Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-03-14

Washington, D. c.. March Z. With
millions of motor cars all over the
world eating up'tires, and warrins
Europe using rubber hospital supplies
and boots in enormous quantities, the
demand for rubber and its price are
both reaching heights unprecedented.
Wherefore Uncle Sam, through the bu-
reau of standards, is making a special
and very interesting study of rubber,
With a view to standardizing the pro.
duct.
This is always long step toward
cheapenipg any material and Is one or
the most important services that the
government renders to industry. When
the work is completed, the manufacture
er of rubber will be able to order a
certain grade of rubber and to know
exactly what he is getting.
At present the bureau is experiment.
ing extensively in the manufacture of
rubber and is also testing the man.
ufactured rubber products now on the
market to see how well they are made,
how honest the material in them is.
A complete rubber mill equipment
has been set up at the bureau of stan
dards and every process of manufac.
ture is being studied with view to
perfecting it. Perhaps the most impor.
tant development to date is the nitric
acid process which the bureau has
evolved for the "reclaiming" of scrap
rubber BY this process, old rubber
may be made over into product that
is better than some of the lower
grades of fresh rubber. The impor-
lance Of this discovery may be gagged
from the fact that about 1S3, 900 tons
of scrap rubber from WORKOUT auto.
mobile tires alone will be put ON the
market in the United States this year
This particular pile Of junk will be
worth about $25,OO0,OOO Then there
will also be about $4,000 tons OF old
rubber shoes and boots worth about
eleven cents pound, and good many
thousand tons Of old air brakes, rubber
hose, insulated wire. and other manu-
features Of rubber In view of this
immense crop of rubber junk, and the
extreme scarcity of new rubber, the
bureau of standards can hardly render
a greater service to the industry just
now than by developing new ways OF
using this scrap. '.... ~+
An elaborate mechanism for testing
rubber in its various stages Of manu-.
facture has been set up at the bureau
of standards. It's elasticity is of course
one of its most essential qualities, and
this is tested most thoroughly. There
are machines which will stretch a
piece of rubber at the rate of five
inches minute, twenty-five inches a
minute and forty-five inches minute.
The uniformity of the product in this
regard is tested by machine which
stretches six samples from the same
batch at the same time. In the case
of hose and other fabrics treated with
rubber, the fibres and threads used as
basis are carefully examined. Chem.
ical tests show exactly what ingredi.
ents were used in vulcanizing and
otherwise preparing the rubber.
In the last twenty years, rubber has
attained place in modern industry
which makes 1t indispensable to a long
list OF arts and industries. The pre-
sent plight of Germany shows just
how essential it u.s. That country is
suffering from severe shortage of
rubber. because England has cut off
the importations. The result is that
many of the German hospitals are
compelled to get along without hot
water bags, ice caps, rubber sheeting,
and rubber gloves. The lack of rubber
gloves has resulted in many of the
nurses contracting septic fever. The
International Red Cross and Ambassa-
dor Gerard have both protested to Eng
land against this embargo; but the
British war Office is obdurate because