Fcr Long Life in the Home Rubber Needs Proper Care

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 98, Issue 4, 15 April 1959, Page 397

Fcr Long Life in the Home Rubber Needs Proper Care

RUBBER is one of the most durable and labour-saving materials used in the home today. It is resilient, dust free, silent,, hygienic, moth-proof, vermin proof, mould-proof, and easy to keep clean. Beside its numerous uses in solid form it also appears as foam rubber (latex foam) in mattresses, pillows, cushioning material for upholstered furniture, and underlay for carpets, where its self-ventilation, shape retention, freedom from dust, comfort, and long life make it ideally suitable. However, rubber has a few enemies which can rob it of all its usefulness and destroy it in very short time.

By

MAUD B. STRAIN,

Home Science Instructor, Department of Agriculture, Dunedin

THE factors causing deterioration of rubber are: Heat: Excessive heat quickly weakens and de-natures rubber, making it sticky and lifeless. Shoes with crepe rubber soles should never be placed near a hot fire, as the heat can .soften and distort the rubber. Boiling water consistently used in a hot-water bottle softens the rubber so that it .finally splits under pressure. Light, especially sunlight, which is a combination of heat and light, is damaging. It hardens rubber and deprives it of its resilience. The damage is noticed more quickly if sunlight falls on rubber that is stretched .and rubber goods made for use or wear • outside are specially made to resist .sunlight. Oil, grease, and tar, if left on rubber for any length of time, are absorbed and make the rubber swell and become weak. Castor oil is an exception. Dry-cleaning fluids damage rubber if left in contact with it for more than a .minute or two.

Copper or other metallic compounds are also harmful. Rubber gloves worn while brass or copper is being polished, or when a scouring, ball of copper turnings is being used, eventually become soft and sticky, then hard and brittle. Cleaning Mild soap and warm water are all that are necessary to clean rubber goods. Soapless detergents are not advisable unless specially stated by the detergent manufacturer to be suitable. Removal of Spots Oil, grease, and tar spots should be removed quickly. Usually mild soap and water will be sufficient. Stubborn stains may be removed with a soft cloth slightly moistened with carbon tetrachloride, which should be wiped off immediately with soap and water. The rubber should be treated gently. Storage Rubber should be stored in a cool, dark place, but not in the hot-water

cupboard or any place where it is likely to come in contact with hotwater pipes or any heating devices. If there is no dark place in which to store the rubber, it should be wrapped in heavy paper and kept in a covered box. It should lie flat and not be folded. If it must be folded (rubber sheeting for instance), talcum powder or French chalk should be sprinkled freely between the surfaces that touch. Gumboots and Galoshes These should have the dirt washed off them, soap being used if necessary. They should be dried with a cloth or in a cool, airy place and when stored they should be stuffed loosely with crumpled paper and kept in a cool, dark place. Hot-water Bottles These should never be filled with boiling water and never overfilled. Water should be poured in slowly so that air can escape. The bottle should not be more than two-thirds full and the air and steam should be pressed out before the stopper is inserted.

After use, they should be emptied and hung upside down, with the stopper attached by a piece of cord so that it will not be lost. When stored the bottle should be as dry as possible inside and a little air should be puffed in before the stopper is screwed up to keep the sides from touching. The bottle should be hung up or laid flat and the outside dusted with talcum powder. Rubber-coated Cloth Sheets, aprons, and raincoats should be cleaned by being placed on a table and scrubbed with mild soap, warm water, and a soft brush. They should be dried with a soft cloth or hung in a cool, airy place. For storage they should be dusted with talcum powder before being folded to prevent the surfaces sticking together. Two damp surfaces touching will stick and attempts to free them pull off the rubber coating. Foundation Garments These should be washed with mild soap and warm water only. They should be squeezed in the soapy water to remove soiling (any spots difficult to remove can be brushed gently with a soft brush), handled gently, and stretched as little as possible while wet. All traces of soap should be rinsed out and the garment rolled in a towel to dry off some of the water, then unrolled and hung, out to dry, but not in the sun and not in a high wind. No ironing is necessary; heat is injurious to rubber. Rubber Gloves These are extremely useful to protect the hands when doing wet or dirty work, but as the gloves are likely to come in contact with substances harmful to them (grease and cleaning

fluids), a little extra care is necessary to prolong their . life. The gloves should be larger than those normally worn and the insides should be powdered freely with French chalk or talcum powder to make them slip on to dry hands easily. A special finish now being applied to the inside by some manufacturers makes rubber gloves easier to put on and take off. After use, but before they are taken off the hands, they should be washed in warm, soapy water, rinsed well, dried, and powdered. When being removed from the hands they should be pulled off gently from the wrist so that they are inside out when they come off. They should be dried and dusted with talcum powder. If unused for any length of time, they should lie flat in a cool place away from the light. Teats and Caps for Infants’ Feeding Bottles These should be rinsed free of milk at once, as milk fat softens them. They should be washed in clean, hot, soapy water and rinsed in hot water. To sterilise they should each be wrapped in a piece of clean gauze and put on a rack in the bottom of a pan with a little water and a tight cover and boiled for 5 minutes. The pan is then removed from the heat and cooled quickly with the lid still on. Children’s Toys These can be washed as necessary. They should not be left lying in the sun and should not come in contact with sharp objects. Draining Mats and Racks These should be rinsed in warm water and dried after use. Any grease

