Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1895-01-30
HAWTHORNE, ESMERAIDA COUNTY, NEVADA, JANUARY 1885,

prevented rubber from entering into the
industrial arts until it was discovered
that sulphur was the substance the
chemists had long been looking for.
The washed rubber mechanically COM
bines with the composition in the mix
ing machine, and it is then either taken
to the rolls where the rubber is coated
ON duck, or else to a machine which
kneads the rubber preparatory to press
ing it into moulds. At no stage of the
process is the rubber ever melted. 1t
is warmed up at times, but nodded
solid-rubber goods are pressed into
molds, not poured in.
A large proportion of rubber goods
ought to be called rubber-clad goods,
for they are made from duck or canvas
of different weights, coated with rub
her, and this is done in the friotioning
machine, which consists of iron or steel
rolls placed one over the other, in
which the duck and rubber are pressed
together. AS the duck passes between
the rollers the sheet of rubber laid on
top is pressed into the duck, and the
pressure is so great that the duck and
rubber become almost one material.
This rubber-clad duck is the basic
fabric from which garden, fire engine,
steam and other hose betting, packing,
gaskets and other rubber goods of like
character are made. Hose is made in
fifty foot lengths from two to ten ply
and it is all made ON iron mandrels or
rods which are of the same size as the
inside diameter of the hose.
A strip of pure rubber fifty feet long
and just wide enough to double around
the mandrel is first wrapped around the
iron rod, and, as the fresh.cut edges
are touched with naphtha, the rubber
unites and forms pure rubber pipe,
which is afterward the inside of the
hose. The rubber coated duck is next
wrapped around the pure rubber pipe,
which is still on the mandrel; if the
duck is wrapped around twice the
hose is two-ply, if four times the hose
is four-ply. The duck is wrapped
around the mandrel by machinery, and
small rollers press the edge of the duck.
so that every inch is subjected to pres
sure. Then another strip of pure rub
ber is put around the duck for the out
side, and the hose. still on the mandrel.
is put in the ''heater. This is moth
ing more nor less than gigantic
boiler, fifty-fve feet long or longer.
Steam under pressure is admitted to
the heater and the sulphur in the COM
pound becomes cemically united with
the rubber and the rubber is ''vulcan-
ized." The hose is kept in the heater
from one-half to quarters of an
hour and then it is taken from the
mandrel. It's ragged ends are neatly
cut and it is ready to receive the brass
fittings. In stripping thu hose from
the mandrel compressed air is used.
The air is admitted between the hose
and the mandrel, and the hose, ex-
panded by the air, slips off easily.
Rubber betting for machine-shops and
factories is made from the rubber
coated duck, and it, too, is made up
into two-ply, three-ply and up to ten
ply, depending on the number of times
itself When it is folded up, however,
it is not cured in the heater, but in
long hydraulic press which squeezes
the folds of the rubber located duck un-
til the several layers of canvas and
rubber are practically one solid piece.
AT the same time steam is introduced
to complete the vulcanizing process and
make the adhesion better and the
union stronger. The betting is pressed
in sections, as the press is not long
enough to take in an entire length of
betting, and each section is under pres
sure from twenty minutes to half an
hour.
Rubber bands sold by stationers and
used by the millions in offices and
stores are cut from pure rubber hose
which is placed on mandrel in
lathe. AS it revolves knife cuts off
sections of the hose, and these narrow
sections are the rubber bands.
The large perforated rubber mats
which cover the floors of halls and
rotundas IN business blocks are cut out
by hand. The thick rubber sheet is
laid on block and with different
shaped dies the pattern is punched out.
In this way it is easy for the manufac-
turer to make rubber mats to order and
from special designs, with the name of
the company or firm in the center of
the mats. Chicago Record.
GOLD PRODUCTION LARGE.