46 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[October 1, 1914. 



A FRENCH PROCESS FOR RECLAIMING FABRIC 

 IMPREGNATED WITH CAOUTCHOUC. 



YY/llll-E tms country has led the world in the matter of re- 

 ** claiming rubber, little attention has been paid to reclaim- 

 ing fabric which may be impregnated with caoutchouc. As an 

 example of this may be mentioned the fabric in which tires are 

 wrapped while vulcanizing; which fabric becomes impregnated 

 with vulcanized rubber, but does not contain enough to make the 

 rubber of importance rather than the fabric. 



According to French patent No. 460,273, the fabric may be re- 

 covered by taking advantage of the properties of certain solvents 

 to great!} swell the vulcanized rubber and thus loosen it from 

 the fabric. The solvent mentioned as suitable is xylol, in which 

 the fabric is soaked for two or three days. 



Xylol is a constituent of coal tar and is recovered with the 

 benzol, but its price is beyond reach for any such purpose as 

 this as it sells for over a dollar a gallon and is now unobtainable, 

 while even before the disturbance of the chemical market it was 

 \cry scarce and in great demand. There are many other like 

 solvents, however, that might be used. Coal tar oils and naphtha, 

 turpentine, pine oil, and in fact all the rubber solvents possess 

 this property, as is well known. C. O. Weber recommended 

 naphthaline nitrate or nitro-naphthaline as a solvent for rubber in 

 analyti a] work and this would probably be effective here. The 

 idea is to get the cured rubber loosened if not dissolved from 

 the fabric. 



When this swelling has taken place and loosening is effected 

 there are several ways of procedure given to separate the rub- 

 ber and fabric. If there is considerable rubber it may be broken 

 from the fabric. There still remains the rubber on the surface 

 or which lias been frictioned into the fabric itself. To free the 

 fabric it is brushed preferably with metallic brushes, and for this 

 purpose the machine shown in the accompanying illustration is 

 used. 



The fabric is fed into the machine from either end, between a 

 spiked holding roll ./ and a metallic brush B. The brushes re- 

 volve at a higher speed than the spiked rollers and loosen the 



rubber from the fabric. The finely divided rubber falls into a 

 receptae'e C, while the solvent vapors an drawn of! by an ex- 

 haust fan through a pipe D, and subsequently recovered by con- 

 densal u in 



It is said that by the applicati m of a water soluble solvent for 

 the xylol, such ■ tie, that the rubber will be reduo 



powder arid the xylol th red. Ii is evident that if the 



acetone were in turn removed with water it would tend to further 

 disinti 01 if steam were introduced to distil off 



the acetone the same result could be accomplished. 



isiderable stress is laid on the value of the recovered rub- 

 ber powdi inces that this would 



nt to much, but the profits of the operation woul 

 from brie, if not entirely free from the 



riibbci stain . at lea lean en gh foi n use as vulcanizing 



cloth or tape. 



This is a subject which ma} be of interest to some of the large 



imiers of f.ilni ii thi above purpose, as it cuts down costs 



a littli bj con ei ing the raw materials of manufacture; and 



even a light saving is important in the present competition, 



which results in the cutting of prices down in some uses [, bare 

 production costs. 



RECENT STATUS OF THE GERMAN INSULATED 

 WIRE INDUSTRY. 



D K \ ( TIC \I.iA ail manufacturing industries in Germany, in- 

 * eluding the different branches of rubber manufacture, 

 are, foi the time being, of course absolutelj paralyzed, and it is 

 impossible to tell bow long tins paralysis will continue or how 

 complete the iilnm.it. recovery will be. This makes it all the more 

 interesting to review the conditions in anj line of rubber manu- 

 facturing as they existed just prior to the outbreak of the war. 

 \s an accessory branch of the rubber manufacturing industry, 

 the manufacture of electric wire has been subject in Germany 

 t. similar influences. Its development has been to a certain 

 extent simultaneous with that of the rubber industry, properh 

 so-called. 



( iermany has displayed a marked advance in the production 

 and export of insulated wire. The exports for the last eight 

 years have been as follows: 



Exports of Wire Composed of Base Metal, Covered, Wound, 

 Spun or Plaited: With Spun Threads in" Conjunc- 

 tion with India Rubber or Gutta Perch \: 



Tons. Value Equaling. 



1906 1,801 $2,026,500 



1907 2,192 2,716,000 



1908 2,320 1,865,000 



1909 2,570 1,573,750 



1910 3,360 • 2,057,000 



1911 4.731 2,892,250 



1912 7.115 4.322.500 



1913 8,394 5,430.250 



I he figures of 1912 and 1913 include wire with other insulation 

 than india rubber or gutta percha, the amount of which is 

 understood not to have been large. The fluctuations in value 

 in 1908 and 1909 are regarded as due to the crisis of 1907 and 

 its after effects. 



The total German export of insulated wire for 1913 thus rep- 

 resented more than $5,000,000, a similar quantity being absorbed 

 by the German market. This aggregate output, exceeding in 

 value the equivalent of $10,000,000. was the production of 25 

 factories, some large and others small. As in other branches of 

 the rubber industry, augmented consumption led to increased 

 luction, thereby inducing keen competition. 



Under these circumstances, the natural result was the reduc- 

 tion of qualitii >, .touts having been specially directed toward 

 economies in the variou inds. The results of such a 



policj aroused criticism: and not only was the reputation of 

 German insulate. 1 wire assailed but also that of the German 

 electro-technical industry generally. There was no way of 

 economizing in the copper conductors. In fact, the situation of 

 llu copper market would have warranted an advance, a like con- 

 dition prevailing as to cotton Moreover, by reason of the 

 existing socialistic tendencies, demands for higher wages were 

 naturally to b< expected Compounds, the rubber in which was 

 exclusively regenerate. 1. of with a rubber content as low as 8 per 

 cent., were by no means rare. Hence, if the entire insulated wire 

 industry was to be prevented from falling into discredit, a change 

 was unavoidable, 



\t this juncture the Association of German Electrical 

 Engineers prescribed a definite c p. ition for rubber com- 



