Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1892-12-03
RUBBER SHOES.
The MAXIMUM SUPPLY OF
CAOUTCHOUC REACHED.
The Tree and Its Sap-How the Juice
Coilected-Processe of Manu-
facture-Goodyear InVen-
ton and Its Result.
TX 7Es,these FubbeTs look we'll
" handsomely made and shiny,
J. but they are not going to

las. me, good as they look, |
more than few days. l tell you, the |
rubbers | used to buy twelve or thirteen |
years ago were rubbers that would out |
wear three or four pairs Of the best you |
can buy now,' SO speaking as he fitted
pair OF new rubbers to his feet, the
old gentleman brought first one foot
down and then the other firmly, handed
the quiet clerk the dollar asked, aud
then raising his umbrella he went ou,
arm IN arm with the Star writer.
"Iknoa shat am talking about" he
added, as we went down the street.
''My father and his father before him
were in the rubber business aud | have
pair of one of the first pure and simple
rubber shoes ever made. They arc
dull rusty red aud about as brittle now
as glass, guess, for they have stood up,
unused, as curiosity since 1916. Now,
young man, the fact Of the existence of
milky juice in many plants, which
flows from them when their tissues are
injured, is fact that has been familiarly
known from time imme,norial. It is,
however, really only a recent matter OF
discovery that this particular milky juic,
of the rubber tree (siphonia eiastlca) was
Of any real economic value to man. 1t
was not until the expedition of the
French academicians to South America
in 1875 that its utility aud nature was
made known to Europe by a memoir
published upon it By NJ. de la Coada-
mine. This notice excited little or No
attention. Then again subjects of this
kind were again called up in 1851 by
NJ. Fresneau and i'll 176S by N. Mac
quer. It was SO little thought of By
economical man, however, that not until
1896 and 1906 did it even get notice
in Great Britain. Then it came there in
small pieces, dark reddish Jumps, which
were used for rubbing out black lead
pencil marks and that gave it the name
Of rubber, which it wears, though tho
native name in South America, where
most of it comes from, was then and is
now 'caoutchouc.'
"By 1920 the substance was nodded
into waterproof boots aud shoes, bu:
the color of the material was SO disa-
| greeable that no one liked to wear it un-
less literally obliged to. But along by
| 1880 Charles Goodyear began to expert.
ment at Philadelphia on the employment
| of gum elastic, as we also called il
then, so as to fit it for general use by &
particular nitric acid process, which he
so perfected in 1888 that he mad about
solved the problem, ani by 1889 he had
settled the. difficulty and succeeded ii
vulcanizing or orebonizing India rubber by
means of sulphur. He kept improving
his processes and took oat over sixt
United States patents before &c died il
1860.
/ "Well, the resul, Of this work 0
Goodyear was to make the rubber boots
shce, and coats at once popular an'
slightly articles of wearing gear, and tn
demand was suddenly increased and ha
been steadily increasing ever since, for
l/supply OF the raw material. To Civ
YOU some idea OF the jump which
made then in 1889 only so, 900 pound
of natural caou,chouc was imported int
the whole market of Great Britain;
year had produced c.ean, shiny blac
shoe, the British market called for 500
900 pounds, AMI to-day the au oua: b
prodigiously increased over these figure
70. onlg in Great Britain, bI. q
i. | Coited States ani ali the rest OF %
civilized worli, this immense denaa
0: Thousands aad thousands Of tons ar
. nlail7 for everv marke. GA the face (
The ear.a. Wna. the waole aggregate
) dare not say. TDls demand has Sc: {
; the natives of India, o. M.isgascas. {
;. South America, Of Java aad OF Cent?
5 America and TIE Indian archipelago IA
a. the work Of :spping the rubber fore
) 0. their native lads.
"No. | believe TN. We have ful
reached rae maximum lint Of rsx III
. Der supple. that il will never be a
. greater a1d We saal. be- lucky If j. dc
, no, steadily gros less. 81: we "a
:. not reached the fell .ifni. OF dena1
More boots AMI Shoes will Dc called
eyery year, and We shall have them 8,