FIRST BUILDINGSOF CELLULOID C ORPORATION, BUILT IN N E W A R K I N 1875
PLASTICS In a single generation, developments in a chemical specialty have left imprints on all industry
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ARCHIE J. WEITH The Bakelite Corporation, Bloomfield, N. J.
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Is ITS growth the plastics industry has followed two paths
of endeavor: that toward the improvement and creation of new thermoplastic materials, as typified by Hyatt’s celluloid; and that toward the improvement and creation of thermosetting materials, as typified by Baekeland’s phenolic plastics. The story of plastics is like a modern version of “Cinderella and the Glass Slipper.” However, it isn’t a search for a fairy princess but a search for a new kind of glass to make the slipper. Nor does this story concern itself with fantasy, but with Americans pioneering in a chemical world, applying man’s own resourceful imagination toward the founding of a new industry. It is the story of the efforts of man to draw upon the materials of nature-greatest chemist of all-and to improve upon them by chemical synthesis. JOHN WESLEY HYATT
Inspired by a prize-not a beautiful princess’ hand in marriage but a reward of $10,000 for a material which would be a substitute for ivory-John Wesley Hyatt, a journeyman MAY, 1939-Page 557
JOHNWESLEYHYATTAS YOUNGMAN
* printer, set to work. Blessed with resourcefulness and imagination, he found his goal in 1868 when he saw in a drop of dried collodion the possibility of producing a plastic mass. Thus did an industry begin by employing the tool of invention, for Hyatt had discovered that nitrocellulose, combined with camphor, gave him a desirable substitute for ivory. The manufacture of this first synthetic plastic, celluloid, was beset with many difficulties, but with his engineering skill Hyatt devised a means of making an ideal mechanical mixture of nitrocellulose and camphor, a means for completing the solution under heat and pressure, and finally a means of forming the plastic into molds and in the shape of sheets, rods, and tubes. This much accomplished, Hyatt searched for the third tool of American industry-namely, courageous capital. Capital had need to be courageous to sponsor a process for the manufacture of a highly explosive material reported as being made of guncotton and camphor. Even a fire, which occurred shortly after the company began operations and which utterly destroyed all stock and THE AMERICAN WAY
machinery, did not dampen the confidence of the inventor’s backers, nor did the long and expensive litigation in defense of the inventor’s right granted him by a helpful patent system. With all this, the need and desire for a new material resulted in the growth of a new industry which, in 1880, had a total sales value of little more than one million dollars and had already begun to foreshadow the growth of a greater plastics industry. LEO HENDRIK BAEKELAND More than three decades passed before the search was renewed for a better plastic material. This time no reward stimulated the search, but again invention and research were the first tools to be used, supported by the courageous capital of the inventor himself who had already experienced that an industry can grow in the American Way. Having invented Velox photographic paper about 1893, Leo Hendrik Baekeland had been fortunate enough to find a financial sponsor. Success was not his immediately, but through perseverance the values of the Velox process became clearly recognized; in 1899 he disposed of his rights to this process and received a very liberal reward. Thus financially independent, Baekeland found himself free to devote his life to the solution of other problems that had baffled chemistry. By 1909 he was able to announce the principle for the practical production of heat-hardenable phenolic resins, the first man-made thermosetting plastics. Almost overnight the plastics industry, which had been peacefully plodding along, was stimulated into action. The next thirty years were to witness the introduction of a score of new plastic materials and the development of an industry valued five hundred times as great as that ten years after Hyatt’s discovery of celluloid. It is not difficult to understand why Baekeland’s discovery gave such an impetus .to industry. He had produced the first dimensionally stable plastic material, the first plastic which could be shaped exactly to form and, once shaped,
