( 22J ) 



RUBBER MACHINES AND OTHER 

 IMPROVEMENTS. 



A great deal has been written in Ceylon papers about a new 

 machine, or process, for dealing with crude rubber, invented by 

 Mr. D. K. Michie and Mr. G. H. CoLLEDGE, and for which a 

 provisional patent has been taken out. It appears that the latex 

 is treated with acetic acid and put into a centrifugal separator, 

 and in a few minutes the rubber coalesces. The rubber is then 

 passed through a mangle, or some such appliance, rolled into a 

 thin sheet, and then cut up in strips and dried. By this method 

 it is said that the rubber can be dried in twenty-four hours. As 

 Sir William Theselton Dyer remarks in the "India-rubber 

 Journal" it is rather difficult to see what is patentable' in this 

 process. The chief feature, the centrifugalization of the latex, 

 was patented by Biffen in 1898, and an apparatus for centrifuga- 

 lizing was invented in England not long after, based on Biffen 's 

 idea, but this turned out a complete failure. A specimen of the 

 machine was presented to the Botanic Gardens Museum by 

 Mr. Pears. 



At present one only has the various reports in Ceylon 

 journals to judge of as to the merits of Mr. Michie's machine. 

 Mr. Burgess wrote, however, on his way home, that he had seen 

 the design, and did not seem very much impressed with it . Whether 

 centrifugalizing the latex will be of any use remains to be seen, 

 but it may be noticed that while in Biffen's patent the latex was 

 supposed to be coagulated by the action of centrifugalizing only, 

 in Mr. Michie's machine we learn from the reports that acetic 

 acid has to be used in coagulating, before the use of the 

 centrifugalizor. We have not yet heard of the process being in 

 use in any estate in Ceylon, and have not had any account of the 

 working of it, though the scheme was hailed by the Ceylon press 

 as a wonderful success long ago, when the affair was in its 

 experimental stage. Any further information on its working is 

 to be desired. 



Meanwhile, the Selangor washing machine is in full work, 

 and there is a photograph of a large strip of crepe rubber, made 

 by Mr. W. W. Bailey, of Lowlands, in the "India-rubber 

 Journal " of March 27. The sheet is precisely the same as is 

 turned out of fine Para in the works, but contains rather less 

 resin and less insoluble organic matter. The latex arrives at the 

 store at 12 noon, is coagulated by 6 a.m. next morning, and in its 

 soft wet condition is put through the washing machine, and after, 

 carefully dried. 



Several rubber journals have commented on the immense 

 number of tins required for collecting the rubber, and enamelled 

 iron plates for making the biscuits in, and remark that the great 

 number of these required would be cumbrous, and hopelessly 

 impossible to work with on large estates. It is difficult to see 



