General Construction.—On the question of general construction there is little to be said, except that buildings are now being properly designed in more permanent form than were some of the earlier buildings. On the whole there is little fault to be found with factories in general, except in so far as the output has outgrown the accommodation.

Most factories are now erected in iron, but there are a few which are built of bricks. It should be premised that a factory in which rubber is to be prepared should be as light and airy as possible. In this respect quite a number of the older factories are lacking, and they seem to have been designed to exclude as much air and light as possible. Under these circumstances, the building is always dark, there is always an air of dampness, dirt may accumulate, and there is usually a bad smell. Rubber prepared under these conditions is always liable to be below the high standard which should be attained, and the general tone of the factory is depressing.Plenty of Light.—The old idea that light must be excluded is now known to be erroneous; so that in designing a factory, provision should be made for ample light and air. It should not be forgotten that in tropical climates, iron buildings may become uncomfortably hot, as most of our older factories are. Usually it will be found that the ventilation is imperfect. There is a lack of window space, and the roof is imperfectly ventilated. The ridge of the roof should be opened up by means of a “jack-roof,” so that the warm air rising naturally may escape at the highest point of the building. These are defects which should be remedied in old buildings.

As a rule no rubber remains in the factory at night-time, except in the form of coagulum, the loss of any of which would be noted with ease. The conventional idea of enclosing the factory with walls of galvanised sheeting, wood, or brick, is not strictly necessary. In modern buildings these walls are replaced by large-mesh expanded metal, thus making the machine-room perfectly light and plentifully ventilated. Under such conditions, dirt cannot accumulate unseen, and the general tone of the work is raised.The Floor.—The floor should be of thick concrete, and have a good surface layer of cement. Preparations are now advertised for which claims are made that their employment renders the surface of such floors waterproof and dustproof. If these claims can be substantiated when the use is applied to the floors of rubber factories, the employment of a preparation of this nature should result in a considerable saving of expense and trouble. Preferably the floor should not be flat, but should slope slightly from the longitudinal middle of the building to the sides on either hand. If the floor is level it usually results in accumulation of water, the cement breaks in patches, and the factory always appears to be dirty.

Position of Machines.—All machines should be arranged adjacent to and parallel with one of the long sides of the building, and should be raised about 6 inches above the floor, so that water may escape easily. Tanks for the reception of latex, scrap rubber, etc., should be placed along the opposite wall to the machines, and the intermediate length of the building should be entirely free from fixtures. It was not uncommon in older factories to find the engine situated in the middle of the floor, so that what with the space occupied by the engine, and the space rendered unavailable by the belt-drive, the real accommodation of the factory was sadly diminished. In no modern factory should the engines be brought into the main room. They should always be accommodated in a special compartment, situated outside the wall, along the inside of which machines are placed. In this way considerable floor space is left available, and the machines may be worked by direct drive. Not only so; but if a suction-gas plant is worked, there can then be no excuse for particles of coal or charcoal dust being found in the factory.Position of Engines.—It scarcely need be pointed out that if the engines are placed outside the wall which is opposite the machines, a long belt-drive would be necessitated, and that the presence of the belt would prevent the use of end doors. It is presumed in these arguments that two engines are to be installed. One can hardly imagine a modern factory in full working being equipped with only one engine, which might possibly have an excess of power necessary to drive all the machines. In the case of breakdown, which sometimes happens in the best supervised factories, it would be small consolation to know that this excess of power was present theoretically.How many Storeys.—There can be no doubt that, taking all things into consideration, the best type of factory is that consisting only of one floor. The factory should be quite separate from all other buildings, and if attempts are made to conserve ground space by putting a drying-room over the factory, much trouble will ensue, especially if pale crepes are to be made. In the first place, the factory is made very much darker, and hence more difficult to keep clean; secondly, the ventilation of the factory is seriously interfered with; and thirdly, it is manifestly prejudicing the drying of rubber to place it directly over a room which is always more or less awash with water. At night such a building would reek with a moisture-laden atmosphere, and little drying could be expected to take place in that interval. From actual experience it has been shown that rubber hung to dry in such a room, situated over a damp factory, is very liable to attacks of “spot” diseases, since the presence of perpetual moisture is favourable to the development of these diseases. If a double-storey building has to be worked, it will be readily seen that no first-grade rubber should be allowed to dry in it. The accommodation over the factory may be restricted to the purpose of receiving lower grade rubber which is not so liable to “spot” diseases, and possibly does not take so long to dry as first-grade rubbers of equal thickness. It is evident, therefore, that the erection of double-storey factories is false economy, as separate drying-houses have to be built eventually. This conclusion does not apply with the same force to factories worked in conjunction with smoke-houses for preparing sheet rubber, but, nevertheless, such a factory should not have another floor above the work-room.Verandahs.—One of the worst features in many factories is the necessity for coolies to bring latex into the factory. As already mentioned, the floors of factories are usually running with water (or should be), and it can be imagined that the passage to and fro of scores of coolies must bring in a great quantity of dirt. Not only so; the very presence of the coolies is a hindrance to the efficient working of the factory, and considerable floor-space and time are wasted.

