THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[July 1, 1919. 



The Rubber Trade in Great Britain. 



By Our Regular Correspondent. 



TRADE RESTRICTIONS. 



MOVEMENTS with regard to restrictions on trade are now 

 becoming more general and no doubt those which partic- 

 ularly interest the readers of this paper are well known 

 to them before this correspondence appears in print. Of special 

 interest was the announcement on May 14 that all restrictions on 

 the import of rubber goods were taken off and that tires and 

 rubber boots could be imported to the extent of 50 per cent of 

 the 1913 import. As the great rush of American tires was in 

 1915 and 1916, the present concession does not amount to so 

 very much for America, but more for France, as her chief 

 tire factories are situated in the non-invaded area. The proofing 

 branch of the trade is quite indifferent as to the removal of im- 

 port restrictions, especially with regard to America. 



While on this point I may say that I was discussing the rel- 

 ative importance of British and American proofing works the 

 other day with a certain patentee. He said that he had been 

 surprised to learn how much more important both in size and 

 output the British works are as compared with the American. 

 He was, I may say, new to the trade, but he had imagined that 

 the reverse was the case. 



Restrictions still hold on dress preservers which have come to 

 us largely from America, although British firms seem to be very 

 chary in risking capital in the necessary plant to enable them 

 to compete successfully with America. It is pointed out that the 

 rubber plate hitherto made only in America and Germany ac- 

 counts for only one-tenth of the cost of the finished article. 

 The unrestricted imports of vulcanite goods will hardly suit 

 those rubber manufacturers who have laid themselves out for 

 this branch during the last four years. The general idea seems 

 to be that practically all our vulcanite goods in the past came 

 from Germany, but certain buyers say that much has al- 

 ways come from America and that America is quite Germany's 

 equal as regards quality. A recent feature of our trade has been 

 the manufacture of small articles like pipe mouth-pieces and mag- 

 netos by firms who used to get the goods from Germany and 

 found that British rubber firms would do the business only at too 

 high a price. Moreover, in many cases the quality was unsatis- 

 factory. It will be interesting to see whether these makers of 

 vulcanite mainly for their use continue to supply their own re- 

 quirements or revert to buying the imported goods. 



Now that restrictions are off, buyers of American reclaimed 

 rubber can now get brands which have been almost unobtainable 

 for more than two years. It cannot be said, however, that busi- 

 ness is very brisk, as regards reclaims, tliough the extensions in 

 progress at our largest works indicate that the future is looked 

 forward to with confidence. 



W. T. GLOVER & CO., LIMITED. 



At the annual meeting of this Manchester cable-making con- 

 cern on May 12, the important announcement was made by the 

 chairman, A. L. Ormerod, that arrangements had been made 

 by Vicker's Limited, the well-known armament firm of Sheffield 

 and Barrow-in-Furness, to acquire a controlling interest in the 

 company. The terms lo be paid by Vicker's are \7s. 6d. for 

 every £1 preference share, the market quotation, and five ordin- 

 ary Vicker's shares for every four ordinary £1 Glover's shares. 

 The chairman regarded the deal as being eminently satisfac- 

 tory to the shareholders of Glover's. This is by no means 

 Vicker's first absorption or amalgamation, in view of after- 

 war enterprise, two or three other important deals of the kind 

 having already been put through. 



It was pointed out by the chairman that Vicker's ordinary 



shares had a dividend of 12"/^ per cent while Glover's had 

 never exceeded 7 '/a per cent, this being the dividend for 1918, 

 viz., 5 per cent plus 2^ per cent bonus, all tax free. It is 

 understood that no change will take place in the management 

 and that the works will continue their usual routine. 

 THE REVIVAL OF SPORTS. 

 The sporting goods branch of the trade, which was very 

 badly hit by the war, is now having a good time, as cricket, 

 lawn tennis, etc., have come again into their own. Players, 

 however, are finding their expenses much increased, as not 

 only are club subscriptions generally increased, but all acces- 

 sories have gone up. For instance, lawn-tennis balls of match qual- 

 ity are now retailed at 2 shillings each, the great rise being due to 

 the cost of labor and the felt cover. Some surprise has been 

 expressed at the golf ball being still at its pre-war price, but 

 this is not so much concerned with labor and there is no 

 textile present ; moreover, I believe I am right in saying that 

 you can use last year's stock. In some cases the lawn-tennis 

 balls are turned out finished by the rubber works ; in other 

 cases the large dealers in sporting goods buy the uncovered 

 balls and put on the felt or melton cover to which a pure rub- 

 ber coat has been applied by some rubber works in the piece. 

 This is the procedure with the recognized tournament balls. 

 MANDLEBERG'S IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TREATMENT OF 

 BALLOON FABRIC. 



Two patents have recently been taken out by J. H. Mandleberg 

 and J. Mandleberg & Co., Limited, with this object, one claim- 

 ing the impregnation of the fabric with petroleum jelly, and the 

 other giving the details of the impermeable rubber mixing which 

 is applied to the impregnated fabric. The detailed account of 

 the rubber mixing is interesting, mainly because it forms some- 

 what unusual subject matter for a patent, such details usually 

 being kept as what is known as a secret process. It is stated 

 in the patent that the invention provides an improved composi- 

 tion mainly consisting of india rubber for impregnating and 

 coating balloon fabrics imparting a higher degree of imperme- 

 ability relatively to the weight of the composition per unit of 

 area treated than the composition hitherto employed for the said 

 purpose, so that for any predetermined degree of impermeability 

 a fabric or material treated with the improved composition will 

 be of less weight than similar material treated with known 

 compositions. The composition comprises india rubber, the nerve 

 of which is completely destroyed, \va.x, litharge and sulphur in 

 specified proportions. 



With regard to this, it seems to me that there must be great 

 difficulty in knowing what mixings or formula have been used 

 by the various manufacturers of balloon fabric. It may be that 

 the patentees have examined all other makes and proved the 

 absence of wax and litharge either jointly or separately, 

 though it would be impossible to testify to the number of 

 coats put on, the exact quality of the rubber, the precise physical 

 condition of the sulphur and so on. For these reasons it has 

 always seemed to me to be a very difficult thing to protect a 

 rubber formula — that is in the way of proving. 



Interesting points about the details given are the exclusive use 

 of fine, hard Para, and the use of precipitated sulphur, an 

 article which dealers have always found it very difficult to sell 

 to the trade. As regards solvents, the use is advocated of a 

 solvent having a low boiling point, such as very pure coal-tar 

 naphtha or benzene. It is somewhat curious to find these two 

 products lumped together, as there is considerable difference 

 between their respective boiling points and it is rare to find 



