Omaha daily bee., 1915-03-28
RUBBER INTERESTING TOPIC
Goodyear People Tell of Various
Wild and Cultivated Rubbers
Used in Tires.
COME FROM MANY COUNTRIES

Crude rubber. its source of supply-and
the conditions governing It's progress from
the source to American tire factories,
have been subjects of especial interest
in this country of late, says the Good
year Tire & Rubber company. England's
embargo. prohibiting crude rubber from
English colonies or dependencies to the
United States. threatened for time the
whole automobile industry, because il is
we'll known that without crude rubber
there can be no rubber tires. and without
rubber tires.
Luckily through the energetic action OF
the Rubber club of London, after Ameri-
cans had given it up, the embargo has
been lifted, conditionaly, and a plenti-
full supply of crude rubber now seems
misunderstanding complications always
possible in a world war.
Crude rubber is a vegetable product
gathered from certain species of tropical
trees, shrubs; vines and roots. 1t was
first introduced into Europe in 1875. 1t
was first used for pencil erasers and in
waterproof cloth, and finally. in solution,
in cements. Vulcanizng, or curing rub
Der, was discovered in 1874, and there
after the development of the industry
though the industry was but an infant
in size. compared with now, up to the
development of the automobile industry.
There are many kinds and grades of
rubber, and these can today be divided
into two chief cassss-wild and cult
waited
wild Rubber.
These are collected from trees that
have grown wild and where there has
been no cultivation process. Such trees
and shrubs are found mostly in Northern
South America, Central America, Mexico.
Central Africa and Borneo.
From Central Africa and from Borneo
come the so-called African gums, such
as Congo. Soudan, Nasal, Lapori, Mani
coba. Pontianac. etc Some Of these rub
hers are gathered from trees but most Oh
them from vines and roots. and the meth
DDS of coagulation are varied. Practi-
callv all of them are dried out in the sun.
These rubbers are all of lower grade than
the Para rubbers of South America
Cultivated Rubber. 80
The second class, or cultivated rubbers,
are obtained from East India, Ceylon,
Malayan peninsula and southern Mexico
The chief and best among these is the
Ceylon rubber. which has been grown
mostly from sprouts taken from the wild
Para rubber trees of South America
These cultivated rubber trees have been
very carefully reared and scientific
methods used in, tapping them, so as not
to. in any way hurt the bearing qualities
of the tree. The Ceylon product is very
uniform as very scientific methods are
used In coagulating, drying and otherwise
treating the rubber before it leaves the
plantation, so that there Is a minimum
deterioration due to oxidation and other
actions during the time the rubber is en-
route from the plantation to the rubber
manufacturer.
From southern Mexico, as heretofore
mentioned, comes the cultivated Castalloa-
The price of crude rubber is not only
OF Importance to the manufacturer but
also to the consumer, as the prices OF the
various rubber products are based on the
cost OF the crude article. and the two
vary alike. AS the crude rubber market
is controlled by foreign spectators, the