PARA RUBBER. 133 



" 5. — There will be an enormous saving of time in drying the 

 rubber ; this will involve a saving of storage room and labour in 

 looking after the rubber when drying. 



' ' 6. — There will be no possibility of putrefaction of rubber in 

 drying, or discolouration by the growth of mould, the substances 

 which putrefy or which feed mould being to some extent eliminated. 



" 7. — The machines will clean and deal efficiently and economi- 

 cally with scrap. 



" 8. — The washed rubber can be turned out of any length or 

 thickness required, and will be easier to handle and pack. It keeps 

 better than the best of the biscuits prepared in the old way/ 1 



Washing Scrap and Dirty Rubbkk. 



'• But the use of a washing machine driven by an engine is not by 

 any means confined to freshly-coagulated latex. In dealing with 

 snap and dirty rubber its efficiency is very marked. The 

 scrap is cleaned, mechanical impurities are ejected, dirt and mud 

 are washed away, and the scrap is finally turned out in a form pre- 

 cisely similar to that taken by the first-class rubber, and in a state of 

 purity which is only a trifle inferior to it. With rubber from Ficus 

 elastica or Rambong the machine deals in a similar manner, 

 and an easy and simple method of treatment of this hither- 

 to intractable latex is made possible. Great difficulty has been 

 found in dealing with Rambong up to the present, because it cannot 

 be coagulated in sheets in the same way as can Para rubber. If, how- 

 over, t he thick latex be churned, beaten, or violently shaken ii coagu- 

 lates in a great lump, and to treat this lump in the old way. to dry 

 and render it fit for export, has been a matter of great difficulty and 

 of many months. The lumps may be treated at once with Hie 

 washing machine and thin sheets produced, which are clean and 

 which rapidly dry without difficulty." 



The question of rapid washing and drying is one of the most 

 serious with which large rubber growers have to contend. The pre- 

 paration of small quantities of rubber by the " setting pan " method, 

 and drying in spacious chambers, is not applicable to large estates: 

 it would appea advisable to collect the latex in large tanks until 

 a sufficiently large quantity has been obtained, coagulation being 

 prevented by the addition of reagents; the large quantity of latex 

 can then be rapidly coagulated, and the fresh rubber put through 

 a washing machine, which will t urn the rubber out in such a condition 

 that it can be properly cured in two or three days. I am indebted 

 to Mr. Burgess and the Federated Engineering Co., Ltd., F. M. S., 

 for the illustration on Plate 20. Series A, showing the nature of 

 the washing machinery used in the Straits; in addition to this, 

 rolling machinery is supplied by the same firm, the two machines 

 to be worked in conjunction with one another in the manufacture 

 of crepe rubber. 



