Thermoplastics

Abstract

The remarkable progress record of the electrical industry in the past half-century has been by natural evolution in the logical development and application of a new medium of power, and because the electrical engineer has always been ready to accept advances made in other industries which he could apply to his own. Electrical companies throughout the world have actively participated in other fields such as development of novel materials which they could usefully apply to the generation or application of electrical power. An outstanding example is plastics, and it was the foresight of such electrical pioneers as Sir James Swinburne, and versatile chemical engineers like Leo Baekeland, that promoted industrial production of the ‘in-between’ products of chemical reactions, so long rejected by the classical organic chemists. The search for a resinous impregnant to replace the shellac traditionally used in the production of electrical insulating materials, launched Baekeland on his pioneer work in the production of phenolic resins. Baekeland’s motivation has persisted; the electrical industry has been ready to try promising materials and, if supply were limited, to initiate production. Much of the early development of plastics was associated with large electrical undertakings such as General Electric, A.E.G., and a number of the cable and telephone companies.(1)