would stay put. The significance of dimensional stability is best appreciated when it is realized that today standardization makes mass production possible and that the word “interchangeability” is the sum and substance of all standardization. Now, for the first time it was possible to mold a plastic material to exacting tolerances, to repeat ‘it time and time again, and to have the molded product retain its dimensional stability. Is it any wonder that the plastics industry was in a sense reborn, and that production has increased 2000 per cent in the thirty years that have passed since B a e kel a n d ’ s invention! His discovery stimulated the search for new plastics so t h a t today their varieties have increased twenty fold and their LEOHENDRIK BAEKELAND uses a million fold. But more than that. it has stimulated research and invention far beyond the ’environs of plastics. I n the words of Baekeland a few years ago: “The phenomenon of polymerization which plays so important a part in synthetic plastics is now being studied in relation to the obscure phenomenon of life and other fields. Able scientists and chemists throughout the world are devoting their untiring efforts in many branches of scientific chemical research. Where their research will lead, one can only conjecture. One thing is certain, that they will give to the world many new and vital discoveries.” Where only the most courageous and patient capital would back Hyatt, and where Baekeland risked his own private
ADVERTISEMENT FROM Harper’s Weekly, JUNE 4, 1881
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PRESENT HOMEOF CELLULOID CORPORATION AT NEWARK
fortune, today research in plastics is backed by capital willing to undertake the risks and hazards involved that the industry may continue to thrive and grow. This branch of the chemical industry has set up large research organizations which are dedicated solely to the improvement of existing materials and the creation of new synthetic resinous products. Millions of dollars are spent annually for this type of research alone. Other groups of engineers and scientists devoted their lives toward the improvement of fabricating technicsmore efficient molding processes, faster production machines. The impetus given by the discovery of thermoplastic and thermosetting materials drives on. Types of plastics that heretofore have been useless commercially have come into their own. CELLULOSE ACETATE PLASTICS
Search for a n ester of cellulose, more stable and less flammable than the nitrate, led to the development of the acetate. Here again, a n early invention by an American, G . W.Miles, in 1906 disclosed that triacetate could be “ripened” into a product of increased stability and ready solubility in acetone. This plus the pioneering work of the Celluloid, Fiberloid, and Eastman Kodak companies led eventually to the present successful commercial use of cellulose acetate plastics. Great impetus was given to the use of these materials (and all thermoplastic materials) by the engineering skill displayed in the recent development of injection molding technique. Improved methods of manufacture have also resulted in an acetate of increased clarity. Thus, we find acetate being widely used in the manufacture of shatterproof glass. In fact, in 1937 the sale of acetate plastics was about three fourths as great as the sale of nitrocellulose plastics. Still other thermoplastic derivatives of cellulose have achieved merit as constituents of lacquers, films, and wire coating materials. Notable among these is ethylcellulose, introduced and now being supplied by the Dow Chemical and Hercules Powder companies. VINYL PLASTICS
Research has turned from cellulose as a raw material for thermoplastics and created a new group, the vinyl plastics. First to become of importance were the esters of vinyl alcohol, namely, vinyl acetate and vinyl chloride. These have MAY, 1939-Page
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been developed into articles of commercial value mainly through the efforts of the research staff of the Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Corporation. A notable advance has been the commercialization of these polyvinyl resins as synthetic textile fibers. They possess unique elasticity, fatigue, and water resistance. Their knitting properties and washability are exceptionally good. Because of their excellent electrical and chemical properties, these esters are also becoming increasingly important as wire coating materials. Other derivatives of vinyl alcohol, the acetals, formed by the interaction with various aldehydes, are also useful thermoplastics. One in particular, the butyraldehyde derivative, has improved the qualities of shatterproof glass. Polyvinyl benzene or polystyrene is probably the oldest of all plastics; it was known as early as 1839 and more recently has been made commercially available through the cooperative efforts of the Dow Chemical Company and the Bakelite Corporation. Its transparency, absence of color, and excellent electrical- and water-resisting properties have long held the interests of chemists. Improved methods for the synthesis of the nionomer and for its polymerization have made it one of the outstanding thermoplastic