340 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July i, 1908. 



HOW DOW TUBES ARE MADE. 



f N the fine fireproof factory buildings situated at the foot of 

 * Thirty-sixth street, Brooklyn, New York, is located the Dow 

 Tire Co., manufacturers of the Dow non deflation tube. Almost 

 every motorist knows of the tube — that is an inner tube con- 

 taining a shallow pocket about three-fourths of the way around 

 and directly over the tread, which pocket is stuffed with a mix- 

 ture of paste and feathers. From the first the tube was pro- 

 claimed a freak, but it still persists in gaining friends and many 

 motorists swear by it. It was because of some excellent reports 

 concerning it that the editor of The India Rubber World vis- 

 ited the factory to see how the work was done. The super- 

 intendent, Mr. Jacob Abrahams, who has evolved many prob- 

 lems that had to be solved before this special type of tube could 

 be successfully and economically manufactured, showed the vari- 

 ous processes with much enthusiasm. 



To begin with, the tube is made upon a mandrel, several 

 thicknesses of rubber being lapped upon each other to form 

 the tube proper; then to form the pocket, a portion of the tube 

 is coated with a soapstone paste which is allowed to dry and the 

 wrapping of the sheet of rubber continued until the proper thick- 

 ness is secured. In order to avoid blisters and the excessive 

 use of the hand roller the mandrel is held by two men, one 

 at each end, with the sheet of rubber hanging free with weights 

 clamped to the lower margin for tension. The next process is 

 wrapping with cloth to hold the rubber in position during vul- 

 canization. This cannot be done by machinery, as the pocket 

 would slip on its soapstone coating. This wrapping is there- 

 fore done carefully by hand, four men being necessary to get the 

 cloth on smooth and tight. Vulcanization is, of course, the 

 next process and is accomplished in the usual way. 



The removal of the tubes from the mandrel by compressed 

 air is done in the usual way. The clamp for holding the tube 

 throughout its entire length while a jet of air is forced through 

 the pocket is simple and original, as are also the machines for 

 skiving the ends of the tubes preparatory to making the very 

 ingenius double lapped joint that allows of a continuous pocket 

 all the way round. This joint is made over a short collapsible 

 mandrel, just the size of the interior of the tube, which, after 

 the joint is finished, separates into a series of polished wooden 

 rods about the size of carpenters' pencils, which are easily drawn 

 out through the hole left for the valve stem. By the way, be- 

 fore the joint is made a certain amount of paste and feathers is 

 weighed out and forced into the pocket, where it remains in a 

 lump to be afterwards rolled with wooden rolls to distribute it 

 evenly to all parts of the pocket. 



This is roughly the method followed in making the Dow tire, 

 and the busy workmen are certainly making a lot of them. It 

 may be a freak but after all may it not be a good one, and is it 

 not possible that the motorists are even now seeing the dawn of 

 that millenial morn when the punctures cease from troubling 

 and the blowouts are no more? 



THE EXTRACTION OF GUAYULE RUBBER. 



IN a report by the United States consul at Matamoras, Mexico 

 (Mr. Clarence A. Miller), some details are quoted from a 

 Monterey chemist in regard to the extraction of rubber from the 

 guayule plant. He says that two German chemical processes are 

 in use. One of these is based on the application of alkali and 

 the other on the use of benzol and alcohol. However, the sys- 

 tem mostly used by the largest factories seems to be the sep- 

 aration of the rubber from the shrub by boiling at a temperature 

 of about 130° C. [=266° F.] three hours, more or less, and add- 

 ing to the water caustic soda or simply lime; some also add 

 salt to the lime. These substances are used against the resinous 

 contents of the plant, which are extracted together with the 

 rubber. The Monterey man is quoted as claiming another chem- 



ical process which he considers best of all, and which has been 

 adopted in a factory at Saltillo after the)' had invested several 

 hundred thousand dollars in a boiling plant, but no details are 

 given regarding it. The boiling plant is referred to as being 

 more expensive m construction, but cheaper in operation; its 

 disadvantage consists in the loss of 3 to 4 per cent, of rubber as 

 well as "in the quick spoiling of the rubber, which does not 

 last as long as that chemically produced." 



The Matamoras consul says : "In addition to guayule, there 

 are in this country other plants containing rubber, but not 

 enough to pay the expense of the extraction of it. Experiments 

 are being made witli the candeliala, which is claimed to contain 

 3 per cent, rubber, considerable resin, and also a high percentage 

 of wax. Some trial carloads of this plant have been exported 

 to Belgium." 



OBITUARY. 



/^ASSIUS :M. GILBERT, who died at his home in Cleveland, 

 ^^ Ohio, on June 8, was a native of Memphis, Michigan. 

 After a short business experience in New York city he engaged 

 in the wholesale paper business at Detroit, going later to Kansas 

 City and becoming interested in real estate. In 1905 Mr. Gilbert 

 became interested in the reclaiming of rubber. In that year he 

 organized the Aladdin Rubber Co., which established a factory at 

 Barberton (near Akron), Ohio, and was doing a good business 

 in making reclaimed rubber when a fire, in June, 1907, caused a 

 heavy loss, making necessary a complete reorganization of the 

 company. 



Mr. Gilbert next became associated with Mr. Charles A. Be- 

 saw, and they organized The Gilbert-Besaw Co., of Cleveland, 

 to exploit a new reclaiming process which was referred to in 

 the last Indi.\ Rubber World.. Success attended Mr. Gilbert's 

 enterprises as a rule, and the business in which he was engaged 

 at the time of his death had apparently an exceptionally bright 

 future. This, by the way, will be continued by those who were 

 associated with ^Ir. Gilbert in planning it. Mr. Gilbert is sur- 

 vived by a widow and one daughter, Mrs. T. E. Dickenson, of 

 Pittsburgh. 



* * * 



Regin.\ld Wh.\lley Wickham, f. r. g. s., of Gloucestershire, 

 England, early in May died on shipboard between Colombo and 

 Singapore, aged about 58 years. Mr. Wickham became interested 

 in planting in Ceylon about 35 years ago. He resided in Ceylon 

 for several years, and at the time of his death was the owner of 

 a rubber estate there, though the last few years he had spent 

 either at his home in England or in travel through the rubber 

 areas of South America. He had established a reputation as an 

 authority on the conditions of rubber production in the Amazon 

 region. Mr. Wickham was a visitor to New York last year, on 

 his return from a trip to South America, incidental to which he 

 came north through Mexico, visiting a number of rubber plan- 

 tations in the latter country-. 



* * * 



Silas B. Foot, head of the firm of Foot, Schultze & Co., large 

 shoe wholesalers of St. Paul. Minnesota, a firm handling rubber 

 footwear in very large volume, died on May 22 in his seventy- 

 fourth year. 



The growth in commercial importance of Manaos is indicated 

 by the establishment there of a branch of the important Bank of 

 Brazil, of Rio de Janeiro, the capital of which is stated at 70,- 

 000,000 milreis [= about $38,220,000]. The Manaos branch was 

 opened in January last and has been proved a success already. 

 Manaos and Para are on a par as regards their total inter- 

 national trade, but in exports alone Manaos is now in the lead, 

 due to the steady expansion of the rubber trade. The Bank of 

 Brazil, however, is planning a branch for Para, and another 

 for Santos, the great coffee center. 



