NEW SUBSTITUTES FOR RUBBER.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 13, Issue 48, 24 June 1902, Page 2

NEW SUBSTITUTES FOR RUBBER.

—— The enormous and steadily increasing demand for rubber spurs the energies of ingenious persons who hope to grasp the great fortune that offers itself as a prize to the inventor of a satisfactory substitute. ♦*• * ■ *

A Swedish firm has succeeded in producing a material that takes the place of rubber fairly well for certain purposes, and which is made by covering sheets of the finest Japanese rice paper (obtained from the pith of a plant) with thin layers of fine varnish. The sheets of paper thus treated are placed on top of one another, and, through the adhesiveness of the varnish, are converted into a homogeneous mass. The mass is subjected to hydraulic pressure, and, being finally covered with a layer of powdered cork, is flexible, elastic, very light, and completely air and water proof. Another rubber substitute, suitable for insulating purposes, is made out of distillery waste—grain, potatoes &c.—which is carefully washed and then treated with a gummy soap. The resulting stuff is treated with alum and acetate of lead, so as to render it waterproof. ******

These and other substitutes have proved available for specific uses, but it cannot be said that a substance has yet been evolved which in any true sense counterfeits rubber successfully. The chief trouble seems to be that the artificial material, whatever its character may be, hardens, refusing to retain any degree of elasticity Recently a shrub, called “ yule ” has been found in Mexico, which when its stalks are ground up, yields a gum that is a very good substitute for rubber. Forty pounds of the gum are obtained from every 1001 b. of the bush macerated, and the substance responds most satisfactorily to vulcanizing treatment.