The Cold War

Outside the Government's huge $7,500,000 synthetic rubber plant at Baton Rouge one day last week, a crowd of bigwigs gathered. They had come to watch while the Copolymer Corp.,/- which operates the plant, switched to 100% production of "cold rubber." It was the first U.S. synthetic plant to make the changeover. Copolymer's President A. L. Freedlander thought his guests were witnessing a revolution.

Cold rubber (so called because it is cooked at 41DEG Fahrenheit, compared to 122DEG for regular synthetic) has been the sensation of the U.S. synthetic industry. Researchers first produced it during World War II. Because cold rubber is made at a lower temperature, it has a longer molecule which fits it to outwear natural rubber by as much as 30%.

On testing grounds at San Antonio. Copolymer has driven one of the world's largest fleets of trucks and autos a total of 26 million miles on cold rubber tires, reported "phenomenal" increases in wear (sample claim: 40.000 miles for an auto tire). Said Copolymer's Freedlander: "If all U.S. replacement tires had been made of cold rubber last year, U.S. motorists would have saved $200 million."

There was not yet enough for that. Last year, the nine Government-owned, industry-run synthetic plants turned out only enough cold rubber for U.S. tiremakers to make three cold-rubber tires out of every 100 they sold (customers who got them did not know it). RFC, which has charge of the plants, expects to spend $5,000,000 a year to convert the entire capacity of synthetic plants to cold rubber.

Before the year is out. conversions at Government plants operated by Goodrich, Goodyear, Firestone, U.S. Rubber & General 200,000 tons, one-seventh of the nation's total consumption of rubber of all kinds. At last week's dedication of the Copolymer plant, rubber experts privately predicted that, within ten years, the U.S. would be using cold rubber almost entirely.

If true, that spelled a revolution of another kind for the British-French-Dutch rubber plantations in the Far East. It was significant last week,' that, as Copolymer began full production, the price of natural rubber, which was 25-c- a Ib. in New York last August, broke ^1 1/4 to 16 1/4-c- a Ib., the lowest in two years.

/- A joint synthetic company owned by eight small rubber and tire makers.

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