The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-07-20
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tedly has been made with tires but
 there are complications to be over
 come. The clements contained Tn
 rubber have been ascertained by an-
 alysis and these elements have been
 artificially built up until a manufac-
 turing compound was reached. The
 exact proportion of each element Is
 but the beginning of the chemist
 been used invariably has cost more
 than the plantation article. Starch is the base of the new rubber conn
 pounds and if they ever prove success
 full from a commercial standpoint It
 may not be impossible to produce
 tires as well as alcohol from the starch of potatoes. German scientists were
 first to discover the production or rubber from soprene treated with sodium. While there have been sinkie instances of satisfaction from cars f1r- ted with these artificial tires. the sim gle cases do not prove what can pc done in a general way. The isoprene is obtained from amyl dichloride which, in effect, is anyl alcohol With chloride added to facilitate its con- version into isoprene. This amyl dlch- loride is obtained by treating fuseI oil with hydrochloric acid and the fu- sel oil itself, in common with aceSPne, is obtained by fermenting pulp or mash made from potatoes, maize or any other grain producing starch base Fusel oil and acetone, by the way, are valuable bi-products which command ready markets and hlgn prices After fermentation of these two products they are separated by simple process of distillation and the fusel oil is passed through various sta- ges of conversion into iSoprene. When the isoprene stage has been reached l the liquid is treated with sodium, which ! slowly renders it thicker and thicker | IJy1t H7oaI no font fr0 0a fI11P T1 and washing. a material resembling 1.-the latex, or milky juice of the natur- 1 al rubber plant is obtained The 1 process of manufacturing which fol- | lows is similar to that applied to nat ural rubber Professor Perkin of Man. chester University has been a leader | in synthetic production of rubber
 and the knowledge which he and other 1 scientists have added to this recurring i industry has compelled great respect | but not yet given assurance of com 1 mercial value from the standpoint or practical manufa curing, wearing quail 1 ities under the brutal usage to which tires are subjected and the reduction of l tire costs. A long time will be re- l quired to prove these qualities and It must be borne in mind that it took years to build good motor car tire from natural rubber. to say nothing l of a chemical compound.
 According to the findings of the Roy 1 al Automobile Club in London the mo- | torists of England are up in arms over l the marked increase in the retail price l of gasoline. Indignation meetings l have been held and consternation Is in
 evidence everywhere over the recent l climb of '4Shell spirit as gasoline is l labeled in it's sealed cans, to the price l of 32 cents gallon.
 ! Under by far the worst road cond1-
 tions it has yet encountered on its i trip the Transcontinental Alec truck 1 reached Arion, la, Wednesday,, July l9. According to word received from | the crew in charge this truck is ad- vancing under a broiling sun, with l further tests in the way of hot winds, l deep, sandy roads and weak bridges. ESince crossing the Mississippi the | truck for the first time has come
 across bridges that were too weak to I hold it and it's cargo. Three small l bridges have given way and many hours have been spent in re-planking and bracing others. The greatest de- 1 lays were occasioned by the strength
 ening of weak bridges, eight hours
 being required in one day. Forty bridges were examined the following l day near Marshalltown. Rain storms at times turned the roads into heavy gunabo and have made travel slow and ] difficult. Tn spite of this, however, l the truck made a run of 97 miles in a day between Boone and Arion, with 1 the temperature at 9S degrees The 1 truck also had to combat a rise in al titude of $50 feet for the day. In nineteen days on the road, this truck l has covered more than 1900 miles.