The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1934-07-02
LABORATORY
AND SHOP
- Notes on Science and Technology

( as an Associated Press release) an
nouncing the first American auto
/ mobile tires to be fabricated Of syn
thetic rubber. The development IS
heralded as "a guaranty Of Amer
lean rubber independence in war
time"
Patent rights are held by E. I. du
Pont de Nemours g. Co. who have
been manufacturing the synthetic
rubber under the trade name Of Du-
Prene. The product is made Of salt
and water, and scetylene, which
comes from coal and limestone, all
domestic ingredients. The synthetic
rubber has many advantages not
possessed by natural rubber; it IS
more resistant to the swelling action
Of gasoline, kerosene, and other SOL
vents, and to the destructive action
of air; it resists oil and Vulcanizes by
the use Of heat alone The syn
thetic tires are built with the same
machinery that is used to produce
natural rubber tires.
Marketing plans. however, do not
specify any immediate production.
The synthetic rubber is to be held
in reserve as long as foreign sup
plies of native rubber remain undis-
turbed and adequate. If the new
tires are not intended to be made
available to motorists, the news en-
phasis placed on this product by the
enraptured capitalist press is open
to suspicion. Nor is an explanation
far to seek 1t appears in a state
ment by J. A. Macmillan, president
Of the Dayton Company:
Rubber and oil are two vital fac
tors from a standpoint of national
defense in the army, navy and air
service. The United States is well
equipped as far as oil is concerned,
but rubber has always presented a
problem due to the fact that we
have been dependent on other
countries"
The Dayton Company, moreover,
has just erected a new building for
the development Of synthetic rubber
products, and considering Salesman
MacNIillan's expressions Of optimism
over the outlook, it is apparent that
conditions are almost ripe for pro-
duction-if only a nice big war can
be started.
The synthetic rubber now sells for
about 81 a pound, whereas the for
eign real rubber is sold for less than
IS cents. A well-contriyed war could
conveniently disturb the foreign
supplies and raise the price Of nat
ural rubber sufficiently high to per-
NIT the synthetic stuff to enter into
profitable competition
In view Of this possibility an A. P.
dispatch from London, tucked away
on an inside page of the New York
Herald Tribune of June %, is signi-
ficant. An unnamed du Pont rep
resentative is quoted as saying that
European interests long have known
of the success of the manufacture
(of synthetic rubber and under
stand that it can be used to fight
the new rubber combine created by
the governments of Great BrssssaAiA'
India, France, Holland and STA -
THE same news item intimates that
1 the United States could use syn,
thetic rubber as a weapon if theN
foreign combine pushes the price Of
natural rubber anywhere near the
S115 mark it reached in 1925. But
according to the du Pont represen-
tative, I'VE don't expect anything
like that to happen again liz this
generation,
Even DUPONT optimism has its
boundsl Nor are such seemingly
modest expectations difficult to un-
derstand, for-again quoting the
London report-"if the United States
government removed competition by
barring foreign imports. the syn
thetic rubber could be marketed
profitably at about 35c a pound"
A European war would automat-
ically achieve the same result with
out waiting on Congressional sane
ton. The prospect is tempting, for
the rewards Of financial gangsterisn1
are international: the foreign COM
bine would take its profits in soar
ing prices on vast unsold accumulaz
tons of natural rubber whils tne
duPonts cash in on their synthetic
monopoly at home. In the lingo Of
the confidential investment services,
the story of synetheic rubber means,
don't sell ID short.