at 105-7 C. a "d smelling like pepper and ammonia. A prototype of the more recently discovered organic catalysers, it was brought out in 1912 for use in making synthetic rubber, but was soon found to be of remarkable value for vulcanizing hard and soft natural rubber, cutting down the curing time three-fourths. (13) Methyl piperidine; an active catalyser boiling at 107 C. (14) Quinoline; a good accelerator, boiling at 240 C. and with a strong, disagreeable odour; little used. (15) Quinoline sulphate; a catalyser yielding good-looking, well-vulcanized rubber. (16) Hydroxy-quinoline; re- garded as a valuable accelerator. It melts at 76 C., boils at 266-6 C., and is soluble in alcohol and volatile with steam. (17) Quinosol; a catalyser of special value to users of litharge, such as rubber-foot- wear manufacturers. It cuts the vulcanizing period one-half. (18) Oxiquinoline and oxiquinoline sulphonic acid; the latter gives good acceleration but porous rubber. (19) Oxiquinoline sulphide; a catalyser that can be used in practically every kind of vulcanizing; regarded by some as too rapid. (20) Anthraquinone; a catalyser used in batches containing rubber substitutes and cutting curing- time three-fourths. (21) Antipyrine and (22) naphthylamine; act like anthraquinpne. (23) Urea formanilide, (24) thioformanilide and (25) guanidine are useful catalysers.
The Manufacture of Rubber Goods. The manufacture of rubber goods begins with the tearing of the rubber into shreds, passing it between corrugated rolls and washing out the impur- ities. A stream of water flowing over the rolls carries off a large part of the dirt, while the rolls flatten the rubber into a thin sheet. The sheets require drying, after which they are ready for mixing with sulphur and other substances into what are called com- pounds. Compounding is done either on a machine called a masticator or in a mixing mill which kneads the mass until it is homogeneous. The rubber is next run into sheets, cut into vari- ous shapes, built up over forms and lastly baked or vulcanized. Hard rubber is handled in much the same manner except that after vulcanization it may be turned, shaped, buffed and polished. A list of the uses to which rubber is put would, if complete to-day, be only partial to-morrow. The main lines of its use may be briefly indicated as follows: mechanical rubber goods; pneumatic and solid tires (see TIRES); moulded work; drug- gists' and stationers' sundries; dental and stamp rubbers; sur- face clothing; carriage cloth; mackintoshes and proofing; boots and shoes; insulated wire; hard rubber; cements; notions; plas- ters. Such a list, not of articles manufactured but of special lines, some of which include hundreds and even thousands of different articles, is sufficient to indicate the great variety of uses to which rubber is put.
In the period 1910-20 not only was progress shown in such chem- ical discoveries as catalysers but the mechanics of rubber manu- facture was revolutionized. For example, for many years rubber, after being cleaned by washing, was dried in airy jofts, often hanging for a year to " age." With the growth of the business came hot dry- ers, bringing the drying-period down to weeks and sometimes days. Eventually the vacuum dryer came into use and a few hours sufficed to extract the moisture. More than 250 fillers and compounding materials are used in rubber manufacture. Their purpose is chiefly to enhance or supplement certain qualities in which rubber may be lacking. For example, powdered asbestos in quantity makes a compound that is heat-resisting, as in packings and brake linings. Most of the above materials have been known for years. The successful use of organic plastics such as glue is of recent accomplish- ment, as is the preparation of elaterite in plastic form, known as mineral rubber and largely used.
The Pressure Cure. From the time of Goodyear, rubber footwear was vulcanized by the dry heat cure, that is, in closed rooms filled with hot air. This was very slow, entailing some seven hours of heating. Furthermore, only rubber containing a considerable amount of litharge could be used for this type of cure. The colour was always black, and variety in compound- ing and stocks was impossible. The discovery of the pressure cure by Augustus O. Bourn, of Providence, R.I., in 1901, however, practically revolutionized the business. In this proc- ess the goods were confined in large boiler-shaped shells. These were filled with hot air under pressure and the air from the inner surfaces removed by a vacuum process, the result being that vulcanization was hastened and a great variety of tough com- pounds, as for example those used in tire treads, were at once available. Rubber and fibre soles are coming in again, with a far better product. This is a compound of rubber and finely shredded cotton fibre. It is superior to leather in waterproof qualities and in wear. It finds a large market in medium-grade footwear but has not been accepted by makers of the best grades of leather shoes. To a large degree the rubber heel has also displaced leather in medium-grade footwear.
