Midwest Rubber

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MIDWEST RUBBER RECLAIMING
COMPANY - 1935

 

Midwest Rubber built its plant along Route 3 in 1928. It is located southeast of the Cahokia power plant and it reclaims rubber from scrap automobile tires. Scrap tires are shipped from all parts of the Midwest into the plant in carload lots. They are unloaded and sorted according to size, because the larger tires need more treatment than the smaller ones. After sorting, the tires are debeaded by a machine designed for that purpose.

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 They then pass through a chopping machine which cuts them up into half inch pieces. A magnetic separator removes all free metal pieces. The "charge" flows by gravity into devulcanizers where the rubber is softened and any fabric contained therein is destroyed. The devulcanizer is a large metal cylinder in which the charge is mixed with some 1200 gallons of water, oil and caustic soda

. The material is washed in a vat to remove all foreign matter. Next, the stock flows over a gravity screen which removes excess moisture. The stock is then sent to a finishing mill which contains large rollers which presses the stock into thin sheets of rubber. The sheets are then rolled upon drums on which the rubber is shipped to customers. Reclaimed rubber is used extensively in the manufacture of all types of mechanical rubber goods, for rubber heels in shoes and in tires. The capacity of the plant is 25 tons of finished slab per day.

 

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