November 1, 1918.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



67 



Bureau of Research. 

 Arthur E. Swanson, Director. 



War Trade Intelligence Bureau. 

 Paul Fuller, Jr., Director. 



The Quartermaster's department of the United States Govern- 

 ment has placed orders for hip boots and short boots with prac- 

 tically every footwear manufacturing concern, to be delivered 

 on or before January 1, 1919. The order, which amounts to 

 1,305,680 pairs, is allotted as follows : 



Apsley Rubber Co., 42,515 pairs of hip boots and 1,589 pairs 

 of short boots ; Beacon Falls Rubber Shoe Co., 45,016 pairs hip 

 boots ; 1,682 pairs short boots ; Bourn Rubber Co., 18,757 pairs 

 hip boots ; 701 pairs short boots ; Converse Rubber Shoe Co., 

 42,515 pairs hip boots and 1,588 pairs short boots; Firestone 

 Tire & Rubber Co., 106,288 pairs hip boots and 3,971 pairs short 

 boots ; The B. F. Goodrich Co., 96,285 pairs hip boots and 

 3,597 pairs short boots ; The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., 7,503 

 pairs hip boots and 280 pairs short boots; Hood Rubber Co., 

 331,369 pairs hip boots and 12,300 pairs short boots; La Crosse 

 Rubber Co., 31,261 pairs hip boots and 1,168 pairs short boots; 

 Lambertville Rubber Co., 10,004 pairs hip boots and 374 pairs 

 short boots; Mishawaka Woolen Manufacturing Co., 85,631 pairs 

 hip boots and 3,177 pairs short boots; United States Rubber 

 Co., 433,988 pairs hip boots and 16,211 pairs short boots. 



In adiiition to these there was awarded to the United States 

 Rubber Co. the following out-sizes ; 5,032 pairs of hip boots and 

 188 pairs of short boots, size 14, and 2,516 pairs of hip boots 

 and 94 pairs of short boots, size 15. 



LIMITED CARGO SPACE FOR EXPORTS TO RUSSIA. 



The War Trade Board announces that a limited amount of 

 cargo space may be available for shipments of all commodities 

 from the Pacific Coast direct to Vladivostok. Applications for 

 export licenses will now be considered, and in allocating space, 

 preference will be given to material covered by licenses issued 

 on or after October 7, 1918. Exporters are requested to file 

 their applications with the Bureau of Exports, War Trade Board, 

 Washington, D. C. 



DETAILS OF RUBBER BUTTON MANUFACTURE. 



The largest factory in the world manufacturing rubber buttons 

 is located at College Point, Long Island, New York. In normal 

 times it makes dress buttons to the value of $60,000 a 

 year, and some uniform buttons for the Navy. At present its 

 entire output is being used for this latter purpose, so great is the 

 demand, and this business amounted in 1917 to about $120,000. 

 This concern employs about 85 workers, half of whom are 

 women, and pays wages proportionate to those in other branches 

 of the button industry. The process of manufacture' is described 

 as follows: 



The calendered plastic sheets of rubber are first vulcanized hard, 

 and then warmed on steam tables and thus softened to facilitate 

 the cutting. The blanks are then punched out by power presses, and 

 allowed to harden before being sent to the button presses where 

 they are again warmed on steam tables until they become soft ; 

 in this state they are patterned in heated, highly finished steel 

 dies operated by hand presses. Two buttons are patterned in 

 each die and press, and they must remain in the press until they 

 are cool and the pattern is set. One operator manages eight of 

 tliese presses, the feeding and emptying of which in turn re- 

 quire about the time needed for cooling the buttons. One 

 operator can produce from 20 to 40 gross per day, according to 

 size, with 8 presses. When the button leaves the press it is prac- 

 tically complete except for the holes which are drilled through 

 it with semi-automatic machinery. This process requires great 

 care and skill, in order to prevent the drilling from interfering 

 with the pattern or finish of the button. Countersinking at the 

 back of the button removes the sharp edge around the holes, 



'From Tariff Information Series, No. 4. "The Button Industry." 



and the removal of the sharp fin or film of rubber left around 

 the outer edge is accomplished by the pressing operation. Rubber 

 buttons are made in one piece, and usually have from two to 

 four holes drilled from face to back. Very few are self-shank, 

 and none are made with a metal shank. 



Owing to the costly material used and to the many expensive 

 labor operations through which the goods must pass, production 

 is usually limited to dress buttons for women's and men's cloth- 

 ing, and chiefly to black, because of the impossibility of coloring 

 hard rubber. The buttons range in size from 18 to 70 lines, 

 and in price from 60 cents to $7.50 per gross. There is no 

 foreign competition and none of these buttons are exported. 



The manufacture of Navy buttons proceeds somewhat differ- 

 ently, however, for the reason that it is necessary for these 

 buttons to be heat-proof and not liable to have their pattern 

 obliterated or their shape drawn back to the blank form by the 

 application of heat sufficient to soften the rubber, as will hap- 

 pen with buttons made by the method just described. 



Navy buttons are not made from flat discs or blanks punched 

 from sheets ; the blanks are pressed to near the finished form 

 from the plastic rubber and are partly hardened by vulcanization; 



Rubber Buttons for Our Navy. 



they thus have the finished shape of the button but are without 

 any pattern or design. Tliey next go to the imprint dies in 

 which they are shaped under hydraulic pressure between steam- 

 heated plates and allowed to remain until fully cured ; no 

 amount of afterheating can obliterate the device imprinted on 

 their faces. Each man operates a sufficient number of presses 

 to permit filling, pressing, vulcanizing, cooling, and emptying, 

 without any loss of time, and production averages about 20,000 

 small or 8,000 large buttons per day per man. 



Unlike the buttons made by the other process, these heat- 

 proof buttons do not come from the presses with polished 

 surfaces; the polishing is a hand operation requiring the ap- 

 plication, by means of a special holding tool, of each button 

 separately to a rapidly revolving polishing buff. Before the 

 buttons have arrived at this stage they have passed through 

 several inspections and all imperfect ones have been rejected. 

 After polishing they go through a final inspection and are then 

 packed in boxes ready for delivery. 



Much has been published concerning the patriotic work of 

 those who have entered the employ of the gas-mask manufac- 

 turers to meet the demand for workers to replace the men gone 

 overseas. Now another opportunity for patriotic service pre- 

 sents itself to the whole people. The Government needs 1,000,000 

 pounds of nut-shells and fruit-pits daily for manufacturing 

 charcoal to put into the gas-masks. At present it is able to 

 purchase only about one-third of this amount, pending the com- 

 pletion of arrangements to secure supplies from the Far East. 



The Chemical Warfare headquarters has renewed its appeal 

 to the public to save all the pits and shells possible, as a charcoal 

 better for the purpose is made from these than from wood. 

 Many individuals probably think the few shells or pits they can 

 save make no difference, but it is only another instance of the 

 little making much when multiplied by the number of people 

 in the whole country. Receptacles have been placed in public 

 places where dried fruit pits and nut shells may be contributed, 

 and the public is urged to co-operate in furnishing these inaterials 

 toward the completion of the gas-masks which are so greatly 

 needed by our soldiers overseas. 



