The trees are regularly tapped and the coagulated latex which exudes is collected and worked up into rubber.
To obtain the rubber, the latex is usually treated in the following manner.
As the removal of the impurities of the latex is one of the essential points to be aimed at, it was thought that the use of a centrifugal machine to separate the caoutchouc as a cream from the watery part of the latex would prove to be a satisfactory process.
The watery portion of the latex soaks into the trunk, and the soft spongy rubber which remains is kneaded and pressed into lumps or balls.
There is no feasible method at present known of preventing the inclusion of the resin of the latex with the rubber during coagulation, and although the separation of the resin from the solid caoutchouc by means of solvents is possible, it is not practicable or profitable commercially.