The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1909-04-21
CIVILIZATION FIRST HEARD OF
RUBBER IN THE YEAR OF
1893
First Authentic Account of 1t Practi
cal Use Was Recorded In 1745
by French.

NEW YORK, April 21.-iSpeciaD-
| Next to copper and iron, rubber is the
most important material in the cleo
trical industry. 1t is used extensively
as an insulating material, being one
| of the best insulatOrs of electricity in
| the world. Nearly all the wires that
carry electrical current are protected
| with rubber insulation. Rubber pre-
vents the electricity escaping through
contact of the wire with other con-
| ductors it prevents accidents, fires
and keeps the electrical apparatus from
burning out and destroying itself. Be
sides being used for insulating wires
and cables it is used in the manufact-
ure of motors, switches, generators,
and nearly all electrical machines.
The story of rubber is the story of
/ the conquest of the tropical jungles;
the fights against disease, poisonous
reptiles and insects, man eating ami
mails, hunger and thirst and the dang
er of being lost forever.
! Civilization first heard of rubber i'll
| Herreras account of the second -VOy-
| age of Columbus in the year 1893,
where he speaks of elastic balls made
! by the natives from the gum of tree.
The first authentic account of its
| practical use was recorded in 1145 by
the leader of y French governmental
| expedition returning from South
! America who reported that the ma
! tiVes secured from the juice of a tree
certain gum which was, very elastic,
| mperviOus to water and used in max
| ing bottles, shoes and squirt guns.
! Thirty years later it was introduced
to commerce when an Englishman
| brought from Assam, India, a soft
| spongy substance which would erase
lead pencil marks and which after
wards became Known as India rub
Der
| Many primitive uses were found for
| this wonderful gum, but owing to it.
susceptibility to changes of tempera-
| ture which rendered it sticky and
more or less fluid, rubber did not come
J into its own until early in the last
| century. At that time it was dIscOV-
cred, after a great deal of experiment
ing, that by mixing sulphur with
crude rubber and subjecting it to a
| high degree of heat, these former de-
| ficiencies were eliminated and a ma
terial was produced which was both
| tough and elastic, and would retain
! those properties under varying temp
eratures. This process of curing was
| called INFLAMMATION and is the basis
! Of rubber making today.
SO great has been the development
of rubber manufacture, since that time
! that its products now exceed a value
| of five hundred million dollars annu
ally.
Contrary to the popular impression
rubber gum is not derived from the
! sap. 1t is secured from a milky juice
| or lateX which is found only In the
| bark This lateX contains a substance
known as caoutchOuc (the active prin-
| ciple of RUBBER, together with certain
albuminoids, resins, etc, which upon
the evaporation of moisture coagulate
forming a thick, spongy substance
| The percentage of caoutchouc, in pro-
portion to other ingredients contained
in the latex, determine the quality of
| the rubber.
| The regions from which rubber gum
| is secur,d form ar irregular belt in
| the tropics and sub tropics extending
around the earth. the quality procured
varying greatly according to he species
| of plant. the soil end the climate Great
quantities are produced in Africa.
| Mexico, Ceylon an5 The Malay Islands