ADAPTABLE RUBBER.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 936, 5 December 1933, Page 7

ADAPTABLE RUBBER.

Has Many and Varied Uses. LATEX THREAD PROCESS. Rubber, which until a few years ago had its main uses in motor tyres and hot water bottles, has now taken on a new adaptability, due to the success of experiments with latex thread. One can now walk on rubber floors in London, wear rubber millinery and corsets, and travel in a rubber-upholstered omnibus to bathe in a rubber costume. Something of the romance of the rubber industry was related this morning by Mr G. \V. Skellerup, managing director of the Para Rubber Company, who has returned to Christchurch after spending six months in Europe and the United States of America. He said that latex, which was the sap from the rubber trees, was shipped in tanks in much the same form as milk. It was then squirted into a bath and set as uncured rubber. It was passed through a series of fans, dried out an.d chemically vulcanised, and then the very fine thread was wrapped round with silk or cotton, and in some cases wool, making an elastic weave that would stretch twice its length. The factories dealing with this new treatment of rubber were going at full pressure to keep up with the demand. Three years ago the treatment of latex had not reached the experimental stage. In Omnibuses and Liners. Sponge rubber was used very extensively for upholstering motor-cars and omnibuses. The London omnibus companies were among the largest users. A chemical was mixed with the material, and air and a vulcanising agent were beaten in by means of a beater somewhat similar to the type used in modern bakehouses. Omnibus cushions which had been in constant use for three years retained ninety per cent of their resiliency. “ Three years ago, when I travelled on the Bremen,” stated Mr Skellerup, “ the big rubber floors were laid in dull and unattractive colours. The layout on the Empress of Britain, the largest new ship on the British register, showed a wonderful advance on the Bremen's flooring; and in the Georgic, the new White Star trans-Atlantic ship, said to be the ‘ jazz ’ ship of the passenger trade, there was an even greater improvement in design and colour.”