http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blbakerlite.htm
Leo Hendrik Baekeland was born in Ghent, Belgium, in 1863. He immigrated to the United States in 1889. His first major invention was Velox, a photographic printing paper that could be developed under artificial light. Baekeland sold the rights Velox to George Eastman and Kodak for for one million dollars in 1899. He then started his own laboratory in Yonkers, New York, where he invented Bakelite in 1907, a synthetic substitute for the shellac used in electronic insulation.
Bakelite was made by mixing Carbolic Acid with Formaldehyde, it is considered the first plastic. In 1909, Bakelite was introduced to the general public at a chemical conference. Baekeland founded the General Bakelite Corp. In 1944, Baekeland died at the age of eighty years in Beacon, N.Y.
Bakerlite was used to manufacture everything form telephone handsets or costume jewelry for example as well as engine parts and insulation for electronics.
http://www.chemheritage.org/classroom/chemach/plastics/baekeland.html
After completing his doctorate at the University of Ghent in his native Belgium, Baekeland taught for several years. In 1889, when he was 26, he traveled to New York on a fellowship (that had also allowed him to visit universities in England, Scotland, and Germany) to continue his study of chemistry; Professor Charles F. Chandler of Columbia University then persuaded Baekeland to stay in the United States and recommended him for a position at a New York photographic supply house. This experience led him a few years later, when he was working as an independent consultant, to invent Velox, an improved photographic paper that could be developed in gaslight rather than sunlight. In 1898 the Eastman Kodak Company purchased Baekeland's invention for a reputed $750,000, a sum that allowed him to spend the rest of his life in experimentation.
Baekeland next entered the field of electrochemistry. He visited Berlin briefly to update his knowledge of this new area of study, and he equipped his private laboratory on the grounds of his home in Yonkers, New York, with a few electrochemical appliances. At the request of Elon Hooker, Baekeland cooperated with Clinton P. Townsend, the inventor of a new electrolytic cell for producing caustic soda and chlorine from salt, in setting up a pilot plant at the Brooklyn Edison Station. The success of their experiment led Elon Hooker to form Hooker Electrochemical Company in Niagara Falls - now part of the Oxychem subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum.
When friends asked Baekeland how he entered the field of synthetic resins, he answered that he had chosen it deliberately, looking for a way to make money. His first objective was to find a replacement for shellac, which at that time was made from the shells of oriental lac beetles. Chemists had begun to recognize that many of the natural resins and fibers useful for coatings, adhesives, woven fabrics, and the like were polymers (large molecules made up of repeating structural units), and they had begun to search for combinations of reagents that would react to form synthetic polymers. Baekeland began to investigate the reactions of phenol and formaldehyde, and first produced a soluble phenol-formaldehyde shellac called "Novolak," which never became a market success. Then he turned to developing a binder for asbestos, which at that time was molded with hard natural rubber. By carefully controlling the pressure and temperature applied to an intermediate made from the two reagents, he could produce a polymer that, when mixed with fillers, produced a hard moldable plastic. Bakelite, though relatively expensive, was soon found to have many uses, especially in the rapidly growing automobile and radio industries. Baekeland retired in 1939 to sail his yacht, the Ion, among other activities, and sold his successful plastics company to the Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation.
shellac 昆虫のラックカイガラムシが分泌する樹脂（ラック）をアルコールに溶かしたセラックニスは古くからインドや中国で木材の塗装に利用されてきた。安全性が高く、食品のコーティング材にも用いられる。
http://www.yonkershistory.org/bake.html
In 1978 Dr. Leo Hendrik Baekeland was inducted posthumously into the National Inventors Hall of Fame at Akron, Ohio and into the Rail of Fame for United States Business Leadership in 1983. Dr. Baekeland was a Yonkers resident for more than fifty years.
