Fifty years ago in ... plastics technology: July 1955.

All-Plastic Window Track

What is reported to be the first all-plastic track for aluminum storm and screen windows has been extruded by Streamline Plastics Co. Consisting of Eastman Chemical's Tenite buty-rate, the track is said to eliminate sticking and jamming regardless of the temperature.

Isocyanates on the Way

The first full-scale production plant in America for the manufacture of isocyanate chemicals is being built by Mobay Chemical Co. at New Martinsville, W.Va. Mobay will manufacture isocyanate and special polyester resins which are used in combination to produce urethanes. In addition, Mobay will supply activators, modifiers, catalysts, and other chemical ingredients, as well as technical know-how and machinery for producing foam. Mobay was formed last year by Monsanto Chemical Co., St. Louis, and Farbenfabriken Bayer, A.G., Leverkusen, Germany.

Machinery for producing foam, available to licensees, includes machines capable of making continuous-length blocks of foam up to 40 inches wide and nine inches thick.

The Need for Engineering Data

The plastics industry is still a rookie. It is batting in a league against wood, stone, ceramics, and metals which have several thousand years of seniority. Unfortunately books, schools, and laboratories have too tittle basic information about the engineering properties of plastics. For the moment, we must overdesign every new plastic part to make sure that it will be strong enough to survive. Such overdesigning almost always results in a product which costs more, pound for pound, than the material it replaces.

D. Lorin Schoene, Director of R&D, Naugatuck Chemical Div., United States Rubber Co., Naugatuck, Conn.

Automotive Engineers Hold Reinforced Plastics Symposium

The golden anniversary meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers featured a symposium on "Fiber Glass Reinforced Plastic--An Automotive Body Material." Carl Jakust, Chevrolet Motor Div., presented a paper in which he said, "Reinforced plastics are finding their greatest applications in individual parts or low-volume assemblies where the additional piece cost is offset by the reduced tool cost. An example is the Chevrolet special pickup truck which requires specially styled, complicated panels."

Meeting on Rigid PVC 

At the May 25 meeting of the SPE's Toledo Section, the ultimate possibilities of PVC in the pipe field were stated to be of enormous potential, perhaps approaching the total present PVC market in size.

(Editor's note: In 1955, total U.S. consumption of PVC resin was almost 664 million lb. In 2004, consumption of PVC for pipe and conduit was more than 6.6 billion lb.)

Epoxy Stabilizer for PVC

A French firm has developed an epoxy stabilizer chiefly for PVC-based compounds. The material is a liquid which is basically nontoxic. Used in proportions of 1.5-2% on the vinyl resin, with which it is entirely compatible, the epoxy serves chiefly as a heat stabilizer, but is also a good light stabilizer. When used in combination with metallic stabilizers (particularly cadmium or barium-cadmium), a snynergistic action develops. The epoxy can replace stabilizers based on tin salts in flexible, transparent mixes.

Three-Dimensional Vinyl Panel

The decorative effect of exposed brick is reportedly achieved with Bakelite's rigid vinyl sheet formed in new type three-dimensional panels by Studio Brick, Inc.