or oil spilt on them should be wiped off immediately. Electric Cords : When any electrical appliance is disconnected, the plug and not the cord should be pulled. Cords should be coiled loosely without kink, twist, or strain and should be kept out of direct sunlight and away from direct sources of heat. Do not let the cord lie on the floor in front of the heater. If the rubber or fabric covering is perished or has been damaged in any way, it should not be used. Imperfect cords are dangerous. Garden Hose When not in frequent use a hose should have the water drained out, be coiled loosely, and placed on a flat surface in a cool, dry place. It should never be hung over a single hook or nail. If it must be hung up, it should be coiled loosely and tied in two places with a strip of cloth, then hung loosely over two wooden pegs 6 to 8 in. apart. This should distribute the weight and ease the strain. In use hose should not be kinked or twisted or left in strong sunlight. Small leaks can be mended by binding on elastic sticking plaster about 1 in. wide, starting on a slanting bias and overlapping about one-third of the width of each round of the tape. If a split occurs in an otherwise good length of hose, it can be repaired by cutting out the damaged part and joining the ends by putting a short pipe inside the hose and clamping the hose firmly to this pipe from outside.

Wringer Rollers Pressure on the rollers should be even before clothes are put through. Clothes should be more or less evenly spread over the rollers and not put through in uneven bunches or so much at a time that the wringer is stalled or strained. Buttons and buckles should be folded inside. After use the rollers should be well rinsed with clear water. The tension should be loosened and a piece of towel or other cloth left between the rollers to keep them from touching each other. They should be dried and covered. Rubber Flooring This is available in sheet or tile form and makes a practical flooring for bathrooms and passages. It is long lasting, hygienic, and draught-proof, has warmth and resilience, and effectively deadens sound. It is not suitable for a kitchen floor where it is likely- to come in contact with grease and it is not sufficiently resistant to heat to be fitted under some cookers and heaters. The floor should be swept regularly with a soft broom. It should be washed with mild soap and warm water applied with a cloth or mop. Scrubbing brushes should not be used and water should be used sparingly. All traces of soap should be removed

with clean, warm water and the floor dried with a soft cloth. Abrasive soaps . and powders, caustic soda, petrol, turpentine, and other spirits should not be used. Soap--1 e s s detergents should not be used unless they are recommended for the purpose by the makers. Stubborn stains such as tar may be removed by wiping with a cloth slightly moistened with carfa o n tetrachloride, but this must be wiped off immediately with soap and water. Too frequent use of carbon tetrachloride will damage the floor.

Rubber flooring may or may not be polished. The regular use of a suitable polish tends to preserve the flooring, and dirt and traffic marks are more

easily removed from a polished surface. However, only water wax emulsion polish should be used on rubber floors; the solvents in other types of polish are harmful to rubber. The water wax emulsion is self polishing, but is improved by polishing and by buffing up between applications. Rubber floors should be protected from the indentations which heavy furniture makes by use of castor cups and similar devices which distribute the weight of the furniture. Foam Rubber Mattresses and Cushions These do not of themselves form dust nor do they collect it, but covers should be kept free of dust and lint from the blankets by brushing the mattress with a whisk broom or by the appropriate attachment of the vacuum cleaner. Mattresses can be changed end for end occasionally but they are not reversible. They should be supported on a firm base which must allow free access of air. Taut woven wire, coiled springs on a firm base, wooden slats, or plywood with ventilation holes are all satisfactory. If mattresses must be stored, they should be placed flat in a cool, dark place and no more than one mattress should rest on top of another. Chairs, settees, or other furniture upholstered with foam rubber should not be permanently in a sun room or a room where the sun shines directly on them. Though the rubber is not

uncovered, the heat from the sun can penetrate the covering. For short periods this would not be harmful, but over a long period it could be. Cleaning Fabric Covers After loose dirt has been removed with a brush the vacuum cleaner can be used. Dirty marks and stains can be removed from the cover by using, a cleaning agent applied with a piece of soft cloth. Suds made from mild soap with a little household ammonia added are satisfactory, though commercial cleaning agents can be used. Dry-cleaning fluids, petrol, kerosene, and other spirit solvents should not be used, as they are harmful to the rubber underneath. After the cleaning agent has been used, the cover should be rubbed with a cloth wrung out in clean water, then dried with a dry cloth. All types of upholstery-covering material are used with foam rubber, some of them without an undercover, but for plastic materials without a fabric backing an undercover of fairly heavy calico or drill should be used. Latex foam rubber when in use should always be covered to protect it from the light and from grease spots. When uncovered it should be stored in a cool, dry situation out of contact with direct sunlight, preferably in the dark. Photographs by Campbell.