materials. It is also unique in that it requires no plastification for molding by injection. This important characteristic imparts to the molded object a dimensional stability superior to other thermoplastics and has led to its adoption as watch crystals and lenses. Its excellent chemical resistance is indicated by its use as closure materials on mineral acid containers by leading chemical manufacturers. With its exceptional electrical properties, which are equal to fused quartz at any frequency, polystyrene has found particular favor in the radio industry. The acrylic plastics also belong to the vinyl plastics family. They, too, have been known for a long time but have entered the plastics field only in the last year or two, chiefly through the research work of Rohm & Haas and the du Pont company. The acrylates, like polystyrene, are beautifully transparent and tough. They may be compression-molded and also, when plasticized, injection-molded. Their clarity and beauty give them a high decorative value which craftsmen and designers have utilized in the creation of many objets d’art. Their practicability is demonstrated in their use as aeroplane cockpit enclosures. T H E AMERICAN WAY
ORIGINALFACTORY OF
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GENERAL BAKELITE COMPANY, LEASEDOCTOBER1, 1910, ABANDONED DECEMBER 1, 1917
The casein plastics were produced commercially in the United States about 1919. They have had an up-and-down existence. But lately, as a result of improved methods of manufacture and molding technique and of greater cooperation throughout the industry, their future looks far more promising. They are used chiefly for buttons, buckles, and similar ornaments. The volume of business in buttons alone is stated to be some eight million gross annually. “OLD F A I T H F U L ” The alkyd plastics, those resins formed from polyhydric STILL, DR. BAEKEalcohols and polybasic acids, were first developed industrially LAND’S FIRSTSEMIin this country by the research laboratories of the General COMMERCIAL UNITIN HIS YONKERS LABO- Electric Company. Although for a time they were emRATORY ployed as casting materials, their principal uses today are as paints, varnishes, lacquers, and industrial cements and bonds. It was later shipped to Perth Amboy and SEARCH FOR THE IDEAL PLASTIC used for making small batches; now, Recently other plastics closely related to the alkyds, retired from active namely, plastics made from polyamines and polybasic acids, duty, it occupies a place of honor in the have been developed by the research laboratories of the du Bound Brook Plant Pont company. Here is another good example of the fruits of modern organized industrial research. The company set out with a definite objective-to synthesize from readily available native raw materials a wholly new group of chemical compounds to meet definite deficiencies of many industrial materials that in the main are now imported. Research opened the way for the discovery of the sought-for chemically made substance. These new materials, first introduced commercially as synthetic bristles for tooth brushes to replace natural hog’s hair bristles, can now be spun into fibers which have all the feel, luster, and strength of silk. AMINO, CASEIN, ALKYD PLASTICS Scientists continue to search for the ideal plastic material. From this search has already grown an industry with a total Of the thermosetting plastic materials, the amino plastics annual production value of some half billion dollars, a n made from formaldehyde and urea are second in importance. industry in which the annual output in pounds in the past The development of these plastics in this country has been ten years alone has increased almost sixteen times-and this largely due to the American Cyanamid and Plaskon comduring years of depression and business hesitation. Furtherpanies and to the researches of Carleton Ellis. These resins more, where but one type of synthetic plastic was known a t have achieved their greatest importance when mixed with the beginning of the twentieth century, we have today almost cellulose fillers and used as molding and laminating materials. Urea resins are useful as wood-bonding adhesives and as a score, each with varying characteristics, properties, and lacquer and enamel components. Their lack of color and advantages, which make them useful to man in a million stability toward light have made them particularly suitable different ways. What reasons have made it possible for the plastics indusfor the molding of decorative articles and laminated paneling try to expand so rapidly? It is human nature to be disfor the building industry. 560
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satisfied, to strive for better and better ways of living. When nature's products are found to have shortcomings, indust:.y turns to research for better materials.
