SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1944
STP38752S

Hard Rubber Products from Synthetic Rubbers

Source

From the birth of the hard rubber industry in 1854 up to the start of the present war, crude and reclaimed natural rubber have been the principal sources of rubber hydrocarbon used in the manufacture of hard rubber products. Since Pearl Harbor the use of crude and reclaimed rubber for the manufacture of hard rubber products has been greatly curtailed, just as it has been in other branches of the rubber industry, and the use of these materials has only been permitted for the manufacture of war and essential industrial products where satisfactory substitutes have not been developed. For example, the use of crude rubber was prohibited for the manufacture of such prewar items as steering wheels, combs, fountain pen stocks, handle grips, photographic trays, development tanks, spatulas, molded wheels and casters, toilet seats, serving trays, musical instrument parts, thermometer cases, post insulators, bowling balls, and many other items. The use of reclaimed rubber was also prohibited for the manufacture of most of the items listed above as well as in cases for storage batteries falling under the classification of automotive starting, lighting, ignition batteries, S.A.E. groups 1, 2, and 3. These restrictions on the use of crude rubber and reclaimed natural rubber were due to the fact that either these items were considered unessential to the war effort or, where they were essential to the war effort, adequate substitutes were available. Combs, for instance, are considered an essential part of the personal equipment of every soldier and sailor, but combs adequate for the emergency could be molded from polystyrene, cellulose acetate, and other plastics. Storage batteries are, of course, very essential in the war program, but satisfactory cases for automotive starting, lighting, and ignition batteries could be produced from asphalt-fiber compositions. In spite of these substitutions and restrictions, there have been literally hundreds of essential hard rubber products which could not be made successfully from plastic compositions or other substitutes, where it was necessary to use crude and reclaimed natural rubber until the synthetic rubbers that could be vulcanized to hard rubber became available for general use and until the technologists of the hard rubber industry were able to develop the art of manufacturing these parts from synthetic rubbers.

Author Information

Juve, WH
Office of Rubber Director, War Production Board, Akron, Ohio
Price: $25.00
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Details
Developed by Committee: D11
Pages: 104–108
DOI: 10.1520/STP38752S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-5606-7
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-5605-0