Balloon Compounds. With the interest in pilot and dirigible balloons stimulated by the World War, came marked progress in rubber compounds used in their manufacture. Of these the most notable were cements of vastly increased tenacity; ingre- dients and surface coatings that remained unaffected by the sun's rays, and compounds practically impermeable to gases and infla- tion. As a successful application of the last-named may be cited the gas-proof masks evolved by rubber chemists, that effectually protect the wearer from poison gas and have a wide field of use in many of the perilous industries of peace. Bathing suits and bathing caps of rubber, beautiful in texture, colours and orna- mentation, are recent accomplishments. This is due to the production by chemists of colours unaffected by heat and sulphur. Rubber fills a large place in sports, but most of the goods supplied have been familiar for decades. An exceptional and novel use is rubber thread in golf-ball manufacture. The standard ball was for years made of solid gutta. In 1898 Coburn Haskell of Cleveland, O., invented a golf ball .with a small ball of rubber as a core around which was wound rubber thread under tension. Outside of this was moulded a thin cover of gutta percha. The ball because of its long flight soon took the place of the " gutty " and helped enormously to popularize golf.
Hard Rubber. Electric batteries employed in motor cars for lighting and starting and for a host of commercial uses resulted in a great demand for hard-rubber battery jars. Formerly made by a slow hand process, the invention of building and moulding machines greatly added to the quality of the product and the ability to meet the trade demands. The production of hard- rubber bowling balls, better than the lignum vitae, and of aero- plane propellers, better than laminated wood, points the way to. the use of hard-rubber lumber, as nearly all the fine hardwoods are successfully imitated.
AUTHORITIES. T. Seeligman, G. Lamy Torrillipn and H. Fal- connet, India Rubber and Gutta Percha (1910); Philip Schidrowitz, Rubber (1911); A. Dubosc and A. Luttringer, Rubber, its Chemistry (1918); Henry C. Pearson, Crude Rubber (1918). (H. C. P.)
RÜCKER, SIR ARTHUR (1848-1915), English physicist, was born at Clapham Oct. 23 1848. Educated at Clapham grammar
school and Brasenose College, Oxford, he became professor of
mathematics and physics at the Yorkshire College, Leeds, in.
1874 and professor of physics at the Royal College of Science in
1886. This post he held until 1901, when he became principal
of the university of London. He received the Royal medal of
the Royal Society in 1891, was one of its secretaries from 1896 to
1901, and was knighted in 1902. He died at Newbury, Berks, Nov. 1 1915.
RUFFEY, PIERRE XAVIER EMMANUEL (1851- ), French
general, was born at Dijon (Cote d'Or) on March 19 1851. He entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1871 and two years later was appointed sous-lieutenant in the artillery. He became a lieutenant in 1875 and a captain in 1878. In 1879 he went through the staff course at the Ecole de Guerre, to which he later returned as professor of artillery. He was promoted major in 1891, lieutenant-colonel in 1897 and colonel in 1901. He served with the expedition to Madagascar, and in 1905 was made a general of brigade. In 1910 he was promoted general of division and in 1913 he was made a commander in the Legion of Honour. On the outbreak of war in Aug. 1914 he commanded the III. Army, but a month later, after the Longwy battles, he was removed from the command of his army, being succeeded by Sarrail. Thereafter he was not employed in an active command at the front, and in Jan. 1917, having already attained the age of retirement, he ceased to hold any appointment. General Ruffey, during the last years before the World War, had persistently advocated the increased employment of heavy artillery with the field army, and it was perhaps due to him more than to any other leading personality that the French Army was able to adapt itself so readily to the use of the new arm.