equipped with phenol resin-bonded brake linings and safety glass which is laminated with a vinyl acetal. Electrical wiring is insulated with a vinyl plastic. Colorful, decorative fitments, handles, and other accessories of cast phenolic resin or molded PLASTICS IN THE AUTORIOBILE acetate or urea adorn the modern car. The steering wheel Hence the growth in the variety and amount of plastics and horn button are molded of tough, flexible acetate in a is decidedly the result of consumer demand. This is best variety of pleasing colors. Instrument panels and clock illustr2,ted by the way in which plastics serve the automotive case faces are of polystyrene, while the windshield may be of indust:.y. Today, the modern automobile runs smoothly acrylate. In fact, there are some tnTo hundred parts of the because its ignition system is protected with a molded phenolic automobile which are made in whole or in part of plastics. distribitor head and other parts. It runs quietly because of Yet designers and automotive engineers have only just silent phenolic laminated timing gears, safely because it is started to take advantage of the many properties inherent in plastics. Today the metal body is protected with a priming coat of phenol resin varnish and a finishing coat of an alkyd or cellulose lacquer. This development alone reduced car finishing time from seventeen days to less than eight hours. Tomorrow we may witness a n all-plastic automobile body produced complete in less than eight minutes. Plastics benefit the automotive industry in still other mays. Synthetic phenol resin-bonded abrasive wheels, which can be operated safely a t high speeds, and abrasive papers make possible the fabrication of metal parts to those exacting tolerances which are so necess a r y for i n t e r c h a n g e abilityin mass . . production. RESEARCH A N D DEVELOPMENT LABORATORIES, BLOOMFIELD, x. J. Again, plasT H E A M E R I C A N WAY
and rolls of pa per are irtiliaed in laniinated produets. Continuing t,he journey, we, find that the sources of plastics incliide many farm pridrrets. The cliesnist has allied liimsrli i&li the fanner v i i o hardly realizes liow maiiy of his materials find their way into the Imine, into the office, and into the factory as plastic proiluct,s. Livestock furnishes glycerol for tlro alkyd resins. Linseed oil from flaxseed, lactie a d froin milk, China wood oil from t.ung trees, hean nical froni soy plants, alcohol from sugar cane- .all play a vital role in t,he modern plastics industry.
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Other mines and quarries fnrnisli fillers, such as ashestos h r heat-resistant plastics. From the forests of the north, reaching from Maine to Oregon, come wood-flour fillers. Southern cotton plantations with their endless rows of white capped plants supply cotton linters for making acet,ates. Cotton flock and coatings frosn textile inills are used for fabric base phenolic molding materials. Bolts of fabric 562
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pounds; the pricc l i a ~dethe electrical industry and art creased t," fift,ll lrlrat made within the closc limit,$oi 0.001 inch it was twenty years ago. In the same prior1 the production of forrrraldehyde has increased from 25,00,000 60 over 5o,ooo,no0 poonds, and the price has been redoccd t,o one half. Likewise tlie increased deniand for plastic m a terials, nith consequent, loirer cost of raw materials, has enabled the plastics industry to reduce prices. For instance, plastics derived from coal-tar rcsins alone sell for one fourth of the price they did less than twenty years ago. Thousands of workers in nroldirrg, laminating, and fahricating plants, in paint and varnish plants, and in plants of plast~ic material manufactiirers deriend nnon the ulastics industry for t,heir livelihood. Thus a nen indnstrv has heen boru iiuder the system of Smerican democracy, which encourages rather than curbs individnal init,iatire. It is an industry made possible by the rnagie wand of clremistry through the pioneering and untiring efforts of resourceful indivicloals supported by courageous and patient capital. Looking confidcntly tW-RTd the future the plastics indnstr3- has already indicated liow it may sene one of the neu-est of industries ~~-aviation.-hyaiinouneing pioneering research on a plastics plane. Once more it is clearly demonstrated that industry under a denrocracy c m hcttcr meet a nat,ion's nemls in peace or war, if war must corne.
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