February 1. 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



^oo 



Rubber aprons and boots are as necessary to the men in the 

 bottling house as the latter are to the cellar or washhouse man. 



Reference must also be made to the large quantities of high 

 grade packing required in the brewery. I he steam engines, the 

 numerous pumps for moving water, mash, hot or cold beer, for 

 compressing air, etc., and the refrigerating apparatus in all its 

 ramifications, all use packings in both the molded and sheet form 

 and in every instance a high grade article, specially adapted for 

 the purpose for which it is to be employed, is required. Rubber 

 valves for the pumps are also in constant demand. 



The electric equipment of a brewery, as to power, lighting, 

 signaling, etc., is much the same as may be found in almost 

 every modern industrial plant and uses similar insulating ma 

 terial, switch bases, etc., except that special t be taken 



i unteract thi rotting of insulation and short aused 



by the ever present and abundant moisture. 



One feature of brewery electric lighting is, however, peculiar 

 to these establishments. We referred above to the varnishing of 

 the interior of the big wooden vats and casks with an alcoholic 

 preparation. The atmosphere during this process becomes highly 

 charged with inflammable alcohol fumes. The work is usually 

 done by men wearing a smoke-helmet with the aid of an in- 

 candescent lamp, and in order that a careless workman maj not 

 break the bulb by allowing it to drop against the >ide of the tank 

 it is customary to encircle it with heavy rubber rings or i 

 that act as a buffer. Lack of this simple precaution i,as on 

 various occasions resulted in the incandescent film in a broken 

 lamp igniting the alcohol fumes, with fatal results to the workmen 

 and serious damage to the plant 



Their resistance to wear and the effects of moisture, make 

 rubber mats and other floor coverings of rubber particularly 

 desirable for brewery offices, while in the more pretentious es- 

 tablishments rubber tiling forms an artistic and lasting floor cover- 

 ing for the well appointed offices. 



There is one more field in which rubber finds use in the brewery, 



fpi each truck. Another, much larger Xew York brewery em- 



pli s many more automobile trucks and bottled beer wagons in 



the delivery of its product, and thi i penditure for tires i- ap- 



imately $3! I 



In Greater New York there are between 50 and 60 breweries 



Filter Press for Breweries. Frames and Grates of Hard Rubber 



and that is in advertising. Enterprising concerns furnish their 

 customers with rubber beer-glass mats bearing appropriate in- 

 scriptions. A very handy little tumbler washer, consisting of a 

 stout w^ooden handle' having at one end a rubber jacket with 

 flexible fins or flanges on the bottom and side, a convenient and 

 sanitary device tor cleansing tumblers, i s distributed to patrons 

 by a well-known brewing company. 



While precise figures are unobtainable as to the extent to 

 which rubber tires are used for brewers* automobile trucks, a 

 simple estimate will afford an idea as to the importance of the 

 •demand. 



The brewery visited by the writer operates twenty-two motor 

 trucks in its distributing department, and last year's lull for tires 

 for these Vehicles was $6,000. or approximately $270 per annum 



Keg Si rubbing M \chine. 



of all sizes, As-uniing that thej only used motor trucks for 

 the distribution of their product in the same limited propor- 

 tion as the brewery above referred to — which is not the case, 

 mi using tew it any, and some of the big brewers using 



them exclusively — 

 the expenditure for 

 rubber tires would 

 reach several hun- 

 dred thousand dol- 

 lars a year. These 

 figures, however. 

 are only approx- 

 imate, there being 

 no definite record 

 as to the nurri- 

 ■ i automobile 

 trucks in use on 

 which calculations 

 could be based. 

 That it amounts to 

 a large sum our es- 

 timate sufficiently 

 proves. 



If we have omit- 

 ted to mention any important purpose tor which rub- 

 ber is employed in the brewery it is because its uses are 

 so manifold and universal that it i- no easy matter in a single 

 recital to refer to them all. Enough has, however, been told to 

 make it evident that the modern brewery as at present equipped, 

 without rubber would be an impossibility and that the brewer is 

 a larfee and constant buyer of rubber gtbi ds. 



If the Supply of chicle, as we are led to believe, controls the 

 feosl of chewing gum, prices for that delectable luxury are likely 

 t'6 i ■ high. For some lots 40 cents per pound has been paid in 

 British Honduras and 26 to 30 cents are the prices quoted for 

 contract chicle, the article as brought id by the gatherers, in 

 square blocks, molded, as a rule, in five-gallon 'kerosene cans 



