THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[OCTOIIKR 1, 1918. 



Annual Meeting of the Rubber Section of the American 

 Chemical Society. 



THE annual ineeiing of the rubber section ot llie American 

 Chemical Society was held in Cleveland. September 11-12, 

 at the Hotel Statler. Dr. L. E. Weber, chairman of the 

 section, was prevented by illness from being present, and in his 

 absence George Oenilager, of The B. F. Goodrich Co., a 

 member of the executive committee of the rubber section, was 

 selected to preside. The program as announced in the Septem- 

 ber number of The 1nui.\ Rubber World, was then taken up. 

 THE DETERMINATION OF LAMPBLACK. 

 A. H. Smith, of the Bureau of Standards, presented a very 

 interesting description of the work they are doing on the de- 

 termination of free carbon in rubber goods. The principal use 

 of this method is to check the quality of the tires offered to the 

 Government for war purposes, but the method has much wider 

 applications. The essential point of this method is the complete 

 removal by means of appropriate solvents and concentrated nitric 

 acid, of all substances which would change weight on ignition, 

 excepting the lampblack itself. The residue is then heated, and 

 the loss in weight represents the carbon. A small correction is 

 necessary to provide for the errors of the determination. This 

 paper was discussed by Messrs. Evans, Tuttle, and Oenslager. 

 Mr. Evans staled that this method had been used for a short 

 time at the laboratories of The B. F. Goodrich Co. and found 

 sufficiently accurate tor commercial work. 



Mr. Cranor gave a very excellent discussion, showing the dif- 

 ference in vulcanisation betw'een two compounds, one containing 

 litharge as accelerator, and the other an organic accelerator. In 

 the latter case he pointed out that complete, vulcanization was 

 reached before the ratio of combined sulphur to rubber showed a 

 vulcanization equal to that of litharge. From this he concluded 

 that physical tests alone were unsatisfactory in determining the 

 correct vulcanization, and were absolutely worthless in deter- 

 mining small changes in vulcanization. He advocated chem- 

 ical methods for vulcanization control, using for this purpose 

 the combined sulphur ratio. He claimed this was much more 

 sensitive than physical methods, and, the standard once set, it 

 was comparatively simple and accurate to follow up. 

 THE FRUIT-JAR RING SITUATION. 



The discussion on fruit-jar rings was opened by Charles P. 

 Fox, who presented a very vivid picture of the conditions as he 

 found them in the course of his investigations. He advocated 

 the use of several simple tests, such as folding lest, pulling test, 

 and the twisting test. By means of these, purchasers of small 

 quantities can instantly tell whether or not they have a good jar 

 ring. 



Mr. Fox's discussion was followed by remarks from Messrs. 

 Tuttle, McGregor. Brock, Briltain, Warner and Dannerth. Mr. 

 Tuttle stated that it is well known that a tremendous loss oc- 

 curred during the year 1917, owing to the preserving of fruit in 

 jars sealed by poor jar rings. The Government is working on 

 this subject, but it is a question as to the progress made. He 

 urs;ed that the rubber section take up this subject with the idea 

 of starting a campaign of education and driving the poor jar 

 rings off the market, Mr. McGregor said that he understood the 

 Canadian Government is working along the same lines. Mr. 

 Brittain called attention to the fact that in many cases jar lids 

 do not fit well, and therefore do not permit the jar ring to func- 

 tion properly. 



Mr. Warner called attention to the way in which fruit-jar rings 

 are marketed, stating that it is exceptional for them to be 

 sold under the brand, or trade-mark, of manufacturers. They 

 are sold through jobbers, and the same ring appears on the 

 market under a ntimber of different brands. This makes it dif- 

 ficult to trace bad rings back to the maker. 



As a result of the foregoing discussion, it was decided to form 

 a committee to be appointed by the chairman, whose duty it shall 

 be 10 see that the attention of the public is drawn to this matter 

 by a campaign of education, and also to work with the manufac- 

 turers and jobbers to ascertain what can be done towards estab- 

 lishing and maintaining a standard of quality. The chairman ap- 

 pointed as this committee the following : L. J. Plumb, United 

 States .Rubber Reclaiming Co., Inc., New York City ; Charles P. 

 Fox, consulting chemist, Cleveland, Ohio ; A. H. Smith, assistant 

 chemist. Bureau of Standards, Washington, District of Colum- 

 bia; George Oenslager, chief chemist. The B. F. Goodrich Co.. 

 Akron, Ohio; and a representative of the Boston Woven Hose 

 and Rubber Co., Boston, Massachusetts, to be announced later. 

 VULCANIZATION OF RUBBER AT CONSTANT AND BY A SERIES 

 OF INCREASING TEMPERATURES. 



The paper by G. D. Kratz and Arthur H. Flower was complete 

 substantiation of the conclusions reached by Mr. Cranor. Mr. 

 Kratz covered the subject very thoroughly, and in such detail as 

 to leave no room for argument. The paper will be published at 

 an early date, and no doubt will be carefully studied by all who 

 are interested in this subject. 



THE POISONOUS NATURE OF SOME ACCELERATORS AND 

 PRECAUTIONS REGARDING THEIR USE. 



The report of the committee on organic accelerators was read 

 by the secretary, in the absence of Dr. Earle, chairman of the 

 committee. The report was adopted by the meeting, and the 

 officers of the section were instructed to see that this report 

 receives wide publicity. The Council of the American Chemical 

 Society has approved this report for publication. 



Discussion of this report, and that on the jar-ring situation, 

 brought out the need of a committee to investigate the relation 

 of the rubber industry to public health. This matter was re- 

 ferred to the cliainnan, with power to act. 



REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE. 



The executive committee report, in the absence of Dr. Weber, 

 chairman, was read by the secretary, and was adopted. In this re- 

 port Dr. Weber stated that he would be unable to continue as 

 chairman of the rubber section, and had therefore presented his 

 resignation to the president of the American Chemical Society. 



It was announced that the rubber section has no authority to 

 elect officers, but that its officers are appointed by the president 

 of the Chemical Society, However, in accordance with a previous 

 understanding between Mr, Tuttle and Dr. Parsons, the secretary 

 of the Chemical Society, the meeting proceeded to the election 

 of candidates for the offices of chairman and secretary. The 

 president of the .American Chemical Society in the past has al- 

 ways approved of the choice of the section. The election re- 

 sulted in the nomination of the following: chairman, John B. 

 Tuttle, Firestone Tire and Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio; secretary, 

 Arnold H. Smith, Bureau of Standards, Washington, District of 

 Columbia. 



A meeting was held September 12, to discuss informally the 

 subjects which had been brought up the previous day, and to 

 discuss plans for the coming year. At this meeting it was de- 

 cided that it would be advantageous to prepare standard methods 



