516 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



[Juni 1. 1915. 



Conditions In the German Rubber Industry. 



IN Germany tl mes to an end March 31, and this 



* date is always preceded and followed t>\ a slack period in 



losed and invi i aken, 



is but also by 



1 his j car. ,.n account i 



the dull inventor) period iva more marked than usual, 



even in the lines that have been kept active b) war demands. 



The armj 



lute necessaries so as to extend payments, with the result that 

 March was an unusuall) quiel month. But immediatel) 



le better. 



weather of I ed renew al 



in and resulted in a demand for immediate 



.,11 orders. Then the labor shortage was seriousl) 



felt. The army authorities had granted leave oi absence to all 



skilled labi u that i i iuld be spai ed h ith rig the 



mt. rhis relieved the labor shortage in ru 



ontracts, but did not help factories 

 workii rivate trade. However, ii i- said that those who 



taken the place of the skilled labor called to the 

 have adapted themselves t>> new occupations remarkably well. 



According lo the "Gummi-Zeitung," the war has caused man) 

 branches of the rubber trade to flourish as they never did in 

 and furthermore, the great struggle has brought 

 operatii m and organiza- 

 tion among rubber manufacturers. Price cutting lias disappeared 

 many manufacturers express the hope that the esprit de 

 corps of the German rubber industry ma) last after the war and 

 continue in times o eac 

 Further evidence of the shortage of crude rubber in German) 

 is shown in an order of the mayor of Breslau, in which lie 

 thanks his fellow citizens for their zeal in collecting metals for 

 war purposes and asks that they similarity collect bicycle cas- 

 . old rubber -hoe- and all household rubber arti- 

 cles that can be spared 1 his old rubber is to be regenerated 

 and re-manufactured. Similar notices have been issued by the 

 municipalities of Kiel, ( assel and othei German cities 



Certain German merchants havi been sending to neutral coun- 

 as samples of no value, quite a number of articles placed 

 ,'ii the export prohibition li-t b) the German Government. The 

 Berlin chamber of commerce lias issued a warning to these 

 merchant-, tilling them that the sale abroad oi even a single 

 prohibited article exposes them to the most severe punishments. 

 Commenting upon the much discussed discovery by W. F. Ritt- 

 man of a new- process making it possible to extract 200 per cent. 

 more gasolene from petroleum than was possible with former 

 the "Gummi-Zeitung," printed in Germany, says: "We 

 wish to call attention to the fact that the Rittman process is 

 upon the experiments of Messrs. Krey and Kraemer who also 

 used distillation under pressure. The methods of these two noted 

 ors were too costly to ever receive commercial applica- 

 tion and this fact aloni musl cause the Rittman discover) I 



ed with le-s enthusiasm. Furthermore, residues of crude oil 



highly valuable for manufacturing lubricants. In fact they 



are much more valuable in the shape of lubricating oils than when 



erted into gasolene. It will always be more desirable for 



■,ut benzol from coal gas residues than to e 



tin- cheap hydrocarburet from valuable mineral oil." 



RECENT REPORTS OF GERM&N RUBBER COMPANIES. 



I i thi ,, nual reports published recently by the in, si im 



portant German manufacturers of rubber goods, it would a 

 that many of them had a prei of the imminence of war, 



as all rmh they had provided themselves with unusual 



stocks rubbei and other raw material- essential to their 



try. The sali ts oi the m ports 



is gi\ en be! iw . 



CONTINEN I'AL-CAOUTI f \ , ,. , ,■ \ , ,, . 



HANO\ I R 



Busi d during the first sevi is of 1914 but 



came to a sharp standstill with the beginni , Owing 



up; lies of raw materials no difficulty was experienced 

 from this source and the company was able to continue ship 

 neutral countries until th placed an em- 



bargo on all export! i ids. Practically all work now 



done is for the army and navy. Net profits for 1914 

 unted io 5,722,102 mark- [$1,361,860]. 



II 'NNOVERSI 111 GUMMIWERKE "EX< 



LINDEN. 



The first >e\ en mi mths of 1914 wen especially 



becau at which raw materials were obtainable 



When tin war broke out nearly all the employes wire called to 

 the colors ami business came t, i a -top ami remained inactive 

 until arrangemi v< i made to meet the tion: and 



the railroads were opened to ci i I tt ["hen, thank- 



to the ample supplies of crude rubbe r ami other raw materials 

 in stock, the company was able to do a vet busi- 



ness. The losses in foreign countries : in the war are 



considerable, hut cannot ho determined definitely for the pn 

 The net earnings for T'H amounted to 1,055,578.85 £251,- 



228 



MAXNHEIMER Gl MMI-, GUI lAPERCHA- ,\ AS BRIK \.-C, 



MANNHEIM. 



Until the war broke out business in 1914 was quite normal. 

 pt in the asbestos department, which was somewhat behind 

 ,ui account of unfavorable prices in this line. Toward- the end 

 of the year business, which had been -topped by the outbreak of 

 war. returned to something near the usual level. December 7 

 marked the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the company. 

 but, owing to conditions, this date was not the occasion of any 

 notable festivities. The net profits for the year amounted to 

 294,089.75 marks [$69,993]. 



FRANKFURTER ASBESTWERKE A.-G., FRANFORT, A M. 



The beginning of 1514 was net altogether favorable to the 

 asbestos industry and the first -even months showed a decrease 

 of about Id per cent a- compared with the previous year. The 

 war derange 1 all industries, hut. owing to the company's fore- 

 sight, it had a \cr\ large suppl) of raw material and this -axed 

 it from great losses, and made it possible to show at the end 

 of the year net profits amounting to 126.920.42 marks [$30,207]. 



KOLNISCHE GUMMIFADEN-FABRIK, COI-i IGNE DEUT2. 

 \cti\c business was experienced during th< rst seven months 

 of 1914. hut it stopped abruptly with August. The company was 



not fortunate enough to have a large stock of raw material on 

 hand and much of the crude rubber it had purchased abroad, as 

 well as rubber consigned to it hut still in transit, was never de- 

 livered. The net earning- for the year amounted to 112.236.85 

 marks [$26,712], 



[NIGTEN HI RUN-FRANKFt'RTER GUMMIWAREN FABRIKEN, 

 BERLIN-LICHTERFELD. 



The brisk business of the first half of 1914 was terminated by 



the sudden outbreak of war. hut luckily the company had ample 



supplies of raw material ami the good fortune to receive very 



large government orders. The net profits for the year amounted 



55 marks [$96,525]. 



