1919. 1 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



313 



Interesting Letters from Our Readers. 



HOW BIG IS THE RUBBER BUSINESS? 



To THE Editor of The India Rubber World; 



DEAR SIR— The present size of the American rubber trade 

 comes up for discussion often and opinions seem to differ. 

 One estimate in 1917 was $900,000,000. About the same time 

 Colonel Colt spoke of the gross business in the United States 

 as being about $800,000,000. Using crude rubber imports as a 

 base and drawing on much manufacturing data, I get the fol- 

 lowing: 



SPECIFIC GRAVITY TABLES. 

 To THE Editor of The Indi.\ Rubber World: 



DEAR SIR — Being in the employ of Messrs Lamprecht & 

 Co. at Oerlikon near Zurich and having been brought up 

 in the rubber trade, it is always with much pleasure that 

 I read your paper. The India Rubber World, and follow any 

 discussion about trade matters with much interest. 



The tables on the basis of specific gravity 1.00 prompted me 

 to write a few lines about my experience in this matter and the 

 perfection which these tables can be brought up to by using 

 volume prices on the said basis. 



Perhaps you may find them also interesting to the readers of 

 The India Rubber World. 



Yours faithfully, 



Herman Ghimelmann. 

 Wallisellen, Switzerland. 



The account of Mr. Grimelmann's experience follows : 



VOLUME PRICES AT SPECIFIC GRAVITY 1.00. 



With reference to the specific gravity tables in the March 

 and July issues of The India Rubber World I beg to say, that 

 in my experience, both as cost clerk and salesman of an india 

 rubber factory for mechanical goods, similar tables have been 

 of the greatest use, both to the man in the office and to the 

 traveler on the road, enabling them to quote the piece price of 

 a certain article, of certain measurements, in a certain quality, 

 at a few minutes' notice. While competing firms made their 

 offers at so many francs per kilogram, the client mostly did 

 not know the specific gravity of the quality offered him and 

 was in consequence not properly fixed as to the cost of the 

 article he had asked for and appreciated my offer when I quoted 

 the price per piece or one hundred pieces. Though the specific 

 gravity was stated, he had no time to reckon out the cost him- 

 self and would give the preference to the man who did it for 

 him. 



But also, from another point of view, such tables are of great 

 value to the salesman, as he will get to know in this way the 

 real value of his goods compared with other makes. Many times 

 I quoted, for instance, the price for ordinary sheets and was 

 told that a competitor offered at a much lower price and that 

 an order could not be given. Of course no specific weight had 

 been stated and even if it had been mentioned, it had not been 

 taken into consideration by the client. After going fully into 

 the matter and having taken the specific gravity into considera- 

 tion, my quality was almost always preferred, in spite of its so- 

 called "high" price. 



In order to facilitate the use of such tables, they must be 

 kept as plain as possible and the less operations you have to do 

 to get at the result, the fewer mistakes will occur; also the 

 handier the table is in size, the more it will be used. 



In this respect the fixing of volume prices for the different 

 qualities, also, on the basis of the specific gravity 1.00 will give 

 much advantage to anyone using weight tables of specific 

 gravity 1.00, as by this means the weight and the price basis 

 are on the same foundation, the specific gravity 1.00, and one 

 simple multiplication will bring you straight to the result. 



For instance, instead of multiplying the weight given by the 

 table for a certain dimension, by the specific gravity of the 

 quality chosen, and multiplying the result again with the price 

 of the said quality, I had fixed for each quality the volume 

 price on the basis of the specific gravity 1.00 in my price-book 

 and could tlierefore save one operation when quoting, for in- 

 stance : 



n„,l„, rr^J'^" ^''I „ Volume Price 



V,?™ ,t ir« '5^",'?,'°'; Specific on the Basis of 



-Numoer. Effective Weight. Gravity. Specific Gravity 1.00. 



1.20 francs 24.00 



1-50 francs 24.00 



1.23 francs 20.00 

 francs 20.00 



francs 16.00 

 francs 16.00 

 francs 1200 

 francs 8.00 

 francs 5.0O 



.30 



fran 



10.^ 



To get the most out of your tables, the prices of the differ- 

 ent qualities should be fixed in the salesman's price-book on 

 the basis of the one-ounce volume price, as the tables read in 

 ounces. These one-ounce-volume prices would avoid the trouble 

 of a third operation : viz., converting the ounces into pounds 

 for which the prices are commonly fixed. 



To give you an example: let us presume the price of quality 

 X with specific gravity 1.50 is 1.60 per pound, effective weight, 

 which is equal to 0.10 per ounce effective weight. The volume 

 price of quality X on the basis of specific gravity 1.00 will then 

 be 2.40 per pound. The one-ounce-volume price will be 0.15 per 



If you wish to know the price of one square yard of sheets 

 J^-inch in thickness, in the above stated quality X of specific 

 gravity 1.50 the following operation will be necessary: 



Your table shows: ^-inch thickness=93.60 ounces per square 

 yard. Volume price for quality X is fixed at 0.15 the ounce. 

 Result, 93.60 by 0.15=14.04 per square yard. While in the or- 

 dinary way three operations could not have been avoided, the 

 fixed-volume price reduces same to one single operation and 

 thus saves much time, besides helping to prevent errors. 



I had different weight tables at hand, using them daily while 

 quoting to the clients. For instance: Table No. 1, showing the 

 weight at gravity 1.00 of cords, cylinders, etc. ; Table No. 2, 

 for tubes: Table No. 3, for balls; Table No. 4, for rings of 

 round profiles; Table No. 5, for round joints of square profiles 

 in all sizes which could possibly occur in the trade. 



Tables for square sheets and square strips I bad not in use, 

 the reason why I did not miss them lying in the fact that such 

 tables would not have given any advantage at all, the decimal 

 system of weights and measurements enabling a quick result 

 in a simple manner, giving the result not by one foot or one 

 yard, but straight for the length desired. 



I must confess that comparing your table with those I had 

 in use, the balance lies much in favor of the latter, the su- 

 periority being caused by the great practical use of the French 

 decimal system of weights and measurements, a fact for which, 

 of course, you cannot be held responsible. 



For instance the one-ounce volume price would be unnecessary 

 and the one-pound volume price suffioient. if you could fix the 



