106 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Decembkh 1, 1915. 



manufacturers were not witliout a reserve to call upon 

 in times of stress. 



A similar condition exists today in respect to various 

 compounding ingredients. Many are scarce, or held at 

 prohibitive prices. There is, however, a vast amount held 

 in reserve in the world's .scrap rubber. White scrap may 

 be turned into white rubber again, .\ntimony stocks may 

 be reclaimed, and so on. All that is needed is a little 

 more careful sorting. The reserve is there for use until 

 prices come down again. 



RUBBER MANUFACTURE AND HEALTH. 



'"T'lIE bare suggestion to the old timer that rubber 

 ■*• manufacture was anything but healthful would 

 be received with scorn. Nay, facts, incontrovertible 

 so far as rule of thumb reasoning went, could be 

 adduced to support the theory of healthfulness. For 

 example, in the first of the big rubber shoe factories, 

 compounds were known as "paints". They were made 

 up of whiting, lampblack, lime, barytes, white lead, 

 litharge and sulphur. All of these were mixed to- 

 gether in a large bin, by^ a man with a hoe, and then 

 run through burr mills to ensure further mixing and 

 a greater degree of fineness. The men who did the 

 hoeing and the burr mill mixing, ate, breathed, and 

 absorbed the powders, but that they were anything 

 but healthy would be strenuously denied. Indeed, if 

 we listen to factory tradition, rubber work is very 

 healthful. When other and nearby industries are 

 afflicted with smallpox, scarlet fever, German measles 

 and the like, how very often it happens that the rubber 

 mills are immune. The workman explains it by the 

 presence of sulphur in the air, and also hazards the 

 idea that "bugs" will not live with naphtha and similar 

 fumes. There is also a superstitition among old rub- 

 ber men that while lightning may smite almost any 

 building, even a church, it never strikes a rubber 

 factory. 



There has ever been a sort of half knowledge in the 

 trade that litharge might induce lead poisoning. But 

 the cases where it was known were few and far Jje- 

 tween. W^orkers also were made slightly sick by 

 naphtha fumes, but they recovered quickly and were 

 properly ashamed of themselves afterward. 



Chloride of sulphur was ever recognized as poison- 

 ous, and even in the smallest dipping shops the work- 

 ers were protected from its fumes as much as possible. 

 In fact, few until quite recently used the cold cure. 



As for the commoner ingredients, the chalks, talcs. 



oils, gums and waxes, as well as the evil-smelling rub- 

 ber, the workmen were steeped in and powdered with 

 them all, and lived to ripe old age in spite of them. 



That is why, when rumors of investigations were 

 heard, they were so scornfully received. 



Nevertheless, on the part of the efficienc}- men and 

 the big manufacturers, and the rubber chemists there 

 was nothing but welcome for the government investi- 

 gator who hunted down possible poisons in com- 

 pounds and the poisoned among workmen. Now that the 

 report has been handed in and scanned it shows the 

 trade to be in good shape. Where harmful in- 

 gredients are used the men are pretty generally 

 guarded. When they are not, the suggestions in the 

 report point a way toward absolute safety. 



GOODRICH GOOD ENGLISH. 



A S "The Sun," New York, is noted among newspapers 

 ■** for its correct and sonorous English, so is The B. F. 

 Goodrich Co. noted among rubber manufacturers. This 

 reputation dates from the time, some years ago, when 

 instead of writing "we are sending in same mail," as was 

 usual, they put it, "we are forwarding by correlative post." 

 Their latest bid for super-excellence in English is a tire 

 tread made of "Hyper-Rubber." Lexicographers are 

 more or less familiar with "Hyper" as an anti-skid on 

 such smooth tread words for example as critical, and sen- 

 sitive. It means in eflfect a little bit more than the most, 

 better than the best. If the Goodrich Hyper-Rubber is 

 really what its name implies, the compound must be a 

 Hyper-Hummer. 



Mr. John P. Lyons, for four years past associate 

 editor of The India Rubber World, resigned his posi- 

 tion early in November and will spend the winter in 

 Southern California. His many friends trust that the 

 change of climate will be of- great benefit, both to his 

 invalid wife and to Mr. Lvons himself. 



The Rui'.HER Covered Wire Engineers' Associa- 

 Tio.v WPS perhaps the oldest rubber club in the 

 United States. At all events it was started one year 

 before the New England Rubber Club. It now comes 

 into prominence by merging its identity with that of 

 the Associated Manufacturers of Electrical Supplies. 

 This adds strength to both organizations, and is where 

 the older association belongs, together with all of the 

 cable, conduit, storage battery and insulation manu- 

 facturers. 



