RUBBER FROM OIL

Greymouth Evening Star, 9 July 1931, Page 6

RUBBER FROM OIL

A SOVIET STATE SECRET. LONDON, May 24. Great secrecy is being maintained in Russia concerning the reported discovery of a method of manufacturing rubber from oil on a commercial scale. ' * The report first appeared as a short item in “Izvestia,” the official organ of the Soviet Government. It was announced that half a ton of this rubber had been produced, and that it had been sent to the Red Triangle rubber factory for manufacture into various articles. But attempts ,to obtain further information regarding the process have been systematically frustrated, reports the Moscow correspondent of the British United Press. The Scientific Institute for Rubber Research explained that the invention was a State secret, and intimated that the item in “Izvestia” had appeared “by accident.” Another report stating that rubber had been manufactured from oil appeared in the “Krasnaye Gazette.” This report was in the form of a telegram announcing the fact from the engineers and technical staff of the Red Triangle factory. Requests for information regarding

the process were refused / from all quarters, but the editor of a popular scientific magazine, “i Wish to Know Everything” (“Khochoo Vsyo Zhat”), declared that an article explaining the process had been received six months before, but was suppressed just before publication.

A Soviet chemist of high standing, however, agreed to explain the general principle of the process. He said: Oil and rubber are both hydrocarbons. Every atom of carbon is able to absorb no more than four units of hydrogen. A saturated hydrocarbon is one that cannot absorb any more hydrogen. Rubber produced from oil is a

highly complex compound of saturated and non-saturated hydro-carbons. Liquid hydro-carbons, like oil, when subjected to pressure by means of heat, acids, or alkalis, will produce a compound that has all the properties of rubber. It is all a question of condensation of liquid hydro-carbons. A considerable quantity of synthetic rubber was manufactured in Germany during the war, the chemist said, but owing to the drop in the price of rubber since its manufacture synthetically became unprofitable.