96 
RUBBER MANUFACTURE AND FACTORY METHODS. 
By F. Gf. Softer, 
(Manager, Sandycroft Estate, Per ale, F.M.S.) 
It is not proposed in this paper to deal with the subject matter 
in a general way, and an attempt will be made to confine it to 
routine work in a factory, as being better calculated to promote 
discussion and be of practical help to any who require it. 
The main object to be attained is the highest possible price for 
an estate’s out-turn in eveiy grade of rubber, and as each grade 
requires special treatment of its own, I will take them separately, 
and give the methods adopted for each, on the estate under my 
charge. No claim is put forward that these are incapable of 
impi-ovement, but they are the product of many experiments, and 
consistently high rates obtained for the estate’s output in Singapore 
and London, appear to show that, under existing conditions, the right 
lines have been chosen to work on, at least as far as this estate is 
concerned. There are necessarily the elements of variability in 
climatic conditions, systems of tapping, and types of machinery to be 
reckoned with, which preclude any idea of uniformity in factory 
work all over the Peninsula, but I will try to show how these 
variations can be met to give the best possible results. 
It must be assumed that a factory is making its entire crop, 
including lower grades, and has a full equipment of machinery, 
sufficient space for coagulating, and adequate smoking and drying 
accommodation. These requirements are necessarily defined by the 
quantity of rubber dealt with, and in what form the first latex is 
turned out, but granted that we are prepared to make either smoked 
sheet or pale crepe as occasion demands, to do justice to a crop 
of anything up to 200,000 lbs., a full plant of machinery would be : — a 
washer, macerating-roller, crepeing-roller, smooth-finisher, and two 
hand or power sheetin^piach ines, with a 40 H.-P. engine to drive it. 
A smoke-house capable of holding 12,000 lbs. of rubber would be 
wanted, drying sheds with a capacity of 10,000 lbs. and a packing-room 
conveniently near. These buildings should be entirely apart from the 
factory, but access to them should be by a covered way, and transport 
of wet rubber from the factory made as easy as possible by trolleys 
on rails. The receiving-house for latex and coagulating-shed should 
also be, either a separate building close to the factory, or an adjunct 
of the latter with a partition to keep coolies other than factory 
hands away from the machinery. For estates with a much larger 
output, equipment would be on a larger scale though not necessarily 
proportionately. Many estates are now putting in a duplicate plant 
to make themselves safe against a break-clown of any essential, and, 
for those in the happy position of being able to afford the cost, the 
measure is a very commendable one. With so many high class 
engineering firms specializing in rubber machinery a planter can get 
