392 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[April 1, 1919. 



The Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



THK annual meeting of the India Rubber Manufacturers' 

 Association, held in Manchester at the end of January, was 

 noticeable for the large attendance representative of the 

 -trade, several former outstanding firms of importance being 

 now within the pale. The chairman, J. T. Goudie. presided 

 and his survey of the past year's proceedings and his administra- 

 tions of those to come were couched in equally optimistic tones. 

 He quoted high official opinion to the effect that their associa- 

 tion was recognized as one of the best equipped and progressive 

 organizations in the country. Referring to the Government 

 Rubber Control Committee, on which they were represented by 

 Stewart A. Russell, of The Silvertown Company, he said that the 

 .committee was still retained by the Government in a purely 

 advisory capacity though it seemed very improbable that any 

 control would now be exercised over the imports of raw rubber. 

 The interesting announcement was made of the formation 

 of a Reclaimed Rubber Manufacturers' Association, thus neces- 

 sitating an amendment in the articles of association. Not 

 having any special information, I do not know whether member- 

 ship will be limited to reclaimers or whether those who do re- 

 x;laiming as a part of a general substitute and rubber chemical 

 business will be eligible. Since the introduction of American 

 <:apital and American methods into the reclaiming industry of 

 Britain, the business has, of course, assumed a more important 

 position than it held twenty years ago and its products are 

 not now referred to with bated breath in the trade. Another 

 point is that its existence as an important industry has become 

 "known to government departments now that the country has so 

 much discarded rubber on which it wants to realize at full 

 -value. 



The association has now became associated with the Federa- 

 -tion of British Industries and a special sub-committee has com- 

 piled a voluminuous report on the rubber trade for the informa- 

 tion of the Government. A topic of interest touched upon by 

 the chairman was the government-aided association for indus- 

 -trial research in the rubber trade, the formation of which was 

 in an advanced stage. Naturally there are not wanting among 

 ■ordinary tax-payers connected with the various industries to 

 be assisted those who view with some alarm the numerous raids 

 -made upon our depleted exchequer, and it is therefore in the 

 first degree imperative that the various research associations 

 ■should be conducted on lines conducive to the general welfare. 

 With regard to the formal business of the meeting Mr. 

 Goudie was somewhat against his inclination reelected chair- 

 man for the fifth year in succession, a glowing tribute to his 

 sterling qualities. The following men were elected members 

 of the General Committee, a much larger body than was the 

 •case only a few years ago, due to the formation of sectional 

 •committees which nominate one or more of their members to 

 serve on the general committee : 



F. C. Bai.sley. The Dunlop Rubber Co.. Limited, Bii-mingham; 

 P. A. Birley, Chas. Macintosh & Co., Limited, Manchester ; T. H. 

 C. Brooking, St. Helens Cable & Rubber Co., Limited, Warring- 

 ton ; A. Cairns, A. Cairns & Co., Glasgow ; H. C. Coles, Wm. 

 Warne & Co., Limited, Tottenham, London ; R, Eccles, F. R. Red- 

 daway & Co., Limited, Manchester; Col. J. Gardiner. The Rub- 

 ber Co. of Scotland, Limited, Stirling; J. T. Goudie, Leyland & 

 Birmingham Rubber Co., Limited, Leyland; E. Healey, W. A. 

 Bates, Limited, Leicester; A. D, Ingram, J, G. Ingram & Son, 

 Limited, Hackney Wick, London ; Alexander Johnston, The 

 . North British Rubber Co., Limited, Edinburgh ; Sir G. C. Man- 

 •dleberg, J. Mandleberg Co., Limited, Manchester ; David Mose- 

 ley, David Moseley & Sons, Limited, Manchester ; C. R. Inart- 



Icy, George Spencer Moulton & Co., Limited, Bradford-on-Avon; 

 T. C. Redfern, Redfern's Rubber Works, Limited, Hyde; Stuart 

 A. Russell, The Silvertown Company, London; G. Spencer, 

 Monarch Waterproof Co., Limited, Manchester; II. Stand- 

 ring, I. Frankenburg & Sons, Limited, Manchester ; James Tinto, 

 The Irwell & Eastern Rubber Co., Limited, Manchester ; F. Web- 

 ster, The Avon Rubber Co., Limited, Melksham ; \V. Wother- 

 spoon, James Wotherspoon & Sons, Glasgow. 



Tlie secretary of the Association is W. G. Wilson, 16 Deans- 

 gate, Manchester. 



DUNLOP RUBBER CO., LIMITED. 



This concern continues to show increased strength and pros- 

 perity with a profit of £959,503 for 1917-18, against £435,100 for 

 the preceding year, the ordinary dividend being raised from 

 15 to 23 J4 per cent. What, with rubber plantations and cotton 

 mills and the incidents of the excess profits duty, the accounts 

 are not particularly easy to follow or to compare with former 

 years, so only a few lines of reference will be made here. The 

 rubber estates are valued at £977,100, the planted area being 34,000 

 acres. The profits from this source and also from the cotton 

 mills in Lancashire, of course, go some way to explain the net 

 profits of the company, having almost doubled in a year of 

 war trading. 



XYLOS RUBBER CO.. LIMITED. 

 An acceptable New Year's gift was received by the customers 

 of this company in the form of a leather pocket wallet and 

 detachable-leaf notebook combined. Some useful tables relating 

 to specific gravities of compounding materials, properties of 

 steam, etc., find inclusion, as well as a brief account of the com- 

 pany and its activities. From the information given it appears 

 that the company was formed in 1913 for the purpose of reclaim- 

 ing vulcanized rubber by a patented process, and judging by the 

 clientele it has obtained in four years' business, its progress has 

 been by no means slow. The management is in the hands of an 

 experienced directorate, of which Marshall Stevens. M. P.. is 

 chairman, and Edwin L. Curbichley managing director. The 

 works are situated in Trafford Park, the flourishing industrial 

 suburb of Manchester, Mr. Stevens being the chairman of the 

 Trafford Park Estates Co., Limited. The Xylos company claims 

 that its special process gives marked advantages in the production 

 of reclaimed rubber in black, white, and red colors for use in 

 various branches of rubber manufacture. The process yields a 

 soluble material which can be used vi-ith or without the addition 

 of crude rubber-filling ingredients, etc., and which require only 

 a percentage of sulphur to vulcanize into commercial articles of 

 soft vulcanized rubber. Great attention is paid to elimination of 

 all traces of metal and to keeping up uniform standards of value, 

 matters of the first importance in a business whose products go 

 not only to home consumers, but also to our overseas dominions 

 and foreign countries. 



SOCIETY OF CHEMICAL INDUSTRY REPORTS. 

 A bound volume is now issued annually by the Society showing 

 the recent progress made in official chemistry in various branches 

 of industry. As was the case in the volume for 1916, the chapter 

 on rubber in the volume for 1917, which is now before me, is 

 written by H. P. Stevens. Those in the manufacture who have 

 had time to keep in touch with current literature in the trade 

 journals and scientific publications will not find anything novel in 

 Dr. Stevens' summary, though they cannot fail to find it very 

 convenient as a reminder and a reference. Dr. Stevens, of 

 course, is well known as an able experimenter and as a leading 

 authority on plantation rubber, and it is this ground which is 

 covered by his compilation. It seems somewhat doubtful 

 whether chemistry, which has not got beyond the laboratory and 



