RUBBER EXHIBHION

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 298, 8 March 1928, Page 7

RUBBER EXHIBHION

EVERY NEED SUPPLIED CUTTING OUT THE SQUEAK The collection of articles at the exhibition organised by the Institution of the Rubber Industry in the basement of the Central Hall, Westminster, brought together by more than 40 firms of manufacturers and dealers, was extremely interesting. The outer hall was occupied by the retailers with a great variety of rubber toilet articles, toys, and things to wear. Here one could buy smartly cut waterproofs in all colours, Wellington boots for men, women, and children. rubber baces—which seemed to be selling well —overalls, and aprons. Chief among the toys were the durable large animals. but there was also a strongly made rubber doll in flesh colour, and a set of doll’s clothes of rubber, and tiny dolls with arms no thicker than matches.' The squeaky possibilities of rubber have been such a temptation to the manufacturers that after handling yellow canaries with a realistsic squeak,

squeaking breakfast rolls and oranges, and even biscuits that squeaked at the slightest touch, one became convinced that everything else, from crepe rubber sponges to crepe rubber bath mats, and posies of pale primroses, must also squeak, and that the really up-to-date house would have a squeak at every step. Fortunately this was not so. The new nail brush, an excellent invention, the rubber egg cups, and the bulb bowls and table mats, were all silent. The New Mattress A well-known furnishing firm was showing a patent top mattress made of sponge rubber that seemed more silent and restful than any other mattress ever invented. It was made in different thicknesses, with three, four, or five lays of the sponge rubber, and between each layer were wide air passages. These mattresses were not cheap, but they had the great advantage of being easily cleaned and cf preserving their resiliency. The larger hall, where the manufacturers had their stands, was laid with strips of rubber floor covering in attractive plain colours, and in a very successful imitation of parquetry. On the tables stood vases of rubber carnations, much more realistic than the roses and violets that were on sale, and clusters of bright coloured bal-

the manufacturers specialised in thin rubber bathing or sports shoes, with substantial soles, and in rubber parters.. and there was a good display of Wellington boots in black and cclours, with dull or glossy finish, and of waterproof cloth shoes or small boats. Many exhibitors supplied cushions filled with sponge rubber, bath mats of soft crepe or plain rubber, and thin rubber mats with suckers on the underside to put into baths. St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Which received the money for admission, and raffled rubber animals, had an exhibit of hospital appliances, the newest of which were the long rubber mattress for an operating table, the rubber shoulder rests for the patient, arid thrubber rim around the mouthpi«>ce of the apparatus, for supplying ana?sthetics, which could be inflated to :it the patient. For the golfer there wer. waterproofed golf bags, tartar:, golf bags for the American trade, and hemispherical rubbers for cleaning golf balls. Hose pipes, tyres, and articles of vulcanite or ebonite were ttmong the heavier exhibits, and for the rubber industry itself there were displavs of essential chemicals and a great array of literature. The whole exhibition was a rather surprising technical demonstration of the manifold uses to which rubber is now pui«