THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1. 1919. 



Rubber Pavements: A Historical Resume. 



WITH THE I'RiCE of criiflc rubber constantly reaching 

 new low levels, production capacity on the increase, un- 

 used raw stocks, heavy and scrap rubber plentiful, the 

 rubber growers are devoting more attention than ever to finding 

 new uses for their product, especially the lower qualities. The 

 Rubber Growers' Association of London is moving in the mat- 

 ter, but no definite solution of the problem has yet been ad- 

 vanced. 



Among the many prospective new uses for rubber, none is 

 more important than its employment as a paving material and 

 the opinion is freely expressed that with rubber at its present 

 price we may look forward to its extensive use for that purpose. 

 Rubber pavements are no longer in the experimental stage ; their 

 desirability, efficiency and durability have been convincingly dem- 

 onstrated ; their wide adoption will come when an adequate and 

 continuous supply of rubber at low prices is assured, and that 

 time appears to be near at hand. 



Rubber flooring, both in the form of matting and tiling, has 

 long been employed extensively in hotels, banks, churches, libra- 

 ries, hospitals and other public buildings, stock exchange and 

 large offices of many sorts, steamships, railway coaches and even 

 for skating rinks, tennis and badminton courts, where its qualities 

 of silence, cleanliness, neat appearance and comfort to the feet 

 have been much appreciated and its beneficial effect upon the 

 acoustic properties of large halls fully realized. 



The practicability of such floorings is obvious to anybody, but 

 the use of rubber in building highways has been regarded with 

 considerable doubt by all not thoroughly familiar with the pe- 

 culiar characteristics of rubber, and before rubber pavements 

 are widely adopted a great deal of missionary work will have 

 to be done. With the cost at about $25 per square yard, it is 

 useless to expect a municipality to consent to laying down miles 

 of rubber road unless officials are convinced of its durability. 

 While costly at the outset, experience has shown that rubber 

 pavement lasts much longer than any other and will be less 

 expensive in the long run. 



ADVANTAGES OF RUBBER PAVEMENTS AND SIDEWALKS. 



Aside from their remarkable lasting qualities, the chief claim 

 for rubber pavements is that they eliminate the incessant clatter 

 of city streets. The tremendous nerve-wrack of city noises is 

 everjrwhere recognized by neurologists who attribute the greater 

 prevalence of nervous disorders in cities to the constant din, of 

 which traffic noises constitute seven-eighths. Most cities of any 

 size have their anti-noise societies seeking to lessen noise nuis- 

 ances of every sort. In modern rubber pavements such organiza- 

 tions will find a solution of many of their problems, and one 

 which can be advocated with both confidence and conscience. 



Rubber pavements would also add much to the comfort of 

 those who must ride in other than pneumatic-tired vehicles, and 

 would be far better for horses than any of the hard pavements 

 now in general use. But there still remain the vast crowds 

 that throng the sidewalks, the subways and the halls of office 

 buildings. Their echoing footsteps on unyielding granite, marble, 

 brick and concrete should stir humanitarians more than the 

 aches of the relatively few remaining horses, or the pains of 

 dray driver or motor-truck chauffeurs. What the cities need is 

 rubber sidewalks before they even consider rubber streets. If 

 there is any virtue in the rubber heel— and the great volume of 

 business in this line indicates that there is much — rubber side- 

 walks would be a boon to mankind. 



The general adoption of rubber tires for vehicular traffic of 

 every sort and of rubber heels for pedestrians has to a certain 

 degree accomplished the claims for rubber pavements and side- 



walks, but several of the more important advantages of these 

 improved street coverings cannot be secured by any other means. 

 It will yet become common knowledge that such coverings, 

 quite aside from their varied comforts, are economical in the 

 long run, and at the same time it will be realized that road and 

 sidewalk pavements used in conjunction with rubber tires and 

 heels make for such maximum comfort as one gets in an auto- 

 mobile by adding shock absorbers to the best possible spring 

 suspension. 



EARLY PATENTS. 



It is interesting to note that the pioneers in rubber, particularly 

 in England, took an interest in rubber roadways. 



As early as 1840, William Freeman took out an English patent 

 for improvements in paving or covering roads, which specified a 

 compound of India rubber combined with sawdust, sand or 

 finely broken stone mixed in an iron cylinder, cooled and pressed. 

 The blocks were about the size of bricks and were fastened 

 together by rubber cement. 



In 1843 Margaret H. Marshall was granted a patent for a 

 composition which she called "Intonaco." Among other things, 

 it was to be useful for making tcsselated pavement. It was a 

 mixture of vegetable gluten, albumin, oil, "Indian rubber," and 

 sulphate of lime. 



A year later E. E. Cassell patented a paving compound con- 

 sisting of chalk, mineral tar, melted rosin, liquid caoutchouc and 

 sulphur. 



In 1851 Sir John Scott Lillie patented a compound consisting 

 of metallic substances mixed with coarse gravel and like ma- 

 terials, held together by bituminous compounds and cements. 



While in 1856 Charles Haichois patented in England certain 

 improvements in paving which consisted in the employment of 

 lime, sand, asphalt, coautchouc, gutta percha, marine glue and 

 wood for the purpose of forming an even and durable pavement. 



ANENT THE COST. 



In 1913 Dr. Philip Schidrowitz, the well-known rubber chemist, 

 delivered a lecture on the practicability of rubber pavements be- 

 fore the Society of Chemical Engineers of London. He went 

 carefully into estimated details regarding the initial cost of the 

 pavement, the expense of laying it and of its subsequent main- 

 tenance. Basing his calculations on crude rubber at 48 cents 

 per pound, and on a composition that should be one-third rubber, 

 he estimated that a ton of paving material would cost $484, as 

 compared with a cost for asphalt of $9.68 to $14.52, and of 

 cement, concrete or stone of $9.68 to $24.20. He then compared 

 the cost per square yard of rubber pavement with that of the 

 materials generally in use, and found that a rubber road surface 

 of the proper thickness would cost about fourteen times as 

 much as asphalt or macadam and about seven times as much 

 as granite or wood. Considering the large initial cost, he 

 doubted the practicability of rubber paving, but with a better 

 present knowledge of its lasting qualities and a very different 

 crude rubber market the prospect seems very favorable. 



The India Rubber World has consistently predicted that with 

 50-cent rubber the cost of rubber pavements on a large scale 

 would be prohibitive, but that for certain purposes they would 

 be sure to come to a considerable extent, and that their noise- 

 lessness and cleanliness, their freedom from rattle, jar and dust, 

 are bound to bring them into constantly increasing favor where 

 these advantages are most desired — as around hospitals, churches, 

 schools, theatres, concert and lecture halls, around courts, in fine 

 residential avenues, and even about apartment houses and office 

 buildings of the better sort. With plantation rubber now ranging 

 from 40 down to 25 cents per pound, Brazilian Paras from 56^/^ 

 cents down to 21, Africans and Centrals respectively from SO and 



