Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1901-01-24
cAsT-oFF RUBBER.
buyers of the Material Now Pay Good
Prices for Old shoes,
Hose, Etc.


There is good market for any old
kind of rubber thing. Whether it is
footwear, garden hose or car spring,
it can be sold to junk dealers, no mat
! ter what it's condition. The heels
and soles of boots and shoes may
! bring as much as 12 cents a pound
! because the rubber is unmixed with
fiber. The tops, which are lined with
some sort of cloth, may bring no more
| than six cents if detached from the
soles, but the boot taken as whole
commands nine or ten cents a pound.
/ Garden hose brings from two to six
cents, according to its quality and the
amount of fiber mixed with it, Car
springs are worth four or five cents a
pound. Air brake. acid, steam, water
and brewers pipe sells at $40 to $50
the ton, which is two and 2h cents a
pound Old rubber betting commands
about the same price, but packing is
worth barely one-half cent a pound.
The difference in the prices is largely
due to the fact that some of the rub
Der goods are made of old stock or
are "loaded" with other substances or
are lined with sheeting or other
cloths, says the Chicago Chronicle.
Chicago has number of buyers of
old rubber, and they gather in hun.
dreds of tons every year. Their largest
supply comes from the railroad com
panes, and it is no unusual thing for
a railroad to sell two car loads of rub
ber in a lot. 1t consists mostly of
car springs and air brake pipes. This
old Junk is sent to rubber reclaiming
works, which grind it up and subject
it to rubber treatment with steam to
burn out the fibrous stuff mixed with
it. The old rubber is then mixed by
manufacturers with new stock to pro-
duce cheap articles. The best Para
rubber is worth $1,03 pound, and
has been as high as $1.15. Reclaimed
rubber can be produced for 20 to 40
cents.
Garden hose costs 4 to IS cents a
foot according to quality. Conse-
quently when one buys 40 feet of hose
and a reel for S2.49 the chances are
ninety-nine to one that the rubber is
largely adulterated with old stock.
The man who congrG tulates himself
on having got good bargain may
chuclle in his sleeve. but he can't fool
the rubber. Having yielded up its
life" once in the service of man, it
is hereafter more or less dead" The
mixture of new rubber may deceive
the inexpert, but rubber doctor can
tell by little manipulation of his
fingers whether the corpse has been
galvanized or not. If it shows signs
of cracking when doubled up sharply
he knows it is not first class stock.
Pure rubber should float on water
and should stretch five times its nat
ural length. Commercially pure man
uractured rubber has five per cent.
of sulphur in its composition. If all
lowed to lie in the sun for few weeks
the sulphur is dried out of it and il
becomes brittle. Betting that in the
east might last for ten years loses
its life in the dry climate of Colorado
in one-ffth of that time Thc thin
sheets of rubber used by dentists f3r
dams are made of pure stock Stces
were once wholly of fresh rubber. l'rt
that is not now the rule. Almost all
rubber goods subject to rough use are
more or less adulterated with old or
reclaimed stock Manufacturers pre-
fer to use fresh stock, but ineXperi- !
enced buyers demand cheap goods, and
the maker meets their prices by vary
ing the amount of old stock he mixes |
with the raw material. Rubber man
say there is no economy in
buying cheap goods, because the rub
ber is brittle and will soon give out.
Bargain hunters may fatter them
selves they are getting a good thing"
but they cannot fool caoutchouc.