The Problem of Making Uniform Crude Rubber and Its Standardization
Abstract The problem of attaining uniformity in crude rubber and of standardizing its properties has become of the greatest concern to planters, and at the present time two facts are evident: 1. In evaluating the product which the planter has furnished him, the rubber broker has based his judgment solely on the superficial appearance of the rubber, which frequently has nothing in common with its intrinsic quality. 2. The manufacturer has found frequent cause of complaint in the variability of different lots of rubber which he has purchased and which it has been impossible for him to distinguish by superficial examination. for these reasons the planters, in agreement with the manufacturers, should welcome the classification of crude rubber into a small number of types based on the physical and chemical properties of the product. However, considering the variability of rubber at the present time, crude rubber must obviously be uniform before any attempt is made to draw up specifications. As is shown by M. Bocquet in the following discussion, the production of uniform rubber should not require any great efforts on the part of the planters, and if the planters prefer not to change their methods at the present time, it is because their methods are adjusted to the output of commercial sheet rubber, the only kind salable on the open market.