A suggestion, I see, was made in Dublin this week that, in order to help the rubber industry out of its present very depressed plight, efforts should be made to discover new outlets for the use of rubber.
I am reminded that several novel methods of using this commodity have been devised recently. A rubber wall tablet which was unveiled a few months ago forms a very appropriate memorial to the famous Mr Dunlop on a building in May street, Belfast, and the suggestion has been thrown out that this is the first step towards the erection of rubber statues, for which various advantages are claimed.
Now, I see, a rubber traffic control signal has been set up at a crossing at Neustadt, Germany, which has solved a number of difficult problems. The corner was found to be dangerous for point policemen, and automata of wood and concrete, which were successively tried, resulted in destruction both for the automatons and the vehicles that crashed into them.
Rubber "robots", however, being of a more yielding nature, adjust matters much more satisfactorily in the event of a collision, and the new invention is said to be an unqualified success. The world may yet be convinced that there is "nothing like rubber". The Irish Times,
July 24th, 1931