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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January i, 1908. 



NEW YORK TO PARIS BY MOTOR. 



A N automobile tour from New York to Paris has been pro- 

 •** jected, under the joint auspices of the New York Times 

 and Lc Matin, of Paris. The route proposed traverses Alaska, 

 to Bering strait, beyond which it is to continue through Siberia 

 into Russia in Europe and thence to Paris. The entrants have in 

 prospect the most severe conditions, long continued, that have 

 yet had to be considered in an automobile tour — extreme cold, 

 great stretches of snow and ice, and long distances without roads. 

 But in spite of these drawbacks a number of entries for the trip 

 have been recorded, and the event is being looked forward to 

 with lively interest by automobilists in America and Europe, and 

 particularly by men experienced in racing affairs. 



Naturally many new features of construction have been sug- 

 gested to automobile manufacturers, but in place will be con- 

 sidered only the special points relating to tires that have been 

 brought out. In this connection, a practical rubber man submits 

 tlie following to The India Rubber World : 



"What of the rubber tires ? While running there may be fric- 

 tion enough to keep them flexible, but standing over night at 40° 

 or 50° below zero, will they freeze and become brittle? Will it 

 be necessary to furnish them with fur coats to keep the arctic 

 atmosphere from stealing all of their heat? Certain it is that if 

 the rubber be heavily compounded it will freeze and crack. That 

 has been proved in Canada and Russia, where cheap rubber shoe 

 soles become as brittle as glass. By the same record good rubber 

 soles, that is soles made of a rich compound, stand up in any 

 sort of cold. But again this is not an absolute test, for the 

 shoe compound is radically different from the tire compound, and 

 differently cured. This we know, unvulcanized rubber will 

 become as rigid as iron at 20° below zero. Will then the tire 

 that has a sheet of unvulcanized stock between the fabric and 

 the tread freeze and break there, or has enough sulphur been 

 absorbed by it to cure it? Then, too, how about repairs? Rubber 

 in solution is not cured. Will not the cement freeze and let go? 

 And if cured by sulphur chloride on the spot will it stand up as 

 if cured by heat? 



"The chances are that the tires will stand up with reasonable 

 care. If it is too cold, as cold as liquid air, which it cannot be, 

 they would be as brittle as glass; that has been proved. At all 

 events no one will watch the tour more carefully than rubber 

 manufacturers, and none be so ready to profit by any knowledge 

 gained. If it is found necessary to invent a low resistance com- 

 pound for extreme cold, they are as capable of doing it as they 

 were to produce high resistance compounds to resist superheated 

 steam. For a guess the wise motorist will have tires that 

 are as nearly pure gum as is consistent with toughness, and 

 flexible leather covers well studded with antiskids for rough and 

 icy places." 



Meanwhile some experiments have been made by Mr. David 

 Hays, manager of the Healy Leather Tire Co. (New York), to 

 determine the effect of severe cold upon rubber tires. The ex- 

 periments were made in the factory of the Liquid Carbonic Co. 

 (New Y'ork), who make a business of compressing carbonic acid 

 into tanks for inflating tires in garages. Ordinary pressure in 

 the tanks is not sufficient to produce a marked degree of cold as 

 the gas enters the tire. To produce excessive cold, gas under 

 enormous pressure was allowed to escape into the atmosphere, 

 the expansion drawing heat from the gas and causing part of it 

 to solidify, the solidified gas or "carbonic snow" having a 

 temperature of about 108° below zero. 



A glass vessel containing alcohol was packed with this car- 

 bonic snow, the temperature of the alcohol slowly going down. 

 Then strips of vulcanized rubber — taken from tire tubes, for in- 

 stance—were cut up, doubled over, and held in a little clip, which 

 could be instantly removed. When the rubber was warm it 

 would spring back instantly into its flattened shape. These 

 samples of rubber were then placed in the cold alcohol, and a? 



the temperature dropped well below zero the rubber began to 

 lose its elasticity. Between 30° and 40° below zero its action was 

 quite sluggish, and when the clip was removed after the sample 

 had been subjected to the cold for a short time the rubber 

 straightened out very slowly. By reducing the temperature to 

 between 40° and 50° below zero the rubber was found to harden 

 in the position in which it was held by the clip, and when this 

 was removed the rubber remained in its doubled-up position for 

 some time, gradually unbending as the heat from the atmosphere 

 warmed it. 



It was also shown by the experiment that the purer the rubber, 

 that is to say, the less amount of compounding with other ma- 

 terials, the better its ability to withstand extreme cold. For a 

 pneumatic tire, however, it is impracticable to use pure Para 

 rubber and sulphur on the tread, the reason being that it would 

 be too tender and unable to give service on the road. Another 

 test made was to insert a piece of rubber into the frozen car- 

 bonic acid, and it was found that, after being left there for a 

 minute or two, it had frozen solid and under the blow of a 

 hammer it was shattered like vulcanite. 



On the other hand, a piece of leather such as is used for auto 

 tires was placed in this extremely cold substance for a con- 

 siderable time, and when removed showed absolutely no change, 

 being as pliable before as after. 



Many motorists believe that it will be impossible to use 

 pneumatic tires over a large part of the New York-Paris route, 

 for which reason a detachable steel rim has been devised, taking 

 the place of a pneumatic tire. This steel run or tire is to be 

 fitted with steel spikes for use for travel over ice or in excep- 

 tionally rough and rocky places. Still another suggestion is that 

 graphite may be used instead of lubricating oil, on account of 

 the liability of the latter to freeze. 



DEATH OF LORD KELVIN. 



THE Right Hon. Lord Kelvin (Sir William Thomson), who 

 probably had contributed more to the development of 

 physical science than any other one individual, and who was one 

 of the most remarkable men his race has produced, died at 

 Glasgow on December 17, in his eighty-fourth year, and was 

 buried on December 23, in the nave of Westminster Abbey, with 

 the highest honors in the power of the British people and 

 government to confer. The son of a professor of mathematics, 

 young William Thomson soon distinguished himself in this branch 

 of science. He entered the University of Glasgow at the age of 

 ten as a student, and at his death he was chancellor of the uni- 

 versit)', his connection with the institution, in some form, having 

 been almost continuous meanwhile. He was particularly dis- 

 tinguished by the results of his researches in the electrical field, 

 and was knighted by Queen Victoria in recognition of his work 

 in connection with the first successful Atlantic cable. His ele- 

 vation to the peerage likewise was an honor conferred on account 

 of his contributions to electrical and engineering science. Lord 

 Kelvin paid several visits to America, one of them being in con- 

 nection with the electrical development of Niagara Falls. 



Rubber Scrap Market. 



There have been so few transactions in rubber scrap for the 

 past few weeks that the market is practically without quotations. 

 The reclaiming mills have been working on a reduced scale, and 

 dealers in scrap report that there is actually no inquiry. In 

 the circumstances it would appear not to be worth while to at- 

 tempt to state any prices. It might be mentioned that a few sales 

 of domestic old shoes have been reported in the neighborhood 

 of 8 cents for carload lots, but this affords no guide to what 

 prices may be when the market becomes active again. 



