INIarcii r, rgoS.J 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



181 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



THE STATE OF 

 OF TRADE. 



By Our Regular 



ACCORDIXG to the head of one of our largest rubber 

 factories the trade is in a flourishing condition at present. 

 American difficulties, although they have undoubtedly had 

 an effect upon financial matters generally, have helped the rubber 

 trade in bringing down the prices of raw materials and any tears 

 which have been shed on this side with 

 regard to the reported closing down 

 of several factories in America are 

 mostly (if the crocodile order. My informant in the course of 

 his conversation said that the position of the British rubber 

 trade is better now than it has been for five years. X^o doubt this 

 is an opinion derived from long experience, and I have no wish 

 to attempt any refutation. All the same, it seems to be generally 

 admitted that we are in for a period of depression all round 

 which must surely cause a reduction of orders. On the other 

 hand, as rubber goods are in so many cases a necessity rather 

 than a luxury, the price of the goods does not always affect 

 seriously the volume of trade. Purchasers may grumble at the 

 high price, but they go on buying rubber goods because they 

 cannot see their way to do without them. When zinc and lead 

 oxides were high metal mining received a stimulus and various 

 new enterprises w'ere started in Great Britain ; at present prices, 

 however, it is very difficult to attract new capital as in many 

 cases to make a profit on what was so freely subscribed a year 

 ago. This means a decreased demand for certain classes of 

 rubber goods, though of course it is not a very important matter. 

 To turn to another matter I may say that I have been solemnly 

 informed that the low price of raw rubber is due to Mr. Fenton's 

 discoveries of artificial rubber, and that this is adversely affect- 

 ing the plantation share market. It seems a pity that some 

 recent editorial remarks on this topic have not had a wider 

 circulation. Of course the low price of Para rubber has had an 

 adverse effect upon Africans and I am told by a friend in the 

 West African produce trade that there is absolutely nothing 

 doing in rubber. Presumably the guayule interests must have 

 suffered, as I am informed from an American source that there 

 i< very little money in making and selling the resin-free product, 

 having regard to the chemical processes necessitated, and as 

 for the stuff containing 22 per cent, of resin there is no great 

 demand at a time of general low prices. 



A l:ouk under this title by Dr. Luigi Settimi, of Rome, was re- 

 viewed in the December issue of The India Rubber World. I 

 know nothing of the author, but have 

 formed the opinion that he is a prac- 

 tical chemist who has followed the 

 scientific investigations wdiich have been made upon rubber in 

 recent years. Where he writes upon the chemical and physical 

 properties of rubber and upon the analysis of raw and manu- 

 factured rubber he is lucid, interesting, and up-to-date. With 

 regard, however, to the bulk of the book, if we leave out the 

 botany which is common to all authors, there is little that is 

 favorable to be said and it would be interesting to know what 

 is thought about the book at Pirelli's w-orks, so near to the 

 publishers at Milan. To illustrate the incompleteness of the 

 book it may be mentioned that all we are told about carbonate 

 of magnesia is that it occurs in nature as magnesite and in com- 

 bination with lime as dolomite. This is hardly sufficient in a 

 book designated a practical manual of the trade. With respect 

 to the descriptions of manufacturing processes these are so 

 abbreviated and in many cases so much out of date that it seems 

 to point to the author being in difficulties with his subject. 

 Driving belts we are told are made in a similar manner to motor 

 tire covers, which have a three line reference. The hollow ball 

 manufacture is correctly given up to the point of vulcanization 



CAOUTCHOUC 

 E GUTTA-PERCHA. 



THE LATE 

 LORD KELVIN. 



Correspondent. 



which is stated as 100° C. (212° F.) Waterproof cloth is said 

 to be spread with a solution of rubber in essence of turpentine 

 and carbon bisulphide with 50 per cent, of alcohol; surely this 

 solution is not in general use anywhere at present. Nothing is 

 said in the book about Macintosh's principal discovery and his 

 name only occurs in connection with patents referring to celluloid 

 and gutta-percha. Of course there must necessarily be limits 

 to the information given in such a small book, but to my mind 

 too much space is occupied by worthless gleanings from the 

 patent files to the exclusion of more interesting and important 

 matters. Dr. Settimi has evidently a close acquaintance with the 

 scientific side of his subject, as seen by his references to English, 

 French, and German chemists, and it is a pity that he has not 

 written the more practical parts of his book in such a way as 

 to indicate that he possesses a knowledge of the subject matter 

 at first hand. 



As an addendum to the notice of the death of Lord Kelvin, 

 in the January issue of The Indl\ Rubber World, I may say 

 that I was present at the impressive 

 funeral in Westminster Abbey when the 

 great scientist was laid near to Sir Isaac 

 X'ewton. I do not propose to enter here into any account of 

 the deceased's numerous and important contributions to science 

 generally, but reference may be made to the fact that the physical 

 experiments made in india-rubber by Joule and published in the 

 Philosophical Magazine for 1857, were first suggested to Joule by 

 Lord Kelvin, the latter having himself done some pioneer work 

 in that direction. At that time, of course. Lord Kelvin was 

 plain Mr. William Thomson, or rather Professor Thomson, be- 

 coming not so long afterward Sir William Thomson. With 

 regard to nomenclature, Sir William has been confused by some 

 authors with Mr. William Thomson, an analyst of Manchester,, 

 wdio has done some research work on rubber goods and whose 

 papers are to be found in one or two scientific journals. 



I HEAR that The De Xevers Rubber Tyre Co., whose works 

 are situated at Earlficld, near Wimbledon, is about to be turned 

 into a limited company, with the Count 

 De Xevers as managing director. The 

 present works were started four or five 

 years ago, when the firm changed its name from the New York 

 Wheel and Rubber Tyre Co., and its habitat from Upper Ken- 

 sington road, London. The De Nevers tire, which is supplied 

 to the trade through Messrs. Liversidge, of London, is of the 

 solid type, having the surface deeply notched at intervals so as 

 to increase the grip, and undoubtedly has proved a success. 

 Among recent large purchasers are Harrods Stores, Limited, 

 all their automobile delivery vans now having them fitted, and 

 Messrs. Carter, Paterson & Co., Limited, the well known London 

 carriers who have substituted motorrs for horse traffic to a con- 

 siderable extent. 



UxDER the headline of "A New Insulating Pitch" The India 

 Rubber World for November has an article on Coalite. With 

 regard to this pitch, which it appears 

 has been favorably reported upon by Sir 

 W. H. Preece, what we should like to 

 know is where it is to be found. Since the British Coalite Co., 

 with its £2,000,000 capital, was formed, there has been a dearth 

 of information as to what is being done. The idea that the 

 patent has any real value is scouted by the bulk of engineers and 

 it is perfectly certain that close competition will arise as soon as 

 the preliminary work of getting the public to use coalite instead 

 of coal has been accomplished. 



Stearine pitch prepared in a special way has recently been 

 patented by J. Connolly. Messrs. Connolly Brothers, it ma\' be 



THE DE NEVERS 

 TIRE. 



ELECTRICAL 

 NOTES. 



