132 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[January i, 1908. 



GROWING INSULATED WIRE TRADE. 



THE sentiment of the rubber insulated wire trade is that a 

 steady growth is to be expected. While the recent financial 

 stringency doubtless has interrupted the projecting of new build- 

 ing enterprises, a vast amount of building already planned is 

 being carried on without interruption, and a return of activity in 

 new planning is looked for in the near future. The point is that 

 modern city buildings call for a great deal of electrical wiring, 

 and to-day this is nearly all rubber insulated. Single buildings 

 in course of erection in New York will require from $100,000 

 to $200,000 worth of electric wires — for lighting, for telephones, 

 for messenger services, and so on — all services which have been 

 introduced within a generation. 



The electrification of railways everywhere has promoted the 

 demand for insulated wires, and modern steamers require large 

 amounts. On war ships nowadays everything except their actual 

 propulsion is done by means of electricity, and calls for insulated 

 wires — practically all rubber insulated. Like everything else, 

 insulated wires must be replaced periodically, and a leading 

 electrical engineer points out that the amount of electrical equip- 

 ment now installed for various purposes is so great that the 

 necessary replacements alone will call for enough insulated wire 

 to prevent the industry from ever becoming really "dull" again. 



For some time past most of the rubber insulated wire fac- 

 tories in the LTnited States have been run overtime — some of 

 them double time. The most that has resulted from the recent 

 business trouble has been to reduce the activity to normal work- 

 ing hours. . The reduced cost of materials is expected to stimulate 

 the business. In July last the "base price" for bare copper wire 

 was 23 cents per pound, and about the middle of October it had 

 fallen to 15 cents. There has been a slight advance since, recent 

 quotations being about i6;X cents a pound. 



"There was a time, not so many years ago," said a member 

 of the insulated wire trade, "when many people actually were 

 afraid to use rubber insulated wires. In every case of fire the 

 cause of which was in any way obscure, it was set down as 'de- 

 fective insulation,' until the fire underwriters in a single year 

 estimated that $100,000,000 damage had been caused by fires 

 from this source. The insulated wire people and the electrical 

 engineers then began to get busy, with the result that systematic 



inspection of wires was adopted, and better methods of installa- 

 tion. It is now possible, in a great number of cases, to prove 

 positively whether a given fire resulted from defective insulation, 

 and one seldom hears this cited as the cause of a fire. More- 

 over, under the system of marking each manufacturer's output 

 of wire specifically, it is possible in every case to know the source 

 of the wire, whether it is at fault in causing a fire or otherwise. 

 The general result, therefore, has been to render rubber insula- 

 tion more popular than ever, and for many purposes it is the 

 only wire insulation that will be accepted by the fire under- 

 writers. For in addition to its positive good qualities, the 

 old fear of rubber insulation has disappeared." 



ASBESTOS NOTES. 



■ I 'HE Asbestos Products Co., of Hartford, have been incor- 

 •*• porated under the Connecticut laws, with $50,000 capital, 

 to mine asbestos in that state or elsewhere, and to use the same 

 in manufacturing. Henry E. Chapman is president and treasurer, 

 Frank J. Betts vice-president, and George O. Brett secretary — 

 all of Hartford, Conn. 



The LTnited States Asbestos Co., organized last year by parties 

 at Burlington, Vermont, to mine asbestos at Eden, in that state, 

 have begun the erection of a refining plant, to handle 200 tons 

 of rock daily. 



A good business is reported to have been done among the 

 thrifty class of some localities in the sale of "fireproof" boxes, 

 alleged to be of asbestos, for the safekeeping of valuable papers. 

 In nearly every neighborhood, some purchaser, yielding to 

 curiosity, has tested his purchase in the fire, with the result that 

 his box has been of little further use. 



London Cabs. — There appears to be a falling off in the number 

 of horse drawn cabs on London streets. The number of such 

 vehicles licensed during the year ended May 31, igo6, was 10,792, 

 while during the year ended May 31, 1907, only. 10,251 were 

 licensed. Meanwhile the number of licensed motor cabs in- 

 creased from 53 to 284. No doubt the business done by the motor 

 'buses, carrying in the aggregate millions of passengers, has 

 brought about a lessened demand for cabs. 



Review of the Crude Rubber Market. 



THE condition of dullness which characterized the market 

 at the date of our latest report has continued during the 

 month, assuming meanwhile, if possible, a degree more 

 pronounced. The reasons then recited for the interruption to the 

 demand from manufacturers still have their weight, and buying 

 for current needs has almost come to a standstill. Added to 

 this is the custom of stock taking at the end of the calendar 

 year, when manufacturers avoid having on hand a surplus of raw 

 materials. 



The general outlook for business, however, is more hopeful 

 than was the case a month ago, as indicated in other columns 

 of this issue. While buying manufactured products in all lines 

 continues on a reduced scale, this condition cannot last indefi- 

 nitely : indeed, from many parts of the country signs of improve- 

 ment are reported already. But until existing stocks of goods 

 are worked off the consumption of raw materials is likely to be 

 confined to meeting actual current demands, for rubber manu- 

 factures as well as in all other lines. For the present, there- 

 fore, the crude rubber market remains unchanged, and what 

 the future of prices is to be can be determined only after a more 

 general renewal of business activity. 



The Para crop so far is slightly smaller than for the same 

 months in several former years, those these figures have little 

 bearing upon the general situation. In other words, the quantity 



arrived by the middle of the season forms no basis for estimating 

 the total production for a year. During the last half of the 

 1905-06 season, after arrivals had been normal for six months, 

 the quantity reaching Para exceeded 'by 3485 tons the receipts 

 for the corresponding period one year before. It may be that 

 this year the lower prices that have prevailed for some months 

 may curtail production, though usually operations in the field 

 are not so quickly affected by the prices in consuming markets. 



.\rrivals at Para of rubber of all grades ( including caucho) 

 for the first half of several crop years — July i to December 31 

 inclusive — have been as follows, in tons : 



1904. 1905. 1906. 1907. 



July 1,250 1,450 1,840 1,370 



August 1,260 1,300 1,690 1,500 



September 1,780 2,200 2,070 2,410 



October 2,820 3,580 3.030 3,200 



November 2.800 2,890 3.480 3.200 



December 3.390 3.270 2,610 01,095 



Total 14.300 14,690 14,720 12,775 



[a — To December 18, 1907.] 

 At the .Antwerp auction, on December 13, of 232 tons of rubber 

 exposed, only 130 tons found buyers, at lower prices, the decline 

 in some cases amounting to 85 centimes per kilogram [^about 

 7'/2 cents per pound]. 



