The Newtown bee., 1880-07-28
American 1n dlIStrieS.
THE MANUFACTURE OF NULcANIZED
 RUBBER FABRICS.
[ From The .seientife lamertcan.l

THE MANUFACTURE OF NULcANIzED RUBBER FABRICS.
 [Erom The SeientifTe 4imericaal
 Volumes have been written about the
 early history of the rubber manufacture,
 and the experiences of the great inven- 1 tor who made it's success his life's work.
 But those already familiar with this re-
 markable record will always have an ap-
 preciative ear for brief reference thereto, while the generation which has
 arisen since the final triumph of Charles Goodyear was in everybody's mouth may
 be impelled thereby to Study more close ly a narrative of such surpassing interest to all mechanics. Among inventors and patentees especially, the thrilling story will ever awaken profound attention ::
 how this yellowish white sap of tropi- cal tree, turned to gum by evaporation -originally called India rubber because
 it ca.le from India and was used to rub
 out pencil marks-had baffied the efforts
 of the leading scientists of the world by
 its singular chemical properties, only to
 be at last worked up by an American
 mechanic into substances adapted to
 greater variety of uses than almost any
 other product of mans skill; with what
 untiring zeal and through what manifold
 difficulties he labored many years for
 what practical men deemed a chimera
 the expensive litigation to which he was
 put to defend his patents wien success
 had been fairly won, so that even the
 award of the gold medal Ut Paris, in 1855
 accompanied by the Grand Cross of the
 prison-down to his final triumph in
 .'the great India rubber c,lse," when the
 legal declaration of his rights was finally
 reached through the last efforts ill pulp lie life of Daniel Webster, but few weeks
 before the death of the latter at Marsh field all of these details, trite as may be the facts to many men now in middle life, can never fail to come home with touching eloquence to every American citizen, and to her mechanics and arti- sans especially.
 The industry of which the manufactur- ing details are represented in our first page illustrations this week, from sketches taken at the works of the New | York Betting and Packing Company, at Newtown, Conn.,, is one of the monu- ments Of Charles Goodyeurs success. | This is the largest factory of the kind ill the world, and the making of vulcanized | rubber fabrics adapted to mechanical purposes is here carried on in way which indicates the full fruition of his whether we consider the quantity and variety of goods made, or the highly important relations which these productions hold to all industrial pursuits, for in many cases they meet wants never before satisfied, and fit needs for which no equally good substi- Iute coud be devised. Tho articles regu
 arly manufactured at this factory in clude bands or beltlng for running mi.- from the largest belts eyer made lown to the smallest sizes ill use; pack
 ing. to make tight joints in pumps, en- zines, etc, where the work is either in water, steam, or compressed air, tosetll- sr with Il variety of valves, gaskets, and rings for similar use; hose for fire en- zines and watering gardens, besides leavy steam and brewers hose; wagon md car springs, gas tubing, solid vulcan te emory wheels, corrugated mating md mats. cushions for billiard tables etc. 4 full list of their productions would indeed, make formidable cata-
 ogue but the interest therein to, the general reader would be enhanced by he reflection that i'll 50 few years a com oaratively unknown substance had come % play so important part i'll our ildas- .ries.
 In giving description of the process of manufacture, the first consideration s the condition 0. the crude material as t reaches the factory. Raw rubber comes from South and Central America, l Africa, ani the East Indies, but tho ,riacipal supply for the United States. md the highest priced article. is from Para, at the mouth of the Amazon. The .rees which furnish it are large, and are .apped much in the same way as we do he sugar maple here. The sap, which ms milky appearance, being collected k n large quantities, flat wooden forms of | various shapes, but about one foot across are dipped into it, and then dried in the k Iense smoke made by q fire from a kind l ,f nut found abuadantly there. This K operation is repeated until the success i've layers make a coating about all inch II nick, when they are cut from the wood 6 Ill forms and the raw rubber ..g ready for t market Different kinds of cure are ldopted i'll other places. so that the rub Il ger is not so much discolored, but the t impurities contained in raw rubber alsu- lily amount taabout per cont. of It's weight The first operation at the fac- ory, therefore, Is to cut and tear it up, lrd. after soaking in water, carefully wash anI clean it, when 1t must be thor ,ughly dried; 1t next goes to the mixing department, where. by repeatedly work ng 1t over. sulphur and the oxides of