Review of progress in rubber insulation

In a review of the progress of rubber insulation in 1941, it is obvious that the whole picture is overshadowed by the War. The use of rubber insulation involves a supply of rubber. We have been dependent to a large extent upon the Far East for this supply. French Indo-China, Thailand, Malaya, and the Dutch East Indies, have in the past, furnished 90% of our natural raw rubber. For the duration, and, perhaps, for some time after the end of the War, no material will be available from these areas. For a while, at least, rubber will be used for electrical insulation from stocks held in this country and from other non-Axis sources, such as South America, Liberia, and, perhaps, Ceylon. From. a commercial point of view, it is obvious that the rubber insulation picture has changed already and will undoubtedly change much more in the future.