November 1, 1916. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



63 



R«(. United States Pat. Off. Reg. United Kingdom. 



Publlihed on the 1st of each month by 



THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING GO. 



No. 25 West 45th Stieet. New York. 



Telsphone — Bryant 2676. 



CABLE ADDRESS: IRWORLD. NEW YORK. 



HENRY C. PEARSON. Editor 



Vol. 35 



NOVEMBER 1. 1916 



No. 2 



SuBscsiPTiONs: $3.00 per year, $1.75 for six months, postpaid, for the 

 United States and dependencies and Mexico. To the Dominion 

 of Canada and all other countries, $3.50 (or equivalent funds) 

 per year, postpaid. 



Adveetising: Rates will be made known on application. 



RcMiTTANCEs: Should always be made by bank draft or Post office or 

 Express money order on New York, payable to The India Rubber 

 Publishing Company. Remittances for foreign subscriptions should 

 be sent by International Postal Order, payable as above. 



DiscoHTiNUANCES: Yearly orders for subscriptions and advertising are 

 regarded as perraaiient, and after the first twelve months they will 

 be discontinued only at the request of the subscriber or advertiser. 

 Bills are rendered promptly at the beginning of each period, and 

 thereby our patrons have due notice of continuance. 



COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY THE INDIA RUBBER PUBLISHING CO. 

 Entered at the New York postoffice as mail matter of the second class. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS ON LAST PAGE OF READING. 



"VULCANIZATION WITHOUT SULPHUR." 



T^ROM its inception the world's rubber industry has 

 ■*■ depended upon sulphur to effect vulcanization. Nor 

 has there been a substitute discovered or invented. Possi- 

 bly none is now in sight, but the exceedingly interesting 

 experiments conducted by the eminent Russian chemist, 

 Professor I. I. Ostromyslenski, lead one to think other- 

 wise. 



The details of the learned professor's experiments and 

 conclusions, although published in the "Journal of the 

 Russian Physico-Chemical Society," were not available to 

 the English-speaking world. Appreciating this, and alive 

 to the widespread interest on the part of the chemist and 

 rubber manufacturer in such a subject, the "India Rubber 

 Journal" secured an eminent linguist to translate the 

 three papers. This translation they published in full in 

 their issue of September .30. The India Ri'brer World 

 republishes the papers in this issue, and on its own be- 

 half and that of its readers takes this occasion to thank 



our British contemporary for rendering available this 

 most original and valuable contribution to the literature 

 of india rubber, 



CHEAPER SOLVENT NAPHTHA THROUGH 

 ALCOHOL. 



\Y/'' ^^-^^^^ '•"'^ lately called attention to the impor- 

 tance of solvent naphtha in the rubber industry, 

 the enormous quantities consumed, and the significance 

 of the prevailing high cost. Since then, the price of gaso- 

 lene has been reduced three cents a gallon, but the present 

 25-cent rate is still virtually double the price of a year 

 ago, so that the matter today is no less vital to proofers 

 and cement makers. 



Governmental investigation and new cracking proc- 

 esses may obviate any new price increases for a time, but 

 it is doubt Tul if they can bring about any very great fur- 

 ther reductions. Of course, continued high prices would 

 eventually encourage the production of gasolene from 

 natural gas and also from shales, but such departures 

 take time. 



The wider use of industrial alcohol, which has become 

 a certainty of the immediate future, presents the most 

 promising solution of this 'vital problem. Dr. Arthur D. 

 I^ittle. the eminent chemist, is authority for the statement 

 that there is no longer any question of the manufacture of 

 alcohol on a commercial scale as a fuel for automobiles. 

 Experiments have shown, he claims, that alcohol can be 

 made for 25 cents a gallon, at which price it would be 

 preferable to gasolene. It is cleaner: will not catch fire 

 nor ex]jlode ; will develop almost as much horse-]jower 

 as gasolene, and the combustion jiroducts are negligible. 



Accordirig to the Du Pont Laboratory, the production 

 of alcohol from sawdust treated' with sulphuric acid in a 

 lined converter and subjected to heat and pressure, has 

 already proved a commercial success. Another process 

 to utilize thic fermentable sugars existing in waste sul])hite 

 li(|uors at pulp mills has great future promise. It has 

 been estimated that the proportion of alcohol present is 

 about I'li per cent, and that enough sulphite lic^uor now 

 goes to waste to yield an outinit of 200,000 gallons of 

 alcohol a day. Pure alcohol can be obtained in this way, 

 but other compounds are usually present. Although the 

 [irocess has not in every instance proved successful, due 

 to the high cost of the labor involved, this condition can 

 probably be overcome. Still another impdrtant source of 

 alcohol for commercial [uirposes is suggested bv the fact 



