Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1932-01-18
SYNTHETIC RUBBER
BECOMES REALITY
Former Catholic U. Profess
Sor, DiScoVerer, Tells OF
25-Year Search.

Synthetic rubber at last is reality.
The discoverer Of the basic substance
from which a material with all the
properties of natural rubber has been
made. Rev. DR.. Julius A. Nieuwland,
told the story of his 25-year search at
the house of studies OF the Holy cross
fathers at Catholic University yester-
day. =,
The synthetic rubber is obtained
from acetylene. This is generally
known as a gas-the most brilliant Of
the illuminating gases. 1t is the gas
used in the familiar acetylene torches
which cut steel The gas is product
of limestone and coke. 1t can be made
in unlimited quantities.
But it is a long call from a gas which
burns with a terrifcally hot flame to
getting rubber out of rocks This syn
thetic rubber has several points Of ST.
periority over natural rubber. It
doesn't deteriorate with contact with
kerosene or gasolene, as does ordinary
rubber. Contact with ozone. the gas
generated in electrical discharges,
doesn't harm it while 1t will ruin nat
ural rubber.
Particles Smaller.
The new material has very much
smaller particle, only about SIX
hundredths Of millimicron in diameter.
Natural rubber particles range from
one-third of a millimiCron to three
millimicronS in diameter. A millimicron
is a thousandth of a millimeter. This
property renders the new material of
extreme value in the coating Of cloth.
The tiny particles get into all the
crevices in the fiber, as well as the
larger holes incidental to the weaving
process. 1t probably will make possible,
Father Nieuwland said, waterproof
silk raincoat which can be carried in
the hip pocket like handkerchief. The
only difficulty is that the new material
is too efficient. 1t doesn't leave any
a.rholeS for the water vapor from the
mentS will remove this difficulty.
The new material is far more resilient
than natural rubber Used in golf
balls, he said. it probably will make
300 to 400 yard drives rather common
place if golf officials will allow the
game to be so revolutioniZed.
Father NieuWland yesterday described
for the first time a lacquer produced
by a different process from the same
basic material which will make cellars
waterproof, which has greater abrasive
resistance than steel, and which
renders metal containers immune to
destruction from various powerful
chemical products, such as sulphuric
acid.
Discovery in 1906
Father Nieuwland, now professor of
chemistry at Notre Dame University,
made an accidental observation while
at Catholic University in 1906 which
he has followed up ever since. He
found that when acetylene gas was
passed into a solution of copper and
ammonium chloride a chemical change
took place and a new substance was
formed. This was not identified, but
was thought to be a gas. For the next
IA years he experimental with this re-
action and found that it was possible to
obtain a much higher yield of the new
substance. He also found that. along
with the gas, an oil was produced. From
this oil other experimenters were able
to produce a substance with many of
the properties Of rubber-but it did not
retain its elasticity for any length of
time.
During the war work along much the
same lines was in progress in Germany,
whose rubber supply waS cut off. The
German chemists succeeded in pro-
ducing synthetic rubber, of a sort. 1t
was very unsatisfactory.
Then American chemists turned from
the oil to the mysterious gas. 1t was
found that by adding hydrogen chloride
the resulting substance spontaneously
changed in a few days into a stiff,
jelly-like material which, after treat
ment, became synthetic rubber. 1t was
the end of long search for something
which would make the United States
independent of the rest of the world in
respect to one of the basic commodities
of industry and makes futile further
search for native plants from which
rubber can be obtained. The priest
chemist has turned over his rights in
the basic material to a large American
corporation.
Cost is Greater.
The chief difficulty at present, he ex-
planned, is that the synthetic rubber is
slightly more expensive than natural
rubber, which, because of market condi-
tons, is selling below production cost.
He believes that the new rubber will
stand wear and heat better than nat
ural rubber. Once one Of its products
such as a tire, is worn out, he said, the
material is gone for good and never can
be recovered, as can the plant product
The chemical formula is extremely
complicated and the molecular weight
runs somewhere in the neighborhood Of
10000. 1t is impossible to find it ex-
actly because nothing is known in
which the new product will dissolve
Rev. Dr. Nieuwland now is taking a
vacation from his long effort which
reached its final stage about month