100 
several different contractors, whose rubber has to be kept separate, 
the sub-division of a tank into small compartments is very necessary 
to ensure an even quantity and equal density of latex in each, every 
day. 
I have been experimenting with a small tank made to contain 
40 gallons and have had good results from it. It is light enough to 
go on a small trolley and be moved about by one cot)ly up to the 
receiving tank, and back, when filled, to the most convenient place 
for dealing with the coagulation. It is made of acid-proof concrete 
and is 30" x 68" x 9" and makes 34 sheets. The only disadvantage 
is that the sheets turn out too narrow for economy in rolling, and I 
am having a deeper one made by the designers, Messrs. It. Young 
and Co., Penang, to remedy this. The small tanks on wheels seem 
to me to have many advantages over the large tank on a fixed base. 
Kneading and Rolling. 
When the coagulated sheet is taken out of the pans in the 
morning it is placed on a smooth heavy chengai board, and coolies 
tread it out till it is a firm mass, ready for the smooth roller. This 
saves rolling more than is necessary and, I believe, retains the 
strength in the finished sheet. Kneading by hand, or rolling out 
with a rolling pin, takes longer to get the sheet tough enough to go 
through a roller without tearing, unless the first rolling is done 
with the rollers very far apart, and several subsequent rolls are 
wanted. Coolies soon become experts at treading sheets out evenly, 
and reduce the thickness to the desired limit quicker than machines 
can, without tearing. The sheets then go once through a heavy 
smooth roller set at about T ’ ¥ of an inch, then through another, set 
at of an inch, and then through the marking roller set just 
hard up enough to miss grinding. The setting of the last two rollers 
is never altered, the adjusting keys being removed entirely so that 
the coolies in charge have no option in the matter. This ensures 
uniformity in thickness. The sheeting-machines are 18" X 7" and 
have speed revolutions at the rate of 11 per minute for the smooth 
roller and 9 per minute for the marking roller. The grooving on 
the latter are spirals, f of an inch apart, to give a small diamond, and 
the estate name is lettered round the centre of one roller, the spirals 
stopping where the lettering begins, and there is a blank space 
without spirals on the other roller exactly opposite. The main 
points to be observed in rolling are that sheets must go through 
evenly without a pull in any direction, and the lettering must be 
kept equi-distant from the edges of the sheet. If the rollers are set 
evenly the sheets will go through correctly without any guidance, if 
started evenly. 
Economy in time is effected by having the sheets almost as 
broad as the length of the rollers. It takes just as long for a sheet 
30" x 9" to go through as for one 30" X 15", and the actual difference in 
