1 66 RUBBER AND 



the wet rubber after sheeting or creping is a process 

 essentially similar to the curing of hams or of herrings. 

 The strips of rubber are hung up in a drying chamber 

 which is impregnated with smoke from a fire fed with 

 green wood or coconut husks. It is usual to have the 

 smoking house separate from the main factory in order 

 to avoid danger from fire. 



Smoking of Latex. 



Various methods of preparing rubber by the direct 

 action of smoke upon the latex have been suggested 

 in imitation of the preparation of Hard Para rubber in 

 Brazil ; and a variety of machines have been devised for 

 this purpose. Such methods of preparation are at 

 present only tentative. Before they can be definitely 

 recommended, further reports are required both on the 

 quality of the rubber prepared in this way and on the 

 facilities for adopting the method on a large scale in 

 factories. It may be added that the last named 

 necessity is one which inventors frequently seem to 

 lose sight of. 



In a machine devised by Mr H. A. Wickham the 

 latex is allowed to flow upon the inner surface of a 

 rotating cylinder, where it forms a thin film and is 

 exposed to a jet of smoke obtained by burning coconut 

 shells in a special stove. The rotation of the cylinder is 

 so arranged that as each film of latex sets, another film 

 is spread over its inner surface and is exposed in its 



