RUSSIA’S OUTPUT

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 July 1936, Page 8

RUSSIA’S OUTPUT

RUBBER FROM ALCOHOL. The possible national importance of synthetic rubber as an emergency source of supply is emphasised in the annual report of the Research Association of British Rubber Manufacturers, states the London Morning Post.

In spite of fall in price of natural rubber since research on these lines was first undertaken, it is pointed out that the possibilities of the subject have not been regarded as at an end in other countries.

Russia, the report states, made 25,000 tons of synthetic rubber from alcohol last year, and an output of 40,000 tons is expected two years hence. There would also seem, it is added, to be no reason to question the claims of technical progress made in Germany. In America a manufacturing plant is now in operation and rub-ber-like materials are made “which in certain respects, present marked advantages over the natural product.” This plant has a capacity of 1,000,000 lb a year. The pioneer discovery which led to all subsequent attempts to make artificial rubber, the report points out, was made by' an English chemist as far back as 1892, and the analogy' is drawn with the case of synthetic dyestuffs, where after an initial period of British discovery’ the initiative was allowed to pass to others. ‘‘The material returns,” the report sums up, may not be immediate, and may not take the form anticipated, but they are none the less certain for those with the necessary faith and perseverance.”