February 1, 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



291 



The India Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By a Special Correspondent. 



CONGESTION is general in the rubber trade at the present 

 time in this country, and is especially affecting the fabric 

 proofing industry, which is flooded with goods for rub- 

 berizing. The government has obtained cloth too quickly for 

 proofers to handle it. Heavy twills for trench capes are mo- 

 nopolizing the activities of the proofing industry. It is stated 

 that one firm alone is rubberizing from four to five thousand 

 pieces of this fabric weekly and this rate of output promises to 

 continue far into February. 



RUBBER FOOTWEAR. 



Recent snow storms found retailers quite short in supplies of 

 rubber footwear ; most were sold out the first two days of the 

 "slushy" weather, despite the partial relief afforded by American 

 supplies. 



MECHANICAL GOODS. 



Mechanical rubber goods continue in good demand, and all 

 kinds of molded articles are being sought in large quantities. 

 The scarcity and high cost of leather has greatly increased the 

 demand for rubber and fabric belting. Large orders were re- 

 cently booked for armored hose for government purposes and 

 great quantities of trench hose are being taken by the armies 

 in France, so that the rubber hose people have their hands full. 

 ERASERS. 



Austrian erasers are being replaced by an American rubber 

 composition which well answers the purpose but wears much 

 faster than pure rubber. These American erasers are sold to 

 dealers on cards of one or two dozens and retail at a half 

 penny (1 cent) each. 



DRUGGISTS' SUNDRIES. 



The government is purchasing large quantities of fine rubber 

 sheet and it is freely stated that far more could be used than 

 can be produced. 



Waterbottles are selling faster than the proverbial hot cakes ; 

 so are air cushions, especially those of cheap Japanese makes. 



Business in rubber toys and similar materials is very brisk. 

 Celluloid is scarce and a tough quality of china is being sub- 

 stituted for it by London doll manufacturers. 



A large Christmas business was done in rubber-lined ties. 

 Their great merit lies in the fact that the rubber prevents 

 creasing, and the application of a hot iron rapidly restores the 

 tie to something approaching its original freshness. 



PATENT VULCANIZATION ACCELERATORS. 



The use of any means for saving either time or labor is of 

 vast importance to our rubber industry at the present time. The 

 North British Rubber Co., Limited, of Edinburgh, recently ap- 

 plied in the Patents Court for Board of Trade license to use 

 four German patents by the Bayer Co., of Germany, for an 

 accelerating process in the vulcanization of rubber in which 

 piperidine or its homologues are active elements. The Board 

 of Trade has not yet decided the terms on which the license 

 will be granted. 



NORTH BRITISH RUBBER CO. EXTENSIONS. 



The demand for this company's tires has been such since the 

 outbreak of the war that it has been found necessary almost 

 to double the extensive tire making plant. The present depart- 

 ment has been working night and day without cessation, but 

 has proved altogether inadequate to meet the rapidly increasing 

 demand since the outbreak of the war. 



RUBBER AND POTTERY. 

 A direction in which there may be scope for increased use 

 of rubber is the direct printing of pottery in one or more 

 colors. The great obstacle to printing pottery has been that 



it cannot be flattened like a flexible sheet of paper. If it 

 is to be printed upon directly, it must be with the aid of some 

 flexible, durable material that can be made to take the same 

 shape as the pottery, that can be spread out flat to receive a 

 coat of color from a roller, and that will, when pressed on 

 the ware, leave a print; all qualities which rubber possesses to 

 a marked degree. But, unfortunately, rubber stamping does not 

 produce high-class work, even on paper, while on pottery it 

 is even less satisfactory, except perhaps in the case of gold 

 stamping, which it makes very clear, provided the design be 

 simple. 



At a recent meeting of the English Ceramic Society, however, 

 W. Sherratt described a new development which may lead to 

 a revolution in methods of direct printing on pottery. 



Mr. Sherratt claims that rubber can now be prepared which 

 will print equal to copper plate printing, and that the way is, 

 therefore, cleared for a direct printing machine. He also claims 

 that a machine has been devised for holding the improved 

 rubber, for applying a coat of color to it, for shaping it to 

 the object and printing on the pottery, and for drawing it 

 away again to receive more color. The mechanism of this al- 

 most human device is said to be very complicated. 



The machine will print up to 60 dozen articles in an hour 

 (not counting any time for stoppages), and can be driven by a 

 small electric motor of 1 horse power. Samples of ware printed 

 by this system were exhibited. 



THE SITUATION IN SCANDINAVIA. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



/""GNDITIONS in Scandinavia to-day are in many ways very 

 ^^ similar to those in the United States. The demands of the 

 warring nations for practically everything we can produce have 

 caused prices to rise rapidly and many persons have profited 

 thereby. The purchasing power of our people was never so 

 great as it is now, and the rubber trade and industry are profit- 

 ing by the prevailmg prosperity and comparative freedom from 

 foreign competition. 



True, the restrictions of the British Government on rubber 

 shipments are bearing heavily on both manufacturers and con- 

 sumers of rubber goods, but this has not prevented the industry 

 from experiencing unprecedented prosperity and development in 

 all of its branches. The population of Scandinavia has been 

 greatly increased by German refugees, money is circulating as 

 never before, and our rubber manufacturers are getting "their 

 prices" for all the goods they can turn out. No rubber goods 

 are being exported, the home markets alone are more than our 

 manufacturers can supply. 



RUBBER FOOTWEAR. 



As prior to the war, footwear is the chief item of our rubber 

 manufacturers, but other branches of the industry have grown 

 immensely and the scarcity of raw materials alone has prevented 

 even more extraordinary development. 



Automobile tires, that formerly were practically all imported, 

 are now being produced in quantities that are immense when 

 compared with what were being produced prior to the war. 

 INSULATED WIRES AND CABLES. 



The high cost and scarcity of coal that has been general in 

 Scandinavia since the outbreak of the war has caused rapid 

 development of the wonderful water power of our mountains. 

 Electric power plants have rapidly increased, especially in Nor- 

 way. The result of this is that the demand for insulated wires 



