438 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[May 



1916. 



appointment of George Anderson, a departmental director of the 

 company and formerly joint manager of its Glasgow business. 



The British Board of Trade is in receipt, through the Foreign 

 Office, of information to the effect tliat exportation from Norway 

 of all manufactures of rubber, gutta percha and balata is pro- 

 hibited, with the exception of driving and transmission belts of 

 balata and gutta percha. 



.\NTIKUST INNER TUBE. 



The Stepney Spare Motor Wheel, Limited, London, has intro- 

 duced on the British market a new type of inner tube for auto- 

 mobile pneumatic tires consisting of an ordinary air tube having 

 around its inner circumference, where it is slightly thicker than 

 th tread, a band of rubber which it is claimed prevents the rust 

 from the rim injuring the rubber tube. It is also well suited for 

 use on wire wheels owing to the fact that its shape before infla- 

 tion protects it from damage by the spoke heads when being fitted 

 in the casing. 



Another feature of this tube provides what is termed a "tropic- 

 al" joint, which, before curing, is treated with special solution 

 and is claimed to be thus rendered immune from overheating 

 when in use. 



T 



THE SITUATION IN FRANCE. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 

 HERE is little to report from this country that would be 



RUBBER EAR PLUG. 



Though very similar in some respects to the ordinary ear 



protector, this recent invention has several novel features to 



command attention and interest. In the illustration on the right 



the protector is to be seen by 



itself, while on the left it is shown 



as it appears when fitted to the 



ear. 



The plug or protector consists 



of a ball A made of flannel, silk 



or rubber, slightly tapered to tit 



the outer ear passage. This plug 

 is attached to the end of the small screw C that is set at an 

 angle of 45 degrees and threaded through the anchor piece B. 

 When the plug is in place the screw is turned by the milled 

 head, which causes the plug to move both forward and side- 

 ways to suit the size and shape of the ear. Thus it can be 

 adjusted to fit any ear, whereas other ear plugs must be made 

 to fit each different size of ear. A cap of vulcanite, celluloid 

 or rubber is used to cover the plug. A ball made of vulcanite, 

 celluloid or rubber may be used in place of the flannel, silk or 

 soft rubber. [T. N. Atkinson, 26 Hart street, Holborn, London, 

 W. C, England. British patent No. 4,579 (1915).] 



BRITAIN PROHIBITS AUTOMOBILE IMPORTS. 



At a meeting of the privy council of Great Britain, King 

 George signed a proclamation prohibiting the importation of au- 

 tomobiles, motorcycles and various other articles. This prohibi- 

 tion has been expected for some time, and is understood to be 

 for the purpose that shipping may be free to carry necessaries 

 for which the need is urgent. It is pronounced in logical se- 

 quence to the imposition of the 33^ per cent duty placed upon 

 automobiles by the British government last October. It is un- 

 derstood that the prohibition does not apply to motor trucks or 

 vehicles to be used solely for commercial purposes. 



NEUTRAL EUROPE NEEDS TIRES. 



Diplomatic representatives of the United States in Holland 

 and Scandinavian countries have brought to the attention of the 

 state department the difficulties encountered by automobile deal- 

 ers and users in those countries, through shortage of tires. The 

 agreement between the British Government and American manu- 

 facturers of rubber goods has resulted in forcing the automobile 

 and tire dealers to buy all their tires through British dealers, 

 and this has caused greatly increased prices, and in some cases 

 inability to purchase tires at any cost. 



of real interest to readers of The India Rubber World. 

 We arc all heart and soul in the war, our thoughts are on 

 Verdun which is successfully resisting the most formidable, the 

 most terribly scientific and powerful onslaught that ever was 

 waged in war. A gigantic struggle like this is consuming tre- 

 mendous quantities of rubber goods, tires especially. Prac- 

 tically all amnumition en route to the battle front and all the 

 men traveling to and fro from the fighting lines are trans- 

 ported over great distances by vehicles equipped with rubber 

 tires. The motor car has revolutionized warfare. Railways 

 no longer have the importance they had in the great wars of 

 the past. Motor trucks on our roads can do all that the rail- 

 roads can and much more. We have solved the tire problem 

 and are now obtaining very good mileages from the solid kinds 

 which gave much concern at the beginning of the war. Our 

 greatest motor-truck troubles of late have been with anti-skid 

 devices on which there is much room for improvement. All our 

 military trucks are provided with non-skid devices but they 

 unfortunately are often lost just when they are required. The 

 work of fitting non-skid chains is not easy when the man has 

 but little experience and the thermometer is a dozen degrees be- 

 low zero. Then, frequently, when the chauffeur endeavors to 

 apply his non-skid chains he finds them perhaps a foot too 

 short or too long. Drivers are reluctant to use non-skid chains 

 but many have learned by experience that it is costly to do 

 without them. 



THE TIRE INDUSTRY. 

 Our rubber manufacturers are still able to supply our civil 

 and military demands in the way of tires, as well as a fair 

 portion of the requirements of our Allies. Only recently the 

 Societe des Etablissements, Bergougnan, Clermont-Ferrand, 

 secured a contract for 25,000 solid rubber truck tires for the 

 Italian Government and is now working on this important 

 order having increased its manufacturing capacity to more than 

 900 solid tires per day. 



SPORTING GOODS. 

 Business in rubber balls and sporting goods continues to be 

 fairly good, thanks to the efforts of our athletic associations 

 and publications. The army has been kept well supplied with 

 these healthy means of recreation. Football matches are or- 

 ganized weekly and a large portion of the gate receipts are 

 devoted to purchasing balls for the troops. The Paris repre- 

 sentative of the American firm of A. G. Spalding & Bros, has 

 been conspicuous in donating footballs, each to be used for one 

 match and then turned over to the army. At a recent match in 

 Paris a rugby football team of the American Ambulance, in 

 Neuilly, was opposed to a team made up of available first-class 

 players of Parisian clubs, and a goodly sum was raised for 

 purchasing sporting goods for the soldiers. 

 SYNTHETIC RUBBER. 

 Our rubber men have followed with interest the writings of 

 the German press on the subject of synthetic rubber and the 

 progress alleged to have been made towards the solution of the 

 problem. Of course we are skeptical when we read that the 

 problem has been solved, and we have good reasons to be so. 

 Writing on this subject your Paris contemporary "Le Caoutchouc 

 & la Gutta-Percha" makes a few pertinent remarks, saying in 

 substance : "They claim that a factory in Frankfort is making 

 pneumatic tires from this new material which is sufficiently dur- 

 able to be used for the same purpose as natural rubber. The 

 process is secret, but Professor Memmler, of Berlin, says that 

 the product is the result of several years experimenting and 

 that it is satisfactory. 



"In the course of the past seven or eight years, we have been 

 asked on an average twice each year, to publish a statement 



