M uu 11 1. 1915.] 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



321 



give the same length of servile because its oxygen flask and its 

 regenerative cartridges .ire not equal to working demands in 



excess of half an hour. However, there are a great man) fields 

 of usefulness for this type, .ami ruhber is just as necessary for 

 the inhaling and exhaling bags and the associate flexibli 

 mi lions. 



Now, we naturally warn to know hou broad are the fields oi 

 usefulness for life-saving equipments of tins sort. In using the 

 term life-saving we include as well accident prevention which 

 might otherwise result fatally, We have only to follow the 

 monthly records of fires in large cities to realize the hazards to 

 which the lire fighters are exposed Day after day, we hear of 

 one or more of these brave men perishing in the smoke for the 

 lack of some protective equipment, while scores of theii fellows 

 are rendered unconscious. So, too, the lack of sonic such appara- 

 tus makes it all too often impossible for the firemen to reach 

 others imperiled, who in consequence are numbered among the 

 flames' victims. 



From time to time we read of fires on shipboard, and it is 

 doubtful if tin average landsman realizes the peril that must be 

 faced in battling with a burning or smoldering cargo. 1'ire 

 lighting on shipboard very frequently means getting a1 some fairly 

 essible point in the crowded hold, and the source of danger 

 may be a type of combustion which smokes denselj rather than 

 flames. The entire craft and all on board may be endangered 

 unlos the source of the trouble can be reached, because tlu 

 spreading of the fire may touch inflammable stuffs of a fierce- 

 burning nature or othei goods that might explode bj reason of 

 excessive heat alone. 



The annals of navigation are filled with stories 

 of the risks faced barehanded, so to speak, 

 crews of vessels menaced by fire. The ha; 

 are bad enough when the ships are in port 

 think of the 

 added terrors 

 when the craft 

 ■■kited upon 

 the wastes of a 

 stormy sea ! No 

 cargo is more 

 feared 

 w hen fire at- 

 tacks it than 

 that of cotton 

 bales, for water 

 seldom suffices 

 to smother the 

 smoldering 

 stuff, and only 

 by getting at 

 the burning 

 bales and cast- 

 ing them over- 

 board can the 

 menace be dis- 

 posed of. In 

 work of this 

 sort, the smoke 



helmet would be invaluable, and a number of these should In- 

 carried aboard every sea-going craft. 



But it is not alone in fighting fire that apparatus of this sort 

 are needful. Since the introduction of oil fuel into the navy, 

 many times the firemen have been overcome by residual gases 

 left in the fuel tanks after the oil has been drained away. The 

 men have gone into the tanks to clean them and neglected to 

 make sure that it was safe to do so. In some instances lives have 

 been needlessly sacrificed in this fashion. Again, spontaneous 

 combustion in the coal bunkers has filled the spaces with death- 

 dealing fumes, and the fire fighters have fallen at their work 

 while their rescuers have suffered as well. Quite recently an 



Italian ship lost one man while four of the would-be rescuers 

 Miii", I- caped a similar fate, all because of the foul air in a 

 water tank. Another case, that of an oil tanker, cost the lives 

 of six men — the man that first ventured into one of the ship's 

 exhausted tanks filled with poisonous gases and his five cour- 

 ageoiis fellows who Hud in \ain to rescue him. A suil;1i s mo ke 

 helmet would have avoided this dire toll, 



\s tin records of our Bureau of -Mines show, the annual loss 

 "i life among the workers in our coal mines is largely made up of 

 the deaths oi volunteer rescuers who, with inadequate protective 

 equipment, push on into the gas-laden shafts and galleries seek- 

 ing to reach their stricken or imprisoned fellow-. This empha- 

 sizes how vital!) neci ssarj tl is thai a sufficient number of smoke 

 helmets should b( i vei ready at all coal mines. Fortunately, the 

 United States Government has instituted mine rescue stations in 

 our principal coal field districts, and the smoke helmets with 

 which they are furnished have been the means of doing notable 

 tving and salvage work. In the chemical industries and in 

 other manufacturing enterprises where fire is a conspicuous peril 

 or where asphyxiating fumes may develop from one cause or an- 

 other, it is vitally imortant that supplemental breathing apparatus 

 for rescue work should be provided. Gradually, this need is being 

 more broadly recognized, and year by year rubber is lending its 

 aid in this humane line of effort. The particular apparatus which 

 we have taken as an example is recognized the world over, and 

 today there are probably more than 8,000 of them in service. 

 It is to this same German firm that we arc indebted for the 

 pulmotor, which has achieved such astonishing results in reviving 

 the apparently dead. Here, too, rubber has lent its peculiar 



properties to the efficient functioning of this remarkable 



artificial substitute for the human lungs. 



M — Telephone transmitter. 

 P — Telephone circuit plug. 

 Telephone transmitter for attendant 



LIFE PRESERVERS. 



A life preserver has been invented which automatically 

 inflates when brought in contact 

 with water. It consists of a 

 flexible tubular girdle which lies 

 flat against the chest under or- 

 dinary condi- 

 tions and at 

 :s' oneendof 



which there are 

 two receptacles, 

 one containing 

 water and the other a carbide, 

 which when mixed with water 

 becomes a gas that inflates the 

 tube. A valve lets the water 

 into the carbide receptacle, but 

 should the wearer be uncon- 

 scious and unable to operate the 

 valve, a wick that extends from 

 the outside draws the water into 

 the carbide receptacle and thus 

 inflates the tube, provision being 

 made to prevent over-inflation. 



Another new style of life pre- 

 server is the one with which 

 i ierman sailors have been provided since the outbreak of the 

 war. This device has a cork belt and a rubber vest which can 

 be inflated in a moment, the air feed pipe when in use coming 

 opposite the mouth. This vest is 24 inches long and 10 inches 



wide. 



Branch managers of the United States Tire Co. from all over 

 the United States gathered in Detroit the second week in Feb- 

 ruary for a conference. E. S. Williams, president of the com- 

 pany, attended this conference, which lasted for several days. 



S 1 — Battery connection. 

 T — Telephone receiver. 



Replete 

 Pearson's 



with information for rubber manufacturers — Mr 

 "Crude Rubber and Compounding Ingredients." 



