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THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Febrlary 1. 1919. 



slower (sometimes they are faster j, make fewer mistakes 

 and in the end accomphsh just as much as the kids. The 

 older man possesses experience, judgment and balance, 

 the younger man energy, optimism and enthusiasm. All 

 of these attributes have great industrial value. 



RUBBER FACTORY FIRES. 



ARE rubber factories specially hazardous insurance 

 risks? Surely they are subject to the general run 

 of fire causes in manufacturing establishments, and be- 

 sides these, a special risk in the use of volatile solvents 

 which throw off inflammable vapors. Indeed, a noted 

 authority, after investigation of a large number of fires 

 occurring in rubber mills, claims that over 70 per cent 

 of those where the sources were discovered, were from 

 the accidental ignition of these liquids, or the vapors 

 arising from them. 



The most common cause is the combination of vapor 

 from these solvents, and an electric spark, in a dry atmos- 

 phere. The greater proportion of them are at the spread- 

 ing machines, where friction produces static electricity, 

 which, being discharged, explodes the vapor and starts 

 the resultant fire. 



Cases are on record where the machine-tenders are 

 themselves the generators of static electricity, which, 

 emanating from them, induces the explosion. While 

 accidents from this cause are far from common, sev- 

 eral fires have been laid to this peculiar phenomenon. 



Many fires are the result of carelessness on the part of 

 workmen, whose very familiarity with these dangers has 

 resulted in almost criminal heedlessness. Smoking in 

 vapor-laden rooms, or where finely divided inflammable 

 dust floats in the atmosphere, the striking of matches, 

 the carrying of lighted lanterns, are known causes of 

 rubber-mill fires. Safety first means humidifying 

 rooms where vapors form, thorough electrical 

 grounding of machines, and the prohibition of careless- 

 ness on the part of workmen. 



COPYRIGHTING INDIA RUBBER. 



A CERTAIN SHOCK is experienced by English- 

 speaking rubber men because of the action of the 

 India Rubber, Gutta Percha and Telegraph Works Co., 

 Limited, in copyrighting the words "india rubber" in 

 Argentina. The Silvertown company, one of the 

 largest in England, has always been regarded as 

 not only very progressive but eminently fair. Its 

 action has therefore caused much comment and 

 considerable indignation. Guessing at its reasons 

 it may be that as it started the first rubber 

 factory in Argentina it felt that the trade of that coun- 

 ty belonged to it though preemption. • Or it may be 

 that the big sign fronting its works in Buenos Aires 

 which bears the words "India Rubber" (rather remark- 

 able in a Spanish-speaking country) led it to feel that 

 it had a proprietary right in the words as far as Ar- 

 gentina was concerned. A more reasonable surmise. 



huwLV cr, is that in tiie face of increasing competition it 

 put a local attorney at work securing Argentine copy- 

 rights on all of its trade-names, and he supposed 

 india rubber to be one of them. At all events it is not 

 likely that the copyright will stand nor is it supposable 

 that the Silvertown company would desire it to. 



HOMER E. SAWYER AS PRESIDENT. 



WITH the New Year comes a new president of The 

 Rubber Association, one widely known and uni- 

 versally esteemed. Mr. Sawyer served his apprenticeship 

 in New England at the great factories of the Boston 

 Rubber Shoe Co. When that company merged with the 

 United States Rubber Co., he was a vital factor in both 

 the selling organization and the manufacturing field, in 

 both of which he was thoroughly at home. In spite of 

 many responsibilities Mr. Sawyer, from the beginning, has 

 always been active in The Rubber Association. His 

 familiarity with its history and development, his broad 

 knowledge of the whole rubber business, his wide 

 acquaintance, together with his genial efficiency, make 

 him an ideal leader. 



An important British manufacturer of tire- 

 repair machinery, in protest against the word vulcanizer 

 as applied to the man who operates such a machine, has 

 coined a new word. Henceforth the vulcanizer, the man, 

 is to be a "vulcanist." We are not sure that this is wise. 

 If such word-vaccination becomes the fashion, the rub- 

 ber trade may see instead of washer, washist; mixer, 

 mixist; calender man, calendist; boiler man, Bolshevist. 



Why not abandon the ists and turn to the eers? Thus 

 an engine-driver is an engineer. Why not make a vul- 

 canizer operator a vulcaneer? The term is new, easy 

 to remember, essentially masculine, and even romantic. 



Industrial associations in France are demanding 

 that a committee of technicians be appointed in each 

 industry and sent to indicate on the spot such industrial 

 material as may replace plants destroyed or looted in the 

 regions invaded by the German authorities. 



This practical suggestion is important, for it would 

 enable French industrialists, by receiving in kind at least, 

 the equivalent of destroyed or looted plants, to get to 

 work more rapidly and to meet the competition prepared 

 in advance by the enemy. 



This is exactly what this paper has been suggesting 

 editorially ever since the armistice was signed. It is the 

 only open road to reparation. 



Thirty million pneumatic tires for 1919 is the 

 confident prediction of the big tire makers. This is very 

 many and means much rubber. It is, however, a sane 

 prophecy. And, once northern Europe is pacified, other 

 millions will be called for. Indeed, once the League of 

 Nations is an accomplished fact, and peace really comes, 

 rubber producers and tire manufacturers, the world over, 

 will have all they can do to fill orders. 



