From this gas isoprene can be made and the
isoprene converted into rubber by sodium, or acid or alkali or simple
heating. Acetone, which is also made from acetylene, can be converted
directly into rubber by fuming sulfuric acid. This seems to have been
the process chiefly used by the Germans during the war. Several carbide
factories were devoted to it. But the intermediate and by-products of
the process, such as alcohol, acetic acid and acetone, were in as much
demand for war purposes as rubber. The Germans made some rubber from
pitch imported from Sweden. They also found a useful substitute in
aluminum naphthenate made from Baku petroleum, for it is elastic and
plastic and can be vulcanized.
So although rubber can be made in many different ways it is not
profitable to make it in any of them. We have to rely still upon the
natural product, but we can greatly improve upon the way nature produces
it. When the call came for more rubber for the electrical and automobile
industries the first attempt to increase the supply was to put pressure
upon the natives to bring in more of the latex.
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