Leo Hendrik Baekeland was born in Ghent, Belgium to a poor shoe repairman and his wife on November 14, 1863, five days before President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. While attending high school during the day, he attended the Ghent Municipal Technical School during the evening, taking courses in chemistry, physics, mathematics and economics. At the age of seventeen he began studying at the University of Ghent on a scholarship and at twenty?one, in 1884, received a doctorate of Science, maxima cum laude. A boyhood interest in photography attracted him to the study and eventually the teaching of science. In 1889 he and Celine Swarts, his professor’s daughter, combined a honeymoon with a travel scholarship to the United States where the couple settled permanently. He became a chemist at the E. and A.T. Anthony and Company, the manufacturers of photographic equipment and resigned in 1893 to found the Nepera Chemical Company in Yonkers, telephone number 397. The Yonkers Directory of 1895 - 1898 lists the Baekelands as living at 85 Hawthorne Avenue, an empty lot today on the west side of the street, two lots north of the intersection of St. Mary’s Street.
In the 1890’s photographs were developed by the use of indirect sunlight, making their development impossible in inclement weather. Dr. Baekeland discovered how to develop photographs using gaslight, an artificial lighting procedure, and Nepera Chemical sales for the Velox paper sky rocketed. In 1957 Charles Hellman had a conversation with Dick Richter, the Baekeland’s chauffeur for 34 years, who told Charles that the Eastman Kodak Company, hurt economically by the high sales of the new Velox paper, made an offer for the patent of the new development, but was rejected. A later offer of one million dollars was accepted, after which Kodak started manufacturing its newly purchased paper, only to discover that it didn’t work. Coming back to Baekeland, Kodak was told that he expected them to have trouble. When filing a patent it was customary for an inventor to omit a step or two so that if somebody started using the patent without paying royalties, failure would result. Dr. Baekeland told the Kodak people they paid for his patent but not for his knowledge. After paying another one hundred thousand dollars, Kodak was informed that a solution was introduced to produce a change and at some point the solution was removed.
According to the Yonkers map of 1896, Nepera Chemical occupied property between Barney Street and Tompkins Avenue, west of the Putnam Railroad tracks. The Yonkers map of 1907 shows Eastman Kodak owning the same property.
With some of their new wealth, the Baekelands purchased an estate in the Harmony Park section of Yonkers, bordering on the south side of the Untermyer Estate. Besides a three storied house with a tower, the property contained greenhouses, a huge garage, a small cottage and a two and one half storied stable that was converted into a laboratory.
Dr. Baekeland began experimenting with phenol and formaldehyde and noticed that condensation produced a residue that couldn’t be removed from the test tubes. He tried to invent a shellac type solvent to remove the residue and succeeded in inventing a totally synthetic and thermal setting plastic that he named “Bakelite.” The invention of Bakelite is considered the beginning of the Age of Plastics because it was the world’s first synthetic plastic. An article on Dr. Baekeland in Time magazine on May 20, 1940 is entitled, “Father of Plastic.” If the invention of Bakelite is considered the beginning of the “Plastic Age” and Bakelite was invented in Yonkers, Yonkers is the “Home of the Plastic Age.”
A patent for Bakelite was obtained in 1906, Bakelite resins were produced in 1907 and on February 8, 1909, in a speech delivered to the American Chemical Society, the discovery of Bakelite was formally announced.
In 1910 the General Bakelite Corporation, later the Bakelite Company, was founded and Dr. Leo H. Baekeland served as president until it merged with the Union Carbide Corporation in 1939.
Bakelite, because it wouldn’t melt or soften, was used initially in the automobile and electrical industries and then was used for a wide assortment of items like airplane propellers, handles for kitchen utensils, pipe tobacco stems, pens, billiard balls, etc.
The Baekelands’ two children, George and Nina, attended School 16 on North Broadway but Jenny, born in 1890, died in 1895 of influenza. As a young married man, George and his wife lived at 717 North Broadway. Nina married George Roll and was later married to Phillips Wyman of Odell Avenue. Celine Karraker, Nina’s daughter, thinks that Phillips Wyman’s first wife’s father was the contractor who built the Greystone Railroad Station.
