January i, 1908.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



123 



RUBBER MIXING MACHINERY. 



TWO types of machines for massing crude rubber, one Eng- 

 lish and the other American, have existed almost from 

 the beginning of the rubber manufacture. The two-roll mixing 

 mill developed at the Roxbury Rubber Works showed the 

 American idea, and the massing machine invented by Thomas 

 Hancock at Charles Macintosh's factory the English. Almost 

 exactly the same types of mill mixers, only larger and stronger, 



Werner-Pfleiderer Patent Masticator. 



[Universal Kneading and Mixing Machine.] 



are used in America to-day for massing, while the masticator, 

 which is very largely used in European practice, is nearly the 

 same as that which Hancock finally evolved. 



One harks back to 1820 to find the beginning of the masticator. 

 At that time, Hancock made a small wooden framed machine 

 in which was a wooden cylinder studded with teeth that re- 

 volved in another cylinder, also toothed, in which the charge 

 of rubber, only a couple of pounds, was put and the machine 



turned by hand until the gum was homogeneous. In 1840, how- 

 ever, new buildings and new machinery were put up at the 

 Macintosh factory, and the "monster" masticator was installed. 

 This took 200 pounds at a charge and was very successful. Of 

 course, the Hancock patents of masticators have long ago ex- 

 pired and the big machinery builders have taken over the 

 making of them, adding from time to time various improve- 

 ments. One of the accompanying illustrations shows the modern 

 up-to-date masticator as it is in use in hundreds of European 

 rubber factories at the present time. 



Paraguay. — Referring to a recent mention of native rubber 

 trees in this republic, the United States consul at Asuncion re- 

 ports that at this time little or no rubber is produced in the 

 country, though undoubtedly considerable could be found along 

 the northern frontier, a region which is almost wholly un- 

 developed. The Brazilian state of Matto Grosse exports rubber 

 via the Paraguay river and Asuncion, but no record is kept in 

 Paraguay of such shipments. Nicholas Baez, in the South 

 .Imcrican Journal, says that a rubber tree known locally as 

 "manga-ice" is abundant in northern Paraguay, and is a good 

 rubber tree, and also that the "manigoba"' is found there. In 

 1890 the United States consul at Buenos Aires mentioned the 

 "manga-ice" tree as then yielding considerable rubber in northern 

 Paraguay. The French authority, H. Jumelle, considers the 

 "manga-ice" tree to be Hancornia speciosa. 



ToKio Exhibition. — The total attendance at the Tokio In- 

 dustrial Exhibition, in regard to which a report appeared in The 

 Indi.\ Rubber World of October i (page 21), is reported to have 

 been 4.522,596 during the first 94 days, or over 48.000 per day. 

 The highest attendance for one day was 116,000. 



The Passburg vacuum dryer, in use so successfully in rubber 

 goods f;:cujric5 and also in the preparation of plantation rubber, 

 is reported to have given good results in the drying of cacao in 

 Kamerun, West Africa. 



Exports of crude rubber from Ecuador during 1906 amounted 

 to 1,391,652 pounds, of which 1,185,600 pounds went to the 

 United States. 



According to the year book of the Touring Club of Italy there 

 will soon be 153 motor 'bus lines in operation in that country, 

 many of them being subsidized by the government. It is sug- 

 gested that a commercial vehicle competition should be held 

 along with the touring car events during the Brescia 

 automobile week next year. Baron 

 Georges de Caters, of Belgium, 

 after a sojourn of a year in Japan, 

 recently arranged for a motor 'bus 

 service in a large city in the latter 

 country of 125 vehicles. 



With a view to promoting com- 

 mercial relations with foreign coun- 

 tries, and at the instance of the As- 

 sociaciao Commercial of Amazonas, 

 the tax levied on commercial trav- 

 elers by that state and by the mu- 

 nicipality of Manaos is to be re- 

 moved. 



Hancock's Masticating Machine. 



[From Hancock's "Personal Narrative."] 



An American consular report re- 

 fers to the introduction of rubber- 

 tired jinrikishas in Rangoon, Burma, 

 which promise to become as popular 

 as they are in Singapore and Penang 

 and various Chinese cities. 



