January 1, 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



189 



The Year 1916 In Review. 



A RETROSPECT of the twelvemonth just brought 

 to a close leaves no doubt that it has been the 

 greatest year of the rubber industry. Production 

 has increased tremendously in most lines; factory en- 

 largements have become the commonplace news of the 

 day, but the great outstanding feature of the year has 

 been the phenomenal growth of American tire manufac- 

 ture, which alone consumed practically half the world's 

 1915 production of crude rubber. While shipments of 

 wild rubber decrease, the production of plantation rubber 

 has increased, and thanks to the British Government, has 

 been obtainable at virtually normal prices despite the ex- 

 traordinary demands and impediments of the war. 



The growth of tire manufacture is gra])hically rellected 

 in the patents issued. Fully half of the 1916 .American 

 patents relating to rubber apply to tires and treads, tire 

 building and repair machines, looms for tire fabrics of 

 special weave, vehicle wheel rims and rim fastenings for 

 the application of pneumatic, cushion and solid tires. 

 There were nearly a hundred patents issued relating to 

 machines used in tire construction. Its growth is also 

 evidenced by record breaking exports, which, for the 

 eight months ending August, 1916, were valued at dou- 

 ble those for the corresponding period of 1915, includ- 

 ing $11,772,908 worth of automobile tires, which went 

 chiefly to England, Australia. Russia, New Zealand and 

 Canada. Stock value is always a certain index of the 

 condition of a business, and shares in several leading tire 

 companies that formerly sold below their $100 par value 

 have recently been quoted at $257, $292.50, $328 and 

 one even as high as $1,650. During this period of ex- 

 pansion the non-skid tread has triumphed, and there is 

 a marked tendency on the part of motor-car manufac- 

 turers to adopt the S. A. E. standardized schedule of 

 tire sizes and oversizes. 



Meanwhile, the achievements of rubber chemists have 

 been no less notable. They are rapidly making rubber 

 manufacture an exact science. This is true of improved 

 methods of analysis and aging tests, and particularly 

 so of accelerators. Beginning with the use of aniline 

 oil they have added to the list until 30 or 40 accelerators 

 are now known with which to cut the previous i)erio(i 

 of vulcanization in half, or better, and thus double pro- 

 duction. The advent of pressure cure as a substitute 

 for the orthodox dry heater has notably modified foot- 

 wear manufacture and may influence the time-honored 

 methods of making clothing, mackintoshes and carriage 

 cloth. Another advance in footwear is the development 

 of combination rubber and fiber or leather soles on a 

 commercial scale, to offset the ever increasing shortage 



fjf sole leather. Improvements have been made in 

 methods of cold vulcanization, and important investig.=»- 

 tions in Russia indicate the possibility of hot vulcaniza- 

 tion ■ without .sulphur. .American chemists have been 

 struggling with the problem of a new motor-car fuel 

 and believe that by utilization of various by-products 

 and waste, enough industrial alcohol can be provided, 

 which will greatly reduce the cost of solvent naphtha 

 for rubber use. The marked tendency of American 

 chemists toward greater frankness in discussing im- 

 proved methods for the common good augurs well for 

 the future. In Germany synthetic rubber has been im- 

 proved but little and apparently no way has been found 

 to reduce its cost, while the attitude of American 

 chemists is largely one of scientific interest. 



The war has proved that rubber is not a luxury but 

 a necessity. Its principal uses in warfare are too well 

 known to require enumeration here, but the chief de- 

 velopments of the present conflict are the enormous de- 

 mand for tires and for rubberized fabric used in 

 the manufacture of army equipment and in the construc- 

 tion of aeroplanes and balloons. There are myriad in- 

 genious uses of rubber, too, but none compares with 

 the marvels of surgery in mending broken soldiers with 

 it — replacing broken noses, jaws and teeth, and grafting 

 skin and flesh to cover them. Its increased applications 

 in the building of artificial limbs are also notable. 



The prosperous condition of rubber manufacture in 

 America has rendered possilile much highly commend- 

 able welfare and educational work, which makes for far 

 greater health and contentment of employes as well as 

 maximum output in the factories,. This spirit of im- 

 l>rovement has al.so aflfected mill conditions from the 

 standpoint of health and safety. ,The industry has 

 grown so rapidly that for the most part it is conducted 

 in buildings of modern fireproof construction, light, 

 well-ventilated, and equipped with excellent sanitary and 

 safety devices. It is not surprising, therefore, that al- 

 though minor strikes have been of frequent occurrence, 

 most of them have been settled without difficulty. 



The past year has proved a revelation even to the most 

 optimistic and far-sighted rubber men, but with our well- 

 cquipi)ed factories, the supply of rubber tolerably as- 

 sured, the automobile industry still growing, and the 

 nations beyond the seas depending upon us more and 

 more to supply their needs, there is every indication 

 that the coming year will outstrip it. In this connection 

 it is confidently believed that The Rubber Club of 

 America, Inc., will continue to grow in prestige and 

 membership, as it has in the past, and to exert a steady- 

 ing influence of di.stinct benefit to the whole industry. 



