The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-21
RUBBER prApE PROM OILS.
How Cotton Seed and Linseed Fur
nish a Source OF That Article.

I nAeu q source OF An&N AEblpAes
Mr. c. B. warrand. the well known
chemist, has OF late become deeply in
terested in the manufacture Of rubber. or
rather the substitute for rubber and
caoutchouc, which have been used for
some years as a source Of that product.
He is Of the opinion that the substance
obtained from cotton seed oil is an actual
| artificial rubber, or at least one Of the
best substitutes for it known. The fact
| that there IS near Savannah a factory for
! producing this substance, will make the
| result Of Mr.. Warrand's investigations
/ interesting to Savannahians at any rate.
Mr.. Warrand says that if linseed oil be
| boiled about twenty-four hours until
! brought TO thick glue-like consistency,
| and dilute nitric acid ADDED and the boil
| ing continued several hours longer, the
| oil will be changed to a plastic mass,
which viii become hard on exposure to
the air. On dipping this mass into hot
water IL sOftens, and on cooling, hardens
| again This product, he says, is the
| caoutchouc of vegetable oils, ana can be
produced from any vegetable drying oil,
but less economically than from inseed
oil.
This result, Mr. Warrand says, is evil
IDENTIFY produced from the oxidation of the
OIL by the nitric acid, and it Is in a similar
way he thinks that cotton seed oil is oXi-
died and a rubber product formed. This
OIL caoutchouc, which forms the basis of a
large number of industrial products
such as rubber surgical instru-
ments, is of considerable CONNER
cial Importance BY the use
of chloride of sulphur dissolved in ben
zine or carbon disulphide, Mr.. Warrand
says this oil caoutchOuc can be readily
vulcanized. The substance is also largely
az n % s4.nlo d1of Il
water proof material, which is made by
adding small quantity of natural rub
Der. The partial oxidation of linseed oil
is what gives it its value as a source of
varnish, ana for mixing with paints. IL
oxidizes and hardens on exposure to sun
light, and this is the essential quality in
making the rubber product Cotton seed
oil is a medium between drying and non
drying oil, consequently little different
treatment is necessary.
Cotton seed oil consists of so to "a per
cent. of palmitin and 66 to 20 per cent. of
olein. Hence, it is quite probable that it
can be used the same as linSeed oil, as in
both the predominant part is olein, the
proportion in the latter being somewhat
larger. The palmitin cOngeals at a higher
temperature than the OlCin, hence, it is an
easy matter to separate the two. But the
refined oil cannot be oxidized into the
rubber product as easily as can the crude
oil
Some five or six years ago, says Mr.
Warrand, an English inventor sold to an
American rubber manufacturer a process
for manufacturing cotton seed oil into
rubber Since then this secret has be-
come the property of the rubber trust
The process has been used quite extensive
~ since, and sixteen or seventeen facto-
ries in the United States are now making
rubber from cotton seed Oil.
The cost of the converted oil is about
cents per pound. the specific gravity Of
the crude oil is 093, and that Of the pro-
duct O.925, or identically the same as that
of pure rubber. As the oil product has
the same specific gravity, same appear
ance, same elasticity and the same fac
ulty to yulcanize as pure rubber, it is
hard to detect it in a manufactured arti-
Gle. 1t is thought to be Identical in chem
ical composition with natural rubber, and
hence is very valuable substitute.
Rubber is composed of nine atoms of
carbon and seven Of hydrogen Olein is
composed Of eighteen of carbon, thirty
four of hydrogen and two of oxygen
This formula, divided by two, would give
nine atoms of carbon, the same as exists
in rubber, seventeen atoms of hydrogen,
and one of oxygen. Assuming that ten
atoms of hydrogen combine in the pro-
cess of manufacture with the one of
hydrogen and other hydrogen from the
atmosphere, by heat, sunlight or cleo
tricity, or some oxidizing agent, and the
result would be chemically pure rubber
and water which would evaporate Mr..
Warrand says, in his experiments, he is
confident that this chemical combination
is exactly what took place.