August 1, 1917. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



637 



in times of peace the fleet's demands have grown steadily year 

 by year. It is not possible to give more than an approximate 

 idea of the amounts, simply because the shipbuilders provide 



the bulk of this 

 when the ves- 

 sels are con- 

 structed and 

 Navy Depart- 

 ment advertise- 

 ments for any 

 tvvelvem o n t h 

 c o \- e r only 

 wear and tear 

 or replace- 

 ment s. But 

 the volume of 

 these replace- 

 ments is sug- 

 gestive, and 

 shows some of 

 the directions 

 in which rub- 

 ber enters into 

 the effective 

 work of our 

 battle craft and 

 the outfitting 

 of our b 1 u e- 

 jackets. There- 

 fore the fol- 

 lowing list is 

 given : 



..3 OOn feet 

 . . 1,100 



Much Rubber Is Used in the Make-up of 

 THE N.\v.\L Diver's Equu'.ment. 



Rubber hose, al! kind". 



Hard rubber knobs (e'ectric service) 



Gaskets, various .32. COO 



Boots 8.500 pairs 



Squeegee blades 25,000 



Washers 3,000 



Elastic webbing ' 5,000 yard.^ 



Buttons 110.000 dozen 



Rescue breathing apparatus ■• 100- sets 



Diving apparatus, complete 14 sets 



Diving suits -. 150 



Rubber packings 1.500 



Sheet rubber for packing 442,000 feet 



Rubber insulated wire, ignition circuits 1,000 feet 



Rubber insulated cable 600 feet 



Rubber gloves, acid proof 1,520 pairs 



Hard sheet rubber 3,500 pounds 



Rubber pump valves 2,250 pounds 



Rubber ferrules 27.600 



Rubber insulating tape 9,450 pounds 



Acid-proof rubber belting 500 feet 



Manifestly, these are by no means all of the ways in which 

 rubber is used in the navy. Rubber tiling or rubber flooring and 

 rubber mats, step treads, door stops, and the like, are to be 

 found in every direction on fighting craft of all sorts. The 

 dreadnought boasts an electric power plant that would meet the 

 needs of a good bi.g town. This form of energy must be perfectly 

 controlled and only the best of rubber insulators will answer. 

 Therefore this material has an extremely wide service to perform 

 in this department alone ; and, because of the character of the 

 original installation, replacement is seldom required except upon 

 a modest scale. 



As can readily be understood, the submarine, with its dual 

 motive system and recourse to electrical propulsion when traveling 

 under water, uses rubber more extensively than any other fight- 

 ing craft — judged upon the basis of its total displacement or 



dead weight. The batteries have hard rubber containers or 

 jars; the positive and negative plates are isolated by hard rub- 

 ber separators, and the accumulators have other hard rubber 

 fittings. Sponge rubber condensers serve to arrest the parti- 

 cles of electrolyte in the rising gases, and frequently soft rub- 

 ber ventilating tubes are provided to draw off and to exhaust 

 forcibly any accumulation of hydrogen. Because of the moist 

 atmosphere, induced by the sweating hull plating, all electrical 

 wiring and connections have to be insulated with the utmost 

 care. This is especially necessary in view of the high potential 

 of the current fed from the batteries to the propulsive motors 

 and to the various electrical auxiliaries that now do much of 

 the operative work in a< submarine. The under-water boat has 

 a number of hatches and openings to the sea of large diameter 

 which must be sealed hermetically when the craft submerges, 

 and in order to insure this watertightness, seatings or gaskets 

 of extra heavy soft rubber are employed. The doors Of the 

 various watertight compartments also are made secure by rub- 

 ber packing, while rubber matting, ruliber treads, etc., are found 

 in many directions. 



The wireless outfit, of course, has its necessary measure of 

 insulation provided by hard and soft rubber; the periscopes are 

 made watertight and yet free to move by means of rubber pack- 

 ing; the electricians have to have rubber gloves and use rubber 

 tubing in testing and overhauling the storage batteries ; the 

 internal lighting system, of course, is safeguarded by rubber- 

 covered cir- 

 c u i t s ; and, 

 finally, the sub- 

 marine's prime 

 weapon, the 

 torpedo, cannot 

 get along with- 

 out r u b b e r — 

 especially the 

 rubber dia- 

 phragm which 

 plays a vital 

 part in the tor- 

 pedo's depth 

 control. R u b - 

 ber, too. enters 

 into the con- 

 struction of the 

 submarine mine 

 which, as we 

 all know, can 

 be carried and 

 planted by un- 

 der-water craft. 

 Of course, the 

 oflicers and 

 crews of sub- 

 ma r i n e s, be- 

 cause of the exceptionally wet work of the service, have hip- 

 boots of rubber and, generally, hats and overdress of the same 

 material. Escape helmets for the personnel of submarines con- 

 tain a good deal of rubber in their make-up, and all of our under- 

 water boats are supplied with these. 



At the present time it is not in keeping with the policy of the 

 government to go further into detail as to quantities of any of 

 our fighting material. It was for that reason that a list was 

 given of an average rubber consumption for a peacetime year 

 in the fighting fleet. Under normal circumstances, the enlisted 

 personnel of the navy is less than 60,000. Now, with many of 

 our ships in reserve fully commissioned for wartime service, 

 with scores of auxiliary craft added to the fighting fleet, and 

 with the Coast Guard a part of the regular navy, it is safe to 



The Rubber Suit of a Se.-m-laxe Pilot. 



