324 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[March 1, 1915. 



What the Rubber Chemists Are Doing. 



AS recent proposals have been made to vulcanize with sele- 

 nium and tellurium, it may be of interest to give the figures 

 of production in the United States which appear in a report 

 of the United States Geological Survey, by F. L. Hess (Part I, 

 p. 289). This statement is made— "During the year 1913 selenium 

 was produced from the anode muds in electrolytic refining of 

 copper by the American Smelting & Refining Co., the Nichols 

 Copper Works and the Raritan Copper Works. The produc- 

 tion amounted to 29,097 pounds, valued at about $46,900. The 

 production of selenium is governed entirely by the demand. 

 Other selenium resources are sufficient to meet largely increased 

 demands if they arise. The Raritan company also produced small 

 quantities of tellurium which were sent to Europe." 



From the foregoing it is evident that it must be demonstrated 

 that selenium produces a vulcanized product much superior to 

 sulphur before there can be any development of the industry; 

 but if there is a demand the supply can be found, and if a large 

 demand should spring up the price would undoubtedly fall, as a 

 large amount is now wasted because of lack of demand. 



PRESERVING RUP.l'.l R 



A. A. Wright has been granted United States patent No. 

 1.114,044 which claims to preserve rubber by coating the surface 

 with camphor gum dissolved in alcohol and mixed with pulverized 

 pumice. 

 HEATING TIRE REPAIR VULCANIZERS BY CHEMICAL MEANS. 



British patent No. 4,313, of 1914, has been granted to W. A. 

 Miles for an apparatus for vulcanizing tires in repairing, the 

 heating being done by burning blocks of deflagrating substances, 

 such, for example, as a mixture of saltpetre and charcoal or chlor- 

 ate of potash and wood dust. This is put in the form of a ball 

 or pile on a plate in contact with the tire and then ignited. The 

 heat developed by the combustion is supposed to be regulated so 

 as to be just sufficient to vulcanize the raw rubber in the repair 

 patch. 



COAGULATING. 



C. H. Boehringer Sohn. in German patent No. 275.716. claims 

 the lactate of aluminum as a coagulant, stating that 250 C. C. of a 

 5 per cent, solution will coagulate 3,000 grams of sap in 8 minutes. 



I V Byrne has received British patents Nos. 18,060, 18,061 and 

 18,062, of 1912 (Illustrated Official Gazette. December 2, 1914) 

 process of coagulating latex. It consists in smoking with 

 vapors of: First, creosote; second, formaldehyde; third, sul- 

 phurous acid gas. These may be mixed with pyroligneous prod- 

 ucts. It really appears to be an ordinary smoking process with 

 the above vapors added as desired. 



CONDENSATION PRODUCT. 



Emil Hemming, in United States patent No. 1,125,906, claim- 

 tin process of hardening a condensation product outside a mold 

 in which these products of formaldehyde and phenol are shaped. 



R. C. Fulton, in British patent No. 9.066, of 1914, claims the 

 spraying of an aldehyde or ketone into the latex while coagulat- 

 ing From 3 to 5 per cent, of protein is said to be precipitated 

 with the rubber by this treatment and this protein improves the 

 rubber. 



SYNTHETIC RUBBER FROM BAKU PETROLEUM. 



The fraction of Baku petroleum boiling between 98 degrees and 

 106 degrees Centigrade yields about 20 per cent, of adipic acid 

 which, through its amide, may be converted into butadiene, 

 though the process is said to be scarcely commercial as yet. (See 

 "Petroleum," 1914, p. 1376). This may open up a field for our 

 California petroleum and make us independent of the embargo. 



I in STUDY 01 I OL1 CHEMISTRY. 



I. Svedburg has addressed the German Chemical Society on 

 the subject of colloid chemistry and at the end of extended re- 

 marks he predicts a great extension of this study in the rubber 

 industry. 



R] I I UMING "I Rl BB1 R SOI \ I 



Henry Barthelmy has written on this subject at length in "Le 

 Caoutchouc et la Gutta Percha" for October. 1914, and following 

 months. There is a long review of the art as applied to nitro- 

 cellulose industries and there are long tables of the vapor ten 

 sions of various solvents at different temperatures and pressures. 



The reclaiming methods are classified as follows: 



First, the chemical processes; second, the physico-chemical 

 processes; third, the essentially physical processes. As an esani- 

 pie of the first process is cited the dissolving of alcohol and 

 ether in sulphuric acid for the later formation of ether from them. 

 Likewise carbon bi-sulphite is treated with potash and alcohol 

 for the formation of xanthate of potash, wdiich is then recovered. 

 Toluol is acted on by nitric acid to form nitro-toluol, which is 

 thus reclaimed. 



The physico-chemical processes are illustrated by the absorp 

 tion in a colloil, as, for example, Marseilles soap or nitro-cellulose 

 or the use of calcium chloride or amyl alcohol for solution of 

 the volatile solvents. 



Condensation of solvent or precipitation or electrical precipi- 

 tation illustrates the purely physical processes. The condensa- 

 tion may be under pressure as advocated by the liquid air com- 

 pany. It must be observed that compared with the simple and 

 effective condensation and distillation processes in use in the 

 country for reclaiming solvents these processes seem unneces- 

 sarily complex and expensive to operate besides requiring highly 

 skilled operatives to work them. 



ANOTHER VIEW OF 1:1 SULPHITES IN COAGULATING. 

 In France it is reported that experiments have proved that the 

 treatment of latex with 0.25 per cent, of bi-sulphite of sodium 

 may diminish the elasticity 20 per cent, and the resistance 15 

 per cent. At the same time it increases the necessary time of 

 vulcanization. Reference to The India Rubber World of Au- 

 gust, 1913. p. 222, December, 1913, p. 157, and November, 1914, 

 p. 68. shows by the rein its and experience of Beadle and Stevens 

 that rubber, if anything, is improved by this treatment, and it is 

 recommended. 



THE SELF-REGISTERING DYNAMOMETER. 



In this paper of November 1, 1914, p. 108, was an account of the 

 self-registering dynamometer of Cheneveau and Ileim. In "Le 

 Caoutchouc et la Gutta Percha" of December 15. 1914, there is 

 quite a controversy between A. Dubosc and the inventor as to 

 its merits and as to the methods of calculating its functions. A. 

 F. Davis has made use of these formulas in an article in the 

 "Journal of Industrial and Chemical Engineering" for December. 

 1914. He used the Swartz apparatus for determining hysteresis 

 but he recommends the use of the formulas as a basis of speci- 

 fications for rubber good. 



The plant at Lawrenceville, Illinois, formerly owned by the 

 American Asphalt & Rubber Co., and purchased about a year 

 ago at receiver's sale by the Canadian Mineral Rubber Co.. of 

 Montreal, Quebec, is soon to be reopened, with a force of 

 about 100 operatives, turning out mineral rubber. 



The accepted authority on South American rubber— "The 

 Rubber Country of the Amazon." by Henry C. Pearson. 



