104 MANUFACTURES OF RUSSIA. 



CHAPTER VII. 

 India rubber trade. 



CAOUTCHOUC made its first appearance in Europe towards the end of the last 

 century, whilst gutta-percha was not known until the middle of the present. 

 The manufacture of caoutchouc was however only started at the commencement of 

 this centui-y, the first patent being granted to Mackintosh in 1828 for his process 

 of dissolving caoutchouc in naphtha oil and applying the solution to clothes. An 

 invention for making thread out of caoutchouc was brought out about the same 

 time. This trade was, however, most materially developed by the discovery of 

 vulcanizing caoutchouc by treating it with sulphur, made by Mr. Ludersdorf in 1882. 

 The vulcanizing processes discovered by Goodyear in America in 1839 and by Hancock 

 in England in 1843, have placed the India rubber trade on a level with the other 

 manufacturing industries. 



This trade sprang up in Eussia soon after 1830. The first factory was opened 

 in St. Petersburg by Henry Kirstein. In 1844 there were already two manufacto- 

 ries, their united production in 1845 amounting to 90,080 roubles and rising to 

 132,072 rouTiles in 1849. In 1852 there were four manufactories, but in the following 

 year three of them closed, that of Kirstein alone remaining. This decline of the India 

 rubber trade may be attributed to its comparatively early stage of existence ; ihe 

 choice of goods manufactured was not made Avith sufficient judgment and the prices 

 were high. 



The Government saw the necessity of this trade, which had only begun to de- 

 velop, and in 1857 raised the import duty on foreign India rubber and gutta-percha 

 goods. This circumstance placed the trade under particularly favourable condi- 

 tions and it rapidly developed. In 1860 there were five mills employing 298 

 hands and having a production of 412,160 roubles. In the same year the Eussian- 

 American India Bubber Manufacturing Company was established in St. Petersburg. This 

 establishment began to work with the greatest success and made astonishingly quick 

 progress, thanks to the good quality of its goods. The galoches were even soon sold 



