354 



KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



to parangs (wood-choppers) instead of wood or 

 horn. 



"We shall find, at the works in the City Road, 

 that the workmen consider it advantageous for 

 somewhat similar duties. Their knives, barrows, 

 and baskets, have the handles encased in gutta 

 percha. It possesses a slight but sensible elasti- 

 city, which makes it more pleasing to the touch 

 than wood or any other material. 



There is no substance which ever became ap- 

 plied to so many useful purposes in so short a time 

 as gutta percha. Novel appliances multiply every 

 day. Most of these are the design of the work- 

 men here. Amongst the 200 engaged, are a good 

 many ' clever fellows.' So says the gentleman 

 who acts as our cicerone ; and visitors will not 

 doubt it who see their dexterous manipulations. 

 Uses increase with such rapidity, that the ques- 

 tion promises to be, not, ' To what can it be ap- 

 plied ?' but, ' To what purposes can it not be 

 applied ?' 



The works of the Gutta Percha Company com- 

 prise an extensive series of workrooms, varied in 

 their operations as in their appearance. We shall 

 enter amongst the steam-boilers and engines. If 

 not quite distracted with the noise, with the 

 novelty and the multifariousness of the operations, 

 our attention will first be claimed by what is called 

 the cutting machine. A modern chaff-cutter with 

 a circular wheel bears some resemblance to it ; 

 only this is vastly more massive, and the trough 

 is made to incline. Blades corresponding to those 

 in the chaff-cutter are fixed into the heavy disc or 

 wheel, and made to extend a little towards the 

 trough. Into the trough are put the ' blocks ;' 

 and, as the wheel revolves at the rate of 200 turns 

 a minute, they are sliced up, thick or thin, accord- 

 ing as the cutting instruments are disposed. In- 

 jury to the machine and annoyance to the work- 

 men not unfrequently occur, owing to tricks of 

 dishonesty which the Malays have very quickly 

 learnt. Purchases are made by weight, and, to 

 increase this, earthy matter is continually mixed 

 with the gutta percha, and sometimes even a large 

 stone is put in the centre of a block. Unless the 

 stone be very large, it is not possible to detect it 

 at the time of purchase. Injury to the apparatus 

 cannot easily be guarded against. 



Purification is indispensable, and fortunately, 

 the impurities are removed without great diffi- 

 culty. Each slice presents a face full of sinuous 

 markings, which gives it a pretty and variegated 

 aspect, but one it does not keep. Hurled into a 

 tank of boiling water, the whole forms into a soft 

 mass, and a good many of the impurities sink to the 

 bottom. Two steam-engines of 50 horse power 

 propel the cutting machine, besides setting in 

 motion most of the other machinery. 



Those who have had the advantage of inspect- 

 ing a paper-mill, will recognise several processes 

 which gutta percha undergoes. When softened, 

 it is submitted to the action of a machine like the 

 engine for rending the linen rags, and technically 

 called the teazer. It consists of a large cylinder 

 enclosed in a box. The cylinder is set with 

 jagged spikes, which work against corresponding 

 teeth in the box. Going at the rate of 600 or 800 

 revolutions a-minute, the mass is torn into shreds, 

 and all extraneous matter is released. The pro- 

 cess of cleansing is simplified very much, from the 



fact that the gutta percha does not. blend with 

 these foreign matters so as to produce a compound 

 substance, but only mixes mechanically with 

 them. Though softened, it does not become ad- 

 hesive ; and sometimes it is cleansed by the simple 

 operation of rolling it out to a thin sheet, and then 

 picking and brushing the surface. The shreds 

 fall into a tank of cold water, upon which they 

 float, and from which they are removed to be sub- 

 jected to a second boiling. When again softened, 

 it is ready for kneading, a process similar in prin- 

 ciple to that of the same name of a more domestic 

 character. Machinery is brought into requisition 

 here, and strong machinery too. A great roller, 

 with a surface like the grinding cylinder of a 

 coffee-mill, only infinitely larger, moves horizon- 

 tally upon its axis in a metal compartment in the 

 floor. A man throws in a bushel at a time, of 

 what, at little risk, might be pronounced warm 

 chocolate-paste. While we gaze, it gradually dis- 

 appears. The apparatus — or masticator, as it is 

 called — monster-like, seems to have an inordinate 

 penchant for the delicacy, and disposes of an unli- 

 mited amount down its capacious throat. A 

 thorough ' mastication ' ensues inside. Every 

 hard particle is broken up, and a homogeneous 

 mass is formed by the rolling, and squeezing, and 

 grinding it receives. It is now quite pure, and 

 in a condition for any of the subsequent manipu- 

 lations in which it may be called upon to take a 

 part. In this stage of its manufacture it is best 

 fitted to mix with other substances. Already 

 very many compounds of gutta percha have been 

 formed. If greater elasticity be required, it gains 

 it by the mixture of caoutchouc ; if hardness, 

 combination with sulphur, or the metallic sul- 

 phurets, will give it. Jletallo-thianised by this 

 latter (a patent) process, it becomes hard as ebony, 

 and can be applied to most purposes for which 

 wood and ivory are generally used. 



The bulk of the gutta percha is formed into 

 'sheeting,' which is accomplished by placing it, 

 while soft, upon bands of felt, and passing it be- 

 tween two steel rollers — a process, in fact, much 

 like to that of rolling lead. The felt bands after- 

 wards take the sheet a long journey, over and 

 under, up and down, for the purpose of cooling it. 

 To aid in doing so, when the material is thick or 

 the weather warm, the surface is fanned and blown 

 upon in its course. The thickness of the sheet 

 is regulated by the distance the rollers are set 

 apart ; and to such nicety can this be done that 

 an integument is manufactured to supersede oiled 

 silk for bathing and hydropathic prescriptions. 

 At the end of the journey, it is wound off, cold 

 and hard, upon a drum, to a length unlimited. 



But the form of sheeting is only one of its use- 

 ful phases. Nearly the earliest use to which 

 gutta percha was put, was that of ' driving bands.' 

 The French use it for little else yet. Its suita- 

 bility for the duty has been much controverted. 

 Any visitor to the company's works would think 

 it fully established. There they are to be seen in 

 every part of the building, applied in a variety of 

 ways, and, amongst others, that of driving the 

 machine which serves to cut them out. Making 

 bands is a simple operation. Let us pass on the 

 sheet, just now rolled upon the drum, and it will 

 reach a framework, in the top bar of which are 

 fixed and suspended a number of knives cutting 



