July 1, 1917.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



609 



The Rubber Trade In Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THERE is no particular change in the trade conditions which 

 have prevailed for some time past, although restrictions on 

 the imports of raw rubber have naturally lead to some anxie- 

 ty among manufacturers. The restrictions mentioned for reducing 

 the present tonnage shipped from the Far East will, of course, 

 leave more of the commodity available for direct shipment to 

 America, a situation which is viewed with more equanimity on 

 this side now than would have been the case had not America 

 abandoned her neutrality. Another matter which has come to a 

 head recently and none too soon in the opinion of a considerable 

 number of our rubber manufacturers, is the official prohibition of 

 the importation of rubber goods except under Board of Trade 

 license. Of course this is only a war measure, but it is very wel- 

 come to those who have strenuously advocated an import duty. 

 Whether it will have the same effect remains to be seen, as it all 

 depends on to what extent arfd for what goods the licenses to im- 

 port are issued. As people do not renew their rubber sponges 

 every week — if they use them at all — there will be no hardship to 

 the community in stopping the importation of sponges for some 

 time, especialy as a large firm of retail druggists with branches all 

 over the country announces that it has half a million to dispose 

 of at the popular price of 6d. each. Moreover, satisfactory 

 rubber sponges are now being made in large quantities at home. 

 Whether they will he sold at the low figure of 6d. when the com- 

 petitive article is disposed of is a matter for speculation. 



Further extensions are about to be made to the buildings and 

 plants of the Leyland & Birmingham Rubber Co., Limited, at 

 Leyland, and in order to finance this the company is issuing to 

 shareholders 18,500 6 per cent cumulative preferred shares of 

 £1 each in the proportion of 6 for every 180 of ordinary or pre- 

 ferred shares held. 



THE GOODRICH DE LUXE TRUCK TIRE. 



By way of an addendum to a recent note on this subject, the 

 main object of this tire is to decrease road vibration, and this has 

 been successfully done by increasing the ordinary 2-inch thickness 

 of available tread to 3;-^ inches, the greater thickness of rubber 

 making the relative loss by wear less than in a 2-inch tread. The 

 percentage is but slightly higher, but it is claimed that the user 

 obtains more for his monetary outlay. Users of De Luxe tires 

 are said to have obtained in some cases double and treble their 

 former mileages. For example, on heavy dump trucks carrying 

 6'/i to 8 tons, where regular tires have repeatedly failed at 3,000 

 to 5,000 miles, De Luxe tires have gone 9,000 miles and more. 

 THE LATE I. FRANKENBURG. 



By the death on May 5, at the age of 71, of Alderman L 

 Frankenburg, the Borough of Salford lias lost one of its fore- 

 most public men and the rubber trade of the Manchester district 

 one of its best known representatives. Mr. Frankenburg, who 

 was born in Russia, came to England when 12 years old and 

 after some years in London moved to Manchester in 1868 and 

 started the manufacture of leather bags, knapsacks, etc. He 

 made his first thousand pounds, as he told his workpeople in 

 after years, by getting through a contract very rapidly for the 

 French in connection with knapsacks for the Franco-Prussian 

 war of 1870. It was some years before the inisiness which now 

 included waterproof garment making was moved to the present 

 site in Greengate, Salford. These premises were added to from 

 time to time as the business progressed, new branches were 

 added and at the present time they occupy a considerable area 

 and give employment to over a thousand hands. The firm of I. 

 Frankenburg & Sons, Limited, is a private limited company so 

 there is no public quotation of the shares. Directorships in the 

 company are held by one or two heads of departments who have 



thus an additional interest in the progress of the concern. It was 

 at these works where the late C. O. Weber commenced his work 

 and researches into the character of ruljber, his first modest 

 laboratory being a year or two before his departure from the 

 firm replaced by one of much greater dimensions and of corre- 

 spondingly improved facilities. Of Mr. Frankenburg's public 

 work much might be said, but space merely permits mention of 

 the fact that he was mayor of Salford for four years and a bene- 

 factor of numerous local philanthropic institutions. 

 THE PRODUCTION OF ACETONE. 



I notice a i)aragraph in the May issue of The Indi.\ Rubber 

 World relating to the production of acetone from the mahwa 

 tree of Hyderabad. This paragraph, I may say, has in substance 

 already appeared in our daily press, and unless I am hopelessly 

 wrong it is assuredly very misleading. I do not believe that 

 acetone occurs anywhere in nature and therefore I am much sur- 

 prised to learn that it occurs in large quantities in the flowers of 

 the above tree. There is no alcohol in potatoes or starch, though 

 it can be obtained therefrom by fermentation or chemical reaction. 

 Acetone is obtained commercially by the dry distillation of ace- 

 tate of lime, a compound of lime and acetic acid obtained by 

 distilling wood, the yield being 1 ton of acetone from 100 tons 

 of wood. As the mahwa tree flowers are stated to contain ten 

 times as much acetone as wood does, I take it that 100 tons of 

 these flowers will yield in distillation acetic acid sufficient to 

 yield 10 tons of acetone. Whether the Canadian producers of 

 acetone are fearful of the forthcoming competition I cannot say, 

 but it would seem, on the face of it, to be a big job to collect 

 flowers by the hundred tons. As regards the use of acetone as a 

 solvent in the rubber industry — apart from the laboratory — I 

 imagine that this has been mainly in deresinating plants, and as 

 it is now a common thing to read in rubber specifications that 

 deresinated rubber is not to be used, it would seem that acetone 

 will be in lessened request. 



RUBBER PLASTIC FROM KELP' 



The special article on the recently developed kelp industry of 

 southern California in the May issue of The India Rubber 

 World is of wide chemical interest at the present time and the 

 article is well worthy of being read by a wide number of chemical 

 technologists. As to the importance of the movement for obtain- 

 ing potash from kelp or seaweed, as was done on a small scale 

 for many years in Scotland, there is general agreement, though 

 as regards the use of kelp as a prospective rubber plastic I am not 

 alone in holding pessimistic views. 



AUSTRALIA PROTESTS BRITISH AUTOMOBILE EMBARGO. 



In connection with tlic proposed British order prohibiting the 

 importation of motor cars, the Motor Traders of .Australia has 

 brought to the home government's attention the disastrous 

 effect such prohibition would have in Australia. Without de- 

 siring to appear unpatriotic or to be of hindrance to the govern- 

 ment's national policy, the committee has set forth a plain state- 

 ment of facts showing that the interruption of transportation 

 afforded by motor cars would be serious. As to the tire busi- 

 ness, the report states that owing to the heavy fall in motor im- 

 ports in the latter half of 1916 (commencement of 1917 fiscal 

 year) and curtailment of miles run on the score of economy, the 

 addition of an embargo would have a serious effect on the entire 

 tire industry. L'nder normal conditions wages paid by tire 

 manufacturers amount to $120,000 per annum. The trade hopes 

 that the government will not take such drastic action as to 

 permanently damage the industry. 



