude natural camphor, refine it upon their own premises. 

 If it should be shown that synthetic camphor as imported is 

 entirely fit for use in the arts as received, it ought to pay duty, 

 but this was not proved to the satisfaction of the court. Natural 

 camphor now comes in from Formosa that is in a pretty fair 

 condition of purity, with a high melting and boiling point, and 

 quite clean looking, but it is classified as "crude" and is admitted 

 free. The court holds that it would be unfair to levy tribute 

 on such artificial camphor as that in issue and permit such a 

 product as the improved Formosa to come in free. 



The Japanese government are encouraging the planting of 

 camphor trees, and the Bulletin Economique , of Hanoi, reports 

 that 6,000,000 or 7,000,000 young trees have been set out within 

 a short time, but it does not expect to see them productive below 

 the age of 10 years. 



