August i, iqoS.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



363 



The India-Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



RUBBER 

 PLANTING. 



By Our Regular 



TI I E gcnoral unfinished state of this imposing exhibition called 

 forth considerable comment on the opening day, and 

 there still remained a good deal to be done when I visited 

 it in the middle of June. From the strict point of view of The 

 I.N'uiA Rubber World there is little in the exhibits to write about, 

 -PjiE though it is more than probable that 



rRANCO-BRiTlSH goods Connected with the rubber trade 

 EXHIBITION. escaped my notice owing to the great 



extent of tlie exhibition. According to the plan of the buildings 

 and grounds with which I armed myself, Messrs. F. Reddaway 

 & Co., Ltd., Manchester, have a special pavilion in a prominent 

 situation, but I found it to be only in course of erection. Pre- 

 sumably, before these lines are printed, the public will have had an 

 opportunity of inspecting the wares of the firm under more attrac- 

 tive conditions. There is a good exhibit of the Kempshall motor 

 tire, which has already had special mention in these notes. In the 

 Canadian pavilion, the Canadian Rubber Co. of Montreal have 

 a large show case of their manufactures, rubber boots and shoes 

 being prominent. 



Mr. Fr.\ncis Hollovv.w, who has had such a wide experience 

 of rubber planting in Ceylon, and has been for some years man- 

 ager of the Kepitigalla Rubber Estates, 

 Limited, has recently resigned this posi- 

 tion and is at present taking an extended 

 hdhday in I'jigland. Though Mr. Holloway's interests have 

 centered in Ceylon, it is his opinion that as regards soil and con- 

 figuration of country, the companies in the Straits have a de- 

 cided advantage over those in Ceylon, though this is offset to some 

 extent by scarcity of labor and lack of transport facilities in many 

 districts on the peninsula. Like other men in his position I have 

 spoken to, he does not consider a continuance of high prices for 

 rubber at all necessary for the well-being of rubber culture; 

 prices such as ruled six months ago returning good profits to 

 sound concerns, while checking the flotation of dubious prop- 

 erties. Mr. Holloway expresses surprise at the comparatively 

 small number of individuals who are shareholders in rubber 

 planting companies, the large capital now involved being in far 

 fewer hands than is the case with other industrial enterprises. 

 With regard to complaints received by rubber manufacturers 

 from purchasers of rubber goods, the rubber covered roller has 

 RUBBER been rather prominent, and there is a 



COVERED disposition among the makers to put 



ROLLERS. things on a more satisfactory footing. 



In the majority of cases the roller is put to work under con- 

 ditions of which the manufacturer knows nothing, and when it 

 is returned to him with a crack or some other defect it is not 

 surprising that he is suspicious as to the treatment it has under- 

 gone. These rollers are used in dye works, bleach works, paper 

 mills, and so on, though owing to their price they still find a for- 

 midable competitor in the less effective wooden roller. The rub- 

 ber, which in its nature closely appro.ximates to vulcanite, is 

 affixed to the iron bowl by the rubber manufacturer, tliough the 

 bowl is nearly always the property of the textile works. Of the 

 firms who make a specialty of covering these bowls the North 

 British Ruhber Co. and the Irwell and Eastern Rubber Co. may 

 be mentioned, though of course, the business is not confined to 

 them. In some cases where the bowl has proved unsatisfactory, it 

 is probable that it was either too hard or too soft for its par- 

 ticular use. .A.s the makers have two or three special mixings, 

 the customer would be more likely to have his requirements satis- 

 fied if he notified the manufacturer of the purpose for which the 

 roller was required, when a suitable rubber mixing would be 

 used. As it is, the secrecy which is often maintained in this re- 

 spect frequently acts to the detriment of the maker. It has been 



Correspondent. 



customary for manufacturers and middlemen to give a guarantee 

 for certain time with the roller, but from what I have heard there 

 is a strong disposition to alter this course of procedure as being 

 altogether too much on the side of the purchaser. With regard 

 to this matter I note that the committee of the India-Rubber 

 Manufacturers' Association put forth a recommendation that no 

 manufacturer should take any responsibility in connection with a 

 rubber covered roller which has been turned down after it has 

 left his possession. I know nothing of the causes which prompted 

 this proposal, or as to its ultimate fate, but it is evident that the 

 present position of affairs between buyer and seller is not con- 

 sidered satisfactory by the latter. 



I NOTE that symmetrical dichlor-cthylene has recently been pat- 

 ented by Emil Fischer, of Berlin, as a solvent for making rubber 

 jjE-^ solutions. It is said to be a much bet- 



RUBBER ter solvent than those ordinarily em- 



SOLVENT. ployed and to be free from the objec- 



tionable qualities such as inflammability, toxic effects, etc., which 

 characterize benzine, carbon, bisulphide and chloroform. The 

 patentee is an eminent scientist, having long been professor 

 of chemistry at the University of Berlin, and the wording of the 

 patent specification strikes mc as more suitable to a scientific 

 memoir than as of practical importance to the rubber trade. 

 It may well be that this new solvent makes a better 3% solution 

 of rubber than chloroform or carbon tetrachloride do, but then 

 what is the commercial application of such a solution? As far as 

 the rubber manufacture is concerned carbon bisulphide and chloro- 

 form have no application in making solutions on the large scale, 

 their use being limited to cements for special purposes. Cer- 

 tainly after years of waiting, carboti tetrachloride is now on the 

 market at a price which allows of its employment on the large 

 scale as a solvent, though I am not in possession of any facts as 

 to whether it has given all around satisfaction to those who have 

 tried it on the large scale. So far I have not heard anything as 

 to the price of dichlor-ethylene, but I imagine that it has not yet 

 been prepared on more than a laboratory scale. The hydrocarbon 

 ethylene is capable of producing a wide range of compounds, into 

 the chemistry of which I do not propose to enter here. I note that 

 a maker of uncommon chemical products quotes ethylene di- 

 chloride at about 7 pence per ounce, though this may not be the 

 body we are discussing. It seems to me that if the new solvent 

 is all that is claimed for it. it may be utilized instead of carbon 

 bisulphide for certain purposes. Rubber cement made with this 

 objectionable solvent is used on the small scale for certain pur- 

 poses by large manufacturers who would not object to paying 

 a higher price for a solvent with less associated risk and which 

 would do away with governmental and insurance office inspec- 

 tions. Dichlor-ethylene has a density of 1.269. closely appro.xi- 

 mating to carbon bisulphide, which is 1.272, while the respective 

 boiling points are 55°C. and 43°C. 



A LECTURE delivered recently before the American Society of 

 Mechanical Engineers by Mr. C. Kemble Baldwin will no doubt 

 prove of much interest to the British 

 rubber manufacturer. On more than one 

 occasion I have referred to tlie apathy 

 displayed by British rubber manufacturers toward the special 

 rubber requirements of mining engineers or companies, this branch 

 of the trade having had special attention paid to it by American 

 firms. The paper referred to above consisted in the main of a 

 eulogism on the Robins belt conveyor, an article which I have 

 frequently heard highly spoken of in mining circles. Mr. Robins, 

 I believe, went through a good deal of experimental work be- 

 fore he produced a belt, the rubber surface of which would suc- 

 cessfully withstand the abrasion of the ore which it was destined 



THE BELT 

 CONVETOR. 



