The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1898-10-08
CORN OIL RUBBER.
4 Product from Waste Material which
VIII Revoluti0nisc an
Industry.

Industry.
Rubber from the American corn belt
instead of from South America, and SO
cheap that the whole rubber industry
is likely to be revolutionized-thi is
said to be in prospect as the result of
the discovery force of chemists in
Chicago has brought almost to perfec-
ton, the product of which, it is expect
ed, will be put on the market In few
months.
From the waste of ordinary yellow
corn these chemists, who are working
in guarded laboratory in the big sugar
refinery at Twelfth street and the river,
have produced rubber that will bend
and stretch, and that has all the resil-
liency of the best Para caoutchouc,
which is the standard rubber of COM
merce. Combined with Para rubber, in
the proportion of half and half, experts
say this new rubber of corn will cheap
en- the cost of rubber goods at least
rs per cent. and put added profit into
the pockets of the glucose trust,
which owns the invention, of at least
81, 600, 900 year.
The experiment of making rubber
from oil of corn was started at the
sugar refining plant one year ago,
and force of chemists has been work
ing on it constantly since. In the man
ufacture of glucose a good deal of the
corn has always been waste material.
Some of this was made into other prod
ucts, but there has always been a
refuse of about five per cent. which
could not be utilized. This is what
will be transformed into the new sub
stitute for rubber.
The secret of the process is locked
up in the heads of the chemists, and
will be patented, officials of the COM
pany declare. AS soon as the discov-
cry, or invention, is perfected the man.
ufacture of corn rubber will be under
taken at each of the five refineries be-
longing to the company.
Corn rubber has almost exactly the
appearance of the ordinary reddish
brown India rubber. The process Of
manufacturing is not perfect enough
to make it resist heat as well as India
rubber, however. This has offered the
greatest difficulties to the chemists,
who are now working to remedy this
defect.
The oil of corn, from which principal
ly the rubber is made by some secret
processes, does not oxidize readily. Its
tendency to oxidation is one of the de-
fects of India rubber. The men who
are working on the corn rubber declare
this will be an enormous advantage for
the new product. Articles manufac-
tured from it will always remain pill
able and not crack.
Contrary to reports, this corn rub
Der has not been put on the market,
and will not be for some time, officials
of the company say. One of them said
the other day the company intended to
go on with its experiments till the new
substance was sure, and then go into
Its manufacture on an immense scale.
The corn oil from which the rubber
is made comes from the germ of the
corn and not from the hull. The
starchy and glutinous portions of the
kernel are used in making glucose and
starch, while the corn oil, heretofore,
according to the refiners, has been
practically useless.
The five reineries of the trust have
used 21,000,000 bushels of corn in the
last ten months, of which about five
per cent. was refuse. Though 40 diff
ferent products are made by the COM
pany, still five per cent. was prac-
tically waste.
By utilizing this waste material in
making the new product, it is calcu-
lated that corn rubber can be sold at
six cents pound, two cents of which
will be clear profit. The corn rubber, 1t
is said, will be adapted to nearly all the
uses that ordinary rubber is capable
of-from bicycle tires to linoleum.
The more refined uses to which the
rubber is put, however, will still be
closed field, for the composition Of
corn rubber will prevent it's substance
for India rubber for scientific uses, as
in medicine and surgery.-Chicago
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