When Leo Hendrik Baekeland invented Bakelite in 1907, he changed the world — ushering in the Age of Plastics and transforming the way people lived. The phenolic resin took off first as a superior, ...

An alternative to wood and metal, Bakelite took over kitchen drawers in the early 20th century, as manufacturers applied the hard, colorful plastic to the handles of beaters, dough blenders, ...

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Bakelite is the seminal precursor of modern-day plastics, developed in the early 1900s by a Belgian chemist named Leo Baekeland. It includes natural wood flour and heat-set phenol formaldehyde resin, ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. Brass 4-pin Shaw base with bakelite ...

Baekeland was hardly alone in his quest for a better varnish. The shellac issue was one of the hot topics of chemical research at the turn of the century. The sole source of shellac was the excretions ...