Celine was born at Snug Rock and grew up in Tarrytown, but spent much of her childhood at Snug Rock. She remembers her grandfather well, his laboratory and study in the tower of the house where, “…he inculcated in me a passion for inquiry and adventure.” She also refers to my memories of climbing the fence into the Untermyer Gardens when we were children and spending hours in that magical setting." Granddaughter Celine goes on further to say: “My grandfather in his later years used to love to take the trolley into downtown Yonkers and wander, talking to street people. He came from a very poor background and felt a kinship with poor city folk. Although he was a scientific genius and made a fortune, he disdained material things and remained a man of simple needs. He was happiest on his boat in old sneakers and white duck pants and shirt. In fact, he wore sneakers when he was formally dressed.”
The story is told that he had only one suit, so his wife went into a clothing store in Getty Square, picked out a $125 English blue serge suit that would fit him, gave the proprietor a $100 deposit and asked him to put it in the front window with a $25 price tag on it, but to sell it only to her husband. That night she told her husband about the beautiful blue serge suit she saw in a clothing store window being sold for $25. He said it was impossible, she insisted it was true. The next evening Dr.Baekeland got off the train from New York City, went to the store, admired the supposedly $25 suit and bought it. On the way home he was joined by his next door neighbor, the famous lawyer, Samuel Untermyer. The doctor showed the lawyer the suit he had just bought, after which Untermyer offered him $75, and he sold it. That night he was ecstatic telling his wife how he out?smarted Untermyer.
His interest in photography caused Dr. Baekeland to be interested in the movies, which he frequently attended. He was driving a car in the 1890’s, long before his Yonkers neighbors, purchased his first yacht in 1899 and in later years commuted to work in Perth Amboy, New Jersey by yacht. The yacht was kept at a marina at the foot of his property on Warburton Avenue.
Dr. Baekeland received many honors and honorary degrees from around the world, belonged to many chemical societies, was president of the Electrochemical Society in 1909. president of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers in 1912, and president of the American Chemical Society in 1924. He is credited with receiving over 100 patents.
Dr. Baekeland died on February 23, 1944 at Craig House in Beacon, New York, a sanitarium where he had been a patient for several months. A wake was held at Havey’s Funeral Home, 107 North Broadway, and a funeral service was held at “Snug Rock” on Saturday, February 26th. Burial was in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
Celine Baekeland was an accomplished artist and co?founder of Prospect House, an after?school program emphasizing the arts for children of working parents. Her motto was “bathe them, feed them and give them exposure and experience in the arts.” Her own children attended many performances and exhibitions, according to granddaughter Celine. Prospect Settlement House was at 11 Jefferson Street from 1908 until 1910, 53 Buena Vista Avenue from 1911 ? 1913 and at 49 Buena Vista Avenue (Teutonia Hall) from 1914 until the early 1930’s.
Celine Baekeland died on February 27, 1957 in Coconut Grove, Florida, in the home she and her husband bought that had belonged to William Jennings Bryan, whose campaign banner hung in Getty Square when he ran for the Presidency in 1908. She also is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.
参考 住友ベークライト
数あるプラスチックの中で、最も歴史の古い「ベークライト」は、1907年、ベルギー系アメリカ人のベークランド博士が開発したフェノール樹脂の商品名。このプラスチックを、1911年（明治44年）日本で最初に作ったのが当社で、社名の由来もここにあります。
ベークランド博士の親友であった高峰譲吉博士が、特許権実施の承諾を受け、三共株式会社品川工場で同年試作を開始したのがそれで、日本のプラスチック工業の草分けです。その後、1932年（昭和7年）にベークライト部門が三共株式会社から独立し、日本ベークライト株式会社に、さらに1955年（昭和30年）には、住友化工材工業株式会社と合併、住友ベークライト株式会社となって、今日に至っています。
1910/5/25
Baekeland and Rutgers AG founded Bakelite GmbH; establishment of
production in Erkner near Berlin; start of phenolic resin
production.