This feature in factory working is all the more annoying because the necessity for it could so easily be obviated. All that is necessary is the erection of a wide, open verandah outside the wall of the factory. Here all latex could be received and strained, scrap-rubbers could be received and passed through an opening into tanks placed in convenient position. Water could be laid on in this verandah so that coolies might wash their buckets, and the whole verandah might be enclosed only with expanded metal so as to avoid interference with the lighting of the factory. In this way it would be quite unnecessary for any field coolie to enter the factory proper, and this would facilitate cleanliness. Such an arrangement has been discussed by the writers many times during the last few years, but the number of estates which have made such provision is still in the minority, and the same slipshod and dirt-making procession of coolies continues to walk through the factories, and the same piles of bark-shavings and scrap-rubber continue to accumulate and ferment in a few instances.

An indication of types of verandahs is given in Chapters VII. and IX. These are not intended to be representative of a universal design, but may be suggestive in the planning of others according to local conditions.Situation of Tanks.—It will be noted that these verandahs are raised from the ground-level to a height of about 3 feet in order that latex may be gravitated, with a slight fall, into the coagulating tanks which are within the factory. There exists a real necessity for this practice, inasmuch as otherwise to obtain gravitation of latex (which is quicker and cheaper than handling) the coagulating tanks would have to be either placed on the floor or sunk beneath the level. The risk of contamination of latex or coagulum under such circumstances would be appreciable. Apart from this, it is advisable to have the coagulating tanks raised to a height of between 2 and 3 feet, to secure the advantage of ease of working in the processes of coagulation and the handling of coagulum—a not inconsiderable factor.

In some modern designs it is proposed to place the coagulating tanks in a separate building. This would seem to be an unnecessary refinement in a new building, if observance is given to the suggestions made in previous paragraphs.Designs and “Lay-Out.“—In a previous publication[17] comment was made upon grievous errors in designs prepared by those inexperienced in the requirements of the tropics. There is little ground now for complaint, and local engineering firms are fully capable of advising upon, and constructing, suitable buildings.

In considering the first installation of a factory and equipment one always has to weigh the question of prime cost against the probability of future expansion of crop. If it should be decided at first merely to cater for contemporary requirements, the fullest consideration should be given in discussing design of building and lay-out of machinery to the practicability of later extension. The site should be large enough for the eventual group of buildings, the building should be easily capable of extension with the least cost, and the same forethought should govern the lay-out of the machinery.Drains.—Lastly, there is the question of drains. Generally speaking, all factories are well provided with drains, and the only difficulty is that of getting an adequate fall for efficient drainage. But there is a certain amount of laxity exhibited in the matter of providing sieves in drains. To anyone acquainted with factory working, it must be apparent that quite a lot of small pieces of rubber are washed into the drains. This rubber should be collected at intervals during the day; but in many instances that collected is only a fraction of what escapes. Wherever possible the drainings of a factory should be carried as far as is practicable from the buildings by means of cement drains. Too often these are short, and lead into earthen drains. Even if no pieces of rubber are present, the serum from the coagulum is subject to decomposition, the effluvium from which is objectionable.Water Supply.—It is essential that a good supply of water should be available. This should be distributed by pipes all round the building, so that a hose may be used in every part for the thorough cleansing of the factory at intervals during the hours of working.

Summing up, it might be said that a good factory, therefore, should have the following features: