"Cold Process Tires"

SCIENCE

They have never made a tire, but rubbermen of the 74-year-old Boston Woven Hose & Rubber Co. have developed an all-scrap recap which, under test, has outworn 2-to-1 the best reclaimed rubber camelback available to civilians. Over 6,000 tough New England miles the company road-tested tires recapped halfway around with "F"-grade material (used to keep doctors and war workers on wheels) and half with their new all-reclaim. The F grade was worn smooth, but the new reclaim was still good for another 6,000 miles. Boston Hose estimated that the new-process recaps will stand up for at least 18,000 miles at 35 m.p.h.

"Cold-process" reclamation is the secret of the still unnamed improved type of recap material. In the standard alkali rubber reclamation method, ground scrap rubber is cooked for about 20 hours at 400DEG F. in a caustic soda solution. In the new process old rubber is ground even finer, treated cold with a hush-hush chemical solution, and in twelve minutes the job is done.

For the duration Boston Hose plans to release its patents to all rubber-reclaiming companies without royalty. U.S. Rubber Co. and other reclaimers are beginning further tests.

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