RUBBER BOOM

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 71, 10 August 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

RUBBER BOOM

kar-kxai iiiNc !•!•■:•:■< ; of xkw ])!sri)\ , :-:!; , 1 . WitxuKKKii. :';:ockss. London. .July 21. The striking aiir.oum-i-incut of Professor W. 11. I'erkin. I'.i;.>„ that a means of niamif.k-luriiig p:;;v ruh'>"r from starch ;tt almut !:;i!f the cost of tin: natural article, with which it is identical, has at last been discovered, has aroused great interest in financial and business circles.

Professor Perkin, who holds the chair of chemistry at Manchester University, declared that not only was the. synthetic production strictly comparable with the natural rubber, but offered the probability of a profit at 2s (id per pound, and, indeed, a possibility of production at even Is a pound, if not Teas. A representative of the firm of Messrs Strange and Graham, the eminent technical research chemists, described the value of the discovery -to an Express representative.

"The association," he said, "of such names as Professor Perkin, 'Sir William Ramsay and Professor A. Fern Bach, of the Pasteur Institute, with the discovery should alone indicate its genuine nature to the. British public. "The discovery shows that a method 'has ut last been found whereby starch from, say, maize, may be converted into [ fusel oil; and fusel oil,'by means of two or three cheap chemical processes, into isoprene, and isoprene in turn into pure rubber.

"What the discovery means to the world may be. gauged from the following: Average annual world-output of rubber, 90,000 tons; average cost per pound, 4s; average value of world-output on this basis, £40,000,000. "In such a discovery as this lies the British public's only hope of cheap rub-* ber, for the inevitable cost of the collection of natural rubber has heretofore always made the use of this article prohibitive for many purposes. "From the point of view of cleanliness, durability and soundness alike, rubber constitutes an ideal flooring for tfhese purposes, but so far, of course, its price has made it out of the question. "Regarding the way in winch the artificial compares with the natural product, I cannot do better than refer you to tbe statement made by ; Professor Perkin in his lecture oil Monday night, that a motor car had been fitted with four tyres, of the best Para rubber, and two of artificial rubber made with turpentine instead of fusel oil. "

"At the end of six months the two Para tyres were worn out, while the artificial tyres were nearly as good as new. "Turpentine is not used in the new process here because of the prohibitive price, but precisely similar results are obtained with fusel oil made from starch."