[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
generate scrap rubber at a rate of one passenger tire equivalent per person per year.
Unfortunately, there is a catch. Grantville is based on the real town of Mannington, West Virginia . . .
and its dump was not within the Ring of Fire (Boatright,Grantville Gazette, Vol. 1). So we have to
hope that the GV residents were not efficient about setting out their used tires for pickup.
There may also be small amounts of rubber that can be recovered from rubber goods that are no longer
useable for their original purpose. Personally, I think that is going to be a real small supply.
Hence, at a relatively early stage, the USE will need to decide whether to scrap some of the auto tires
(figuring that it cannot keep the whole auto fleet running) in order to supply patch material for the heavy
tires used in the USE's military vehicles.
At the very least, all thespare auto tires in the car trunks can go to the rubber reclaiming plant. If there
are around 1,200 cars (Mannington actually has more than that), then that will potentially yield 24,000
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
pounds of tires, and about 14,000 pounds (seven tons) of somewhat degraded rubber. If we decided to
take the working tires off half those cars, that would be another 48,000 pounds of tires, and thus another
fourteen tons of secondhand rubber.
One problem is that the Grantville encyclopedias are not very specific about the methods used for
rubber reclaiming. EA suggests that the rubber is mechanically reduced to scrap, which is then "heated
with steam in the presence of strong chemicals, mainly alkali or acids."
If someone does have the Microsoft Encarta on CD, that gives additional information. It mentions the
Chapman Mitchell process, in which hot sulfuric acid is used to destroy tire fabric and restore rubber
plasticity, and the Marks "alkaline-recovery process."
In general, the rubber is not going to be restored to its original unvulcanized state, and hence it is more
difficult to use. Usually, the reclaimed rubber is used as an extender, together with fresh rubber.
Proposal
Our initial natural rubber industry development strategy should be:
(1) use rubber substitutes (e.g., leather) whenever possible;
(2) conserve and reclaim up-time rubber;
(3) cultivate milkweed at home;
(4) send raiding parties into central America to collect Castilla rubber; and
(5) attempt to reach the Hevea rubber of the Amazon by a back-door route.
Once we have built enough steamships (warships as well as merchant ships) so we can spare a few for
extra-European ventures, we should send an expedition-in-force to the Amazon to collect Hevea seeds,
and then one to Africa or Asia to establish plantations and collect wild rubber (and rubber tree seeds).
Ideally, we would also have sufficient medical resources so as to offer this expedition some protection
against the many diseases that hamper seventeenth-century international trade.
If we are allowed to trade freely for wild Brazilian Hevea rubber, and to promote efficient tapping
practices, it should satisfy our needs for rubber up until annual world consumption reaches the 30,000 to
40,000 pound range (the peak Brazilian wild rubber production). After that, the development of
alternative rubber sources is essential. Hence, at the end of the first decade, we need to decide whether
to establish Hevea plantations in Africa or southeast Asia, or to pursue synthetic rubber.
While an investment in the rubber industry is definitely going to qualify as one of USE's riskier
commercial ventures, investors can at least be confident that if they are successful, the USE government
and private industry will be sitting on their doorstep, anxious to do business.
Table 1: Listed Rubber Sources: Where and How to Find Them
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Rubber Plant (Note A)
Range: Range (to extent known in Grantville); Descriptive Material (as available in Grantville (Note B)
Hevea brasiliensis
Para Rubber Tree (major source in OTL)
(Often confused with other producing Hevea species, such asH. guianensis ,H. benthamiana,H.
pauciflora ;H. spruceana is a poor producer.) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl exclamation.htw.pl
generate scrap rubber at a rate of one passenger tire equivalent per person per year.
Unfortunately, there is a catch. Grantville is based on the real town of Mannington, West Virginia . . .
and its dump was not within the Ring of Fire (Boatright,Grantville Gazette, Vol. 1). So we have to
hope that the GV residents were not efficient about setting out their used tires for pickup.
There may also be small amounts of rubber that can be recovered from rubber goods that are no longer
useable for their original purpose. Personally, I think that is going to be a real small supply.
Hence, at a relatively early stage, the USE will need to decide whether to scrap some of the auto tires
(figuring that it cannot keep the whole auto fleet running) in order to supply patch material for the heavy
tires used in the USE's military vehicles.
At the very least, all thespare auto tires in the car trunks can go to the rubber reclaiming plant. If there
are around 1,200 cars (Mannington actually has more than that), then that will potentially yield 24,000
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
pounds of tires, and about 14,000 pounds (seven tons) of somewhat degraded rubber. If we decided to
take the working tires off half those cars, that would be another 48,000 pounds of tires, and thus another
fourteen tons of secondhand rubber.
One problem is that the Grantville encyclopedias are not very specific about the methods used for
rubber reclaiming. EA suggests that the rubber is mechanically reduced to scrap, which is then "heated
with steam in the presence of strong chemicals, mainly alkali or acids."
If someone does have the Microsoft Encarta on CD, that gives additional information. It mentions the
Chapman Mitchell process, in which hot sulfuric acid is used to destroy tire fabric and restore rubber
plasticity, and the Marks "alkaline-recovery process."
In general, the rubber is not going to be restored to its original unvulcanized state, and hence it is more
difficult to use. Usually, the reclaimed rubber is used as an extender, together with fresh rubber.
Proposal
Our initial natural rubber industry development strategy should be:
(1) use rubber substitutes (e.g., leather) whenever possible;
(2) conserve and reclaim up-time rubber;
(3) cultivate milkweed at home;
(4) send raiding parties into central America to collect Castilla rubber; and
(5) attempt to reach the Hevea rubber of the Amazon by a back-door route.
Once we have built enough steamships (warships as well as merchant ships) so we can spare a few for
extra-European ventures, we should send an expedition-in-force to the Amazon to collect Hevea seeds,
and then one to Africa or Asia to establish plantations and collect wild rubber (and rubber tree seeds).
Ideally, we would also have sufficient medical resources so as to offer this expedition some protection
against the many diseases that hamper seventeenth-century international trade.
If we are allowed to trade freely for wild Brazilian Hevea rubber, and to promote efficient tapping
practices, it should satisfy our needs for rubber up until annual world consumption reaches the 30,000 to
40,000 pound range (the peak Brazilian wild rubber production). After that, the development of
alternative rubber sources is essential. Hence, at the end of the first decade, we need to decide whether
to establish Hevea plantations in Africa or southeast Asia, or to pursue synthetic rubber.
While an investment in the rubber industry is definitely going to qualify as one of USE's riskier
commercial ventures, investors can at least be confident that if they are successful, the USE government
and private industry will be sitting on their doorstep, anxious to do business.
Table 1: Listed Rubber Sources: Where and How to Find Them
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
Rubber Plant (Note A)
Range: Range (to extent known in Grantville); Descriptive Material (as available in Grantville (Note B)
Hevea brasiliensis
Para Rubber Tree (major source in OTL)
(Often confused with other producing Hevea species, such asH. guianensis ,H. benthamiana,H.
pauciflora ;H. spruceana is a poor producer.) [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]