The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-03-24
COMMERCIAL MATTERS.
Leather Shoddy Manufacturers.


grades of leather in the market to an extent
that stocks are exhausted pot only but the
prices run up almost to those OF the best
leather while the stores of our dealers are
filed with the Lest qualities which are almost
unstable, now comes the Cincinnetl Engni1er
and tells what is done with this poor leather.
1t says; eve are informed that cases Of
mems boots are sold constantly at less than
SIS per case. The whole secret of the matter
is that the shoe manufacturers of Massachu-
sets have almost ceased to use leather in the
manufacture of shoes for the Western trade
For soles species Of composition termed
leather-board. hardly distinguished from the
genuine article, but actually composed of a
mixture of powdered leather and mucilage.
pressed into sheets by hydraulic press, and
yeneered with a thin coating of split calf skin,
is almost universally used. OF course, as soon
as the veneer wears ont, the sole goes to
pieces very rapidly, especially in wet weather.
This stuff is very largely used and sold in
Cincinnati, and costs only from to ice,
while good sole leather costs FROM 40 to SOC.
This stiff ming used in the manufacture Of
these boots is nothing more than pasteboard,
and the boot is consequently rendered shape
less by the first thorough wettng
For the 'uppers split calfskin is used,
with the grain surface on the inside. 50 as to
deceive customers. This miserable material,
of course, affords the weare, no protection
against water; but the fraud is so cleverly
effected in the manufacture that even eX-
perienced shoemakers are often deceived in
purchasing it. The cost Of a pair Of fine
calfskin boots to these leather -shoddy man
nfacturers is about 81 80, and boots OF heavier
leather only So The soles of ladies' fine
shoes are generally made of the determination
known as leather board, while the uppers in
stead of being made of good goat skin or
English LASTING, are formed Of worthless
sheepskin or bad cotton cloth The manu-
facturer's cost of a pair of womans leather
shoes is fifty cents, and pair of cloth shoes
only torty-ive cents. ". Y. Bulletin 17M
inst.
The Manufacture of Indin Rubber.
The juice of the caoutchouc tree under
goes many curious mutations before il be-
comes merchantable sheet Ia large
building. filled with great iron troughs. and
odors tar from spicy, many men are at work
on the rough rubber, which is first cut into
pieces and then partially macerated and
washed clean from impurities, emerging at
length in the form of long strips of dirty
white color, not unlike fragments of I'M
bleached Turkish toweling. 1t is now ready |
for the macerating mills, wherein it is worked
up with hot water till it assumes the appear
ance of the chewed india rubber dear to school |
boys. AS the macerator slowly revolyes, |
it squeezes from its capacious Jaws a dark |
repeat the operation until the material be-
comes homogeneous, when it is ready for the |
cylinders. In these it is squeezed, under |
heavy pressure, through sleeves OF exceeding
ineness, which take up every remaining par
ticle of dirt or grit, ana the rubber is now
ready to be rolled into thick or thin sheets,
or applied to cylinders, under which pass
miles of silk or cotton c?oth, until after some
half dozen applications, coating of sufficient
thickness to make it waterproof has been
deposited On the fabric, or to be cast in
mOldS into valves or buffers. d" Washers
and such small deer are cut out Of the heavy
sheets. which are also employed for making
the mats now SO much in use These
are produced by sinouarlv beau
tiful process applied to sheets of vul-
canizsd caou chouc. This vulcanizing ope-
ration is simple enough, consisting merely of
the addition of quantity of sulphur, often
combined with coloring matter-to the wet
paste of rubber, following by baking in large
ovens filled in with lime. Charged with sui
phur the rubber is rolled into long bands of
about half the wild of the proposed mat
These bands pass on a travelling bed under a
machine furnished with sharp cutters, which ,
infiict stabs at regular distances, and finally !
cut off the band into lengths. These are next :
stretched on a frame so as to tear the wounds
into almost lozenge shaped openings
forming perfect pattern; process far
superior in point of economy to that :
of punching out the interstices, and
thus involving waste of labor and material
Stretched on frames. the mats are now duly :
baked, and on leaving the oven retain per- :
fectly the form imposed upon them. To this /
process OF vulcaniZ.ng, rubber owes much of
its adaptability to many uses Of modern life. !.
The addition of sulphur, followed by baking :
in lime, imparts to the material the power Of :,
resisting heat, and has extended the area of !.
India rubber goods to the torrid zone. Car
ned step further, this process produces
sbonlte, material of great hardness and
density, OF which all kinds of articles useful a
md ornamental, may be made, among which y
nay be mentioned the cheap imi alton of let, =
which have the advantage of being far more =
durable than the hydro Carl on inflated Ill p
he Year Round
American Cotton in China. '.
quantity OF upland cotton was sent from pf
he United States Agricultural Department a
ew years ago to the United States charge
latfAires at Pekin, China, at his request. for
Experimental purposes. The following letter -,
communicates the somewhat singular result I
t the experiments that We're made 1t will
e observed that the attempt to introduce
lmerican cotton into the mountainous district
Shantung is substantially a failure It is I'll
bvious, however, from the statement which
made in regard to the latitude of the dis Y
net where the experiments were tried, that III =
le climate is too cold and the season too a.
hort for the maturity of cotton b
LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, W
Pekin. June 5, 1874 Fl
Dear Sir In August, 1868, | requested the &
commissioner to send me a quantity of Up a :,
nd cotton seed, which he was obliging
lough to do SO that the three pac cages =
'me during the next summer in excellent 7
,nditon -
distributed them to various persons in Ike
lis city, through whom the seeds were sent "
different parts of this province south of Sill;
ekin. One of these was an English mis- \
onary at Tien-Tsin, of whom l recently in. \ |
Tired as to the success of the cultivators to 1
hom he hal given this cotton seed. He SE
-ites me as follows: ,