Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-06-24
THE STORY OF RUBBER
Charles Goodyear Discovered Vulcan
ization-Wild supply of Plant
Insu 1cient

hnOWleOge or RUBBER Is as old as knOWi-
edge of our country. for history records
that Columbus upon his second voyage
found the inhabitants in Hayti playing
games with balls of rubber, thus forming
an interesting association between the dis
covery of America and the crude ma terial
which eventually was to prove one of
the great bases of industry in this coun-
try. 1t also is corded that shoes were
made out of rubber three centuries ago
and that the Spaniards used il to smear
their cloaks as a water resistant; that
Father CharlevoiX, the famous French
Jesuit, in his travels, learned of and de-
scribed the bouncing of a rubber ball.
Other French and Spanish explorers not
ed the peculiar properties of rubber. La
Condamne in 1895 called it caoutchouc.
by which name it is known in France to-
day. Later Priestly the English chemist
found that this elastic material could be
used to erase pencil marks. whereupon
he gave it the name by which it since
has gone-rubber. Charles Macintosh, a
Scotch scientist. discovered that rubber
was soluble in naphtha and used the So
luton to spread between two layers Of
cloth to make a waterproof material
The progress of rubber in manufac-
ture was delayed because of the inherent
difficulty caused by the softening and
! tackiness in summer and the hardening
or cracking of the material in winter
and it is to the work of Charles Good.
year that we owe the process which over
came these obstacle: and made possible
the rubber manufacturing industry OF
to-day. After years Of patient investi-
cation great personal sacrifice, and dis
heartening failures, which brought out
| noble qualities of heart and revealed .
mind of integrity, he, while conducting
| some experiments in Woburn. Massa
chusetts, on a mixture of rubber and
| sulphur. carelessly brought the COM
| pound in contact with hot stove. To
| his amazement. the rubber charred in
stead of melting. and thus in 1899 the
| process of INFLAMMATION. the curing OF
rubber. was discovered. The process was
perfected some time later.
| Based on the invention of Goodyear
the rubber manufacturing industry has
become one of the largest trades in the
country with an annual turnover of 81
200. 10000
Abou 40 years ago a Boston sea cap
tain brought home some clumsy rubber
boots which had been made by natives
or Brazil, and from that time until 1918
Brazil was the most important source OF
|
jungle forests of the Amazon system yield
ing large quantities of excellent grade rub.
Der. The natives of Brazil coagulated the
latex by a smoking process, which pro-
duced a quality which remains the stand.
ard in the rubber world
valuable auxiliary supplies were dis.
covered In various parts of Africa. Cen
tral America and in Mexico, where the
guayuie shrub was found to contain a
good percentage of a soft but useful rub
her.
The health risks in the collection of wild
rubber generally were so great that the
crude rubber business was called the
bloodiest' industry in the world.
The Brazilans had practical monopoly
OF the crude rubber trade. Although de-
termined efforts were made to secure
enough rubber to meet the rapidly grow
ing demand, yet the rubber world was
beginning to realize that supplies from
"iid sources would prove Inadequate
when new factor entered into the sit
uation.
So far hack as 1876. British forester
and planter named Wickham al the in
stance OF the government of India had
brought the seed of the Hevea Brazilien-
Sis or Para rubber. As it popularity was
|, Called from Brazil to England, where
: plants were propagated at the Kew Gar
uens' London, and sent to the botanical
experiment stations in Ceylon and British
, burma. The Malay States and Straits
oettiemehts may have received seed at the
! same time. but II is known that In 1S7
, seedlings were sent from Ceylon to Sing
apore and other points, 1t was from
I these parent trees that seed came to intro
uuce great agricultural industry, al
though 1t was not until late In the nine
. Ties that planters of Ceylon and the fed
3 Grated Malay States began to realize the
immense possibilities of cultivated RUBBER
2 from commercial viewpoint
i. the immense profitableness OF the bust
ness so attracted the European investor
that over 100000 acres have been planted
representing total investment OF over
so""V."n. OF this huge sum the Britsh
nave put in sfOO,O0O.000, and now have
virtual monopoly of the crude rubber
l industry
America, consuming 20 per cent. OF the
worlds rubber crop. has invested apou'
*l9'oVV0 or about three per cent. or the
total Notwithstanding the fact that this
includes the largest single undertaking
IN the middle east.-Edgar B. Davis IN
Leslie's,
Information OF importance can be %
famed through classified study