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Penang's Rubber Rollers |
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This is part of a series of pages on relics of Penang's rubber industrial heritage. The others are:
This page covers some of the machines which we have discovered during our 2019 - 2020 visit, in addition to those covered elsewhere from 2018 - 2019. We have found our 'new' rollers by revisiting familiar areas but from different angles, checking what appear to be dead end roads / paths which and visiting smaller areas where hiking opportunities are limited. Best of all, Yuehong has developed a very successful salesperson's patter designed to elicit the required information even from those who disposed of their own rollers some time ago. Started as a single page, these latest discoveries have come at such a pace that it has been divided to keep things manageable. By 15th March 2020 the total was 81 making 194 in all. As of 28th February 2025 it is 212. Solely for my own convenience the 'new' rollers are being added in location order, north to south from Sungai Pinang to Balik Pulau and on to the south-west rather than by date or type. The first page covers Sungai Pinang to Balik Pulau (town), the second page Jalan Tun Sardon / Anjung Indah and this third page onwards to the south west corner of the island and round to the main hill. Above Pondok Upeh (10th February 2020) Having done very well on the left side of Jalan Tun Sardon (going up from Balik Pulau), we moved on to the Pondok Upeh Cycleway on the other side. First up we found a pair of modern 'Eagle Brand' rollers. These have turned out to be just about the most common design of any we have seen:
Towards the other end of the road we found a very similar pair which needed a fair amount of tidying followed by a return to this condition afterwards! With the job completed we were royally entertained by the couple who had been married for a mere 60 years. Suffice to say they were Christian Hakka with 7 children, 3 of whom are in Australia and two in the USA. All had just been back for Chinese New Year complete with a dozen grandchildren. They still live in what a neighbour called 'a beautiful traditional house' although it has had some non-traditional repairs where the termites have been at work.
We had actually been tipped off about them by a nephew who lived down the hill. His rollers were much older and these days are kept inside the house which serves as a store. There was an awkward moment when I found my flash had failed and the torch function on Yuehong's smart phone was inaccessible. Finally the old gentleman got one of the electric lights to fire up. The arched 'Cherry Tree' type like several others carried "G4" and "20 inch" but no name.
Malihom Hill (31st December 2019) We found two separate pairs to the south west in what is now 'durian country'. The first pair is not a common type but there are two similar described elsewhere near Nibbinda and two more near Santarama in Balik Pulau. The owner emigrated to Australia 30 years and returns annually during the durian harvest,
The other two were anything but a pair. The plain one was of a relatively rare type, a smaller version of the one seen near Titi Kerawang. The other was a typical anonymous generic roller, what I call a Leong Chuan type.
Gertak Sanggul (31st January 2020) Three horizontal 'Eagle Brand' types were found just off Jalan Gertak Sanggul west of Teluk Kumbar, A standard pair were together plus an extra single one, all were inside a hut and the lighting was 'challenging'. The following pair below illustrate the type rather better.
Teluk Kumbar (16th December 2019) This pair of excellent examples of the horizontal 'Eagle Brand' type were found on the hill to the north-west of the village. There are several similar machines in Part 3.
Teluk Kumbar (31st December 2019) High above the north end of the village is a very interesting large pair at the top of a durian estate and just below a significant stand of rubber (last tapped about 2013). As the second two pictures show, the rollers are coupled together and were driven by a small Honda petrol engine via a 'gear box', a modification made in about 1980.The two wheels were removed at the time and one was found nearby. According to the durian estate operator they were last used about 1995-6 and the whole assembly is kept under corrugated iron which we replaced after photographing everything. There is a pair of similar machines at Pantai Acheh in Part 2.
Bayan Lepas (28th December 2019) Just behind the village we found a single plain roller in a lean to, the base next to it was empty. There was a pair of ducks present which did not think very much of my joining them. It's a Penang made machine, the trademark is an airplane, a B29 type, it's from the 'Seng Lee Company', Penang ('Victory Ironworks') and the design of the airplane suggests it is post WW2. We had previously found a pair in Pulau Betong. There's a very different example from the company in Part 3.
Bayan Lepas (18th December 2019) On the lower slopes of Bukit Papan we found a pair of old rollers which should have pride of place in any museum. One of them is marked 'The Cherry Tree M/C Co Ltd Blackburn England' and 'Pluto'. We have seen a similar single machine above Pulau Betong but this is clearly an original pair. The sprightly 75 year old Chinese gentleman present said his grandfather had bought them 'about 100 years ago' and he is keeping them as 'heritage' for his two 'children'. They are successful entrepreneurs and they had bought him a fine house in town but he hated the air conditioning so much that he went back to his modest place in the hills which is surrounded by 9½ acres of durian trees.
Nanshan (25th January 2020) The Paya Terubong Hills have proved a barren area for rollers just as they have for a sensible distribution of crops. Scorched earth would be my epithet, it's a wasteland. However right at the top of one branch of the concrete road I was directed to this very old pair of rollers together with the remains of a third plain roller: The two characters on the right are for Singapore (old version), the three on the left are less certain, Yuehong suggests 'Guang Xing Jhan' which is probably an agent. It's probably the same as an almost unreadable one we saw above Pulau Betong a year ago as the 'wheels are similar' although the crossbar is different. Both pairs are 'old'.
Main Hill (26th December 2019) Above the Air Itam Dam we found two pairs, neither had anything by way of information. One of the older style pair had 20 (in) on it and the striations on the other were unusual although by no means unique. I have no idea what the meaning of TV is on one of the others.
More will no doubt appear here in due course... |