October 7, 2004 Borden Chemical Completion of Acquisition
Borden Chemical, Inc. to Acquire Bakelite AG
http://www.bordenchem.com/aboutUs/newsReleases.asp?release=10-07-04.asp
Borden Chemical, Inc., a leading supplier of thermoset and other
high performance resins, adhesives and specialty materials, today
announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire
Bakelite AG from its parent company, Rutgers AG.
Based in Iserlohn-Letmathe, Germany, Bakelite is a leading source
of phenolic and epoxy thermosetting resins and moulding compounds
with 13 manufacturing facilities in Europe and Asia. Last year
the company generated sales of $610 million. It has 1,700
employees. Borden Chemical reported 2003 sales of $1.4 billion
and employs 2,400 associates.
Borden Chemical is owned by the investment firm Apollo
Management, LP and is based in Columbus, Ohio.
2005/4/25 Borden Chemical
Borden Chemical, Inc., Resolution Performance Products LLC and
Resolution Specialty Materials LLC to Merge; Will Form Hexion
Specialty Chemicals, Third-Largest North American-Based Specialty
Chemical Company, With Revenues Over $4 Billion; Borden Chemical
On Target to Complete Acquisition of Bakelite AG
http://www.bordenchem.com/aboutUs/newsReleases.asp?release=04-25-05a.asp
Borden Chemical, Inc. and Resolution Performance Products LLC
(RPP) today jointly announced plans to merge, together with
Resolution Specialty Materials LLC (RSM), to form the world’s largest producer of
thermosetting resins. All three companies are owned by affiliates
of the private investment firm Apollo Management, L.P. The new
company will be named Hexion Specialty Chemicals, Inc.
Hexion Specialty Chemicals is expected to include Bakelite AG,
which as previously announced, Borden Chemical has agreed to
acquire. The combination of Borden Chemical, RPP and RSM and the
acquisition of Bakelite are expected to close in the second
quarter of 2005.
Borden Chemical is a leading global producer of binding and
bonding resins, performance adhesives and the building-block
chemical formaldehyde. RPP is a leading worldwide manufacturer
and developer of epoxy resins and is the leading global
manufacturer of Versatic acids バーサチック酸and derivatives. RSM is a global
producer of coatings, adhesives, specialty polymers, and ink raw
materials. Bakelite is a leading supplier of phenolic and epoxy
thermosetting resins 熱硬化性樹脂and molding compounds in Europe.
Bakelite is a thermosetting plastic fictitious in 1909 by Belgian chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland. The stable synthetic resin resistant to heat was the first one industrially produced plastic. Bakelite is a registered trade mark of the Bakelite AG, Iserlohn. Based on the Hermann Staudinger's research project which created the theoretical bases of the education of Makromolekulen, experimented Baekeland between 1907 and 1909 with phenol and formaldehyde. He discovered that these combine under heat effect in an exothermen reaction polymerisierten, thus to a synthetic resin whose Molekule were often connected together. After Abdestillation of the originating water let yourself press the still softy warm mass in forms (sucked. Pressmasse). The polycondensation run after the following reaction: Bild:Bakelit_Reaktion.png etc. thumb|300px|Ausschnitt from the dreidimensonialen structure of the Bakelite. One recognizes many across interlinkings. After Abkuhlung and Aushartung of the plastic this is widerstandsfahig against mechanical effects, heat and sour. In contrast to Thermoplasten cannot be deformed Bakelite also by Erwarmen again. Bakelite has always dark, brown to black tone and gets dark with light after.
Baekeland recognized very fast the Moglichkeiten which offered the material and grundete on the 25th May, 1910 together with the enterpriser Julius Rutgers the Bakelite to society mbH in Erkner near Berlin. Phenol resulted at this time still in large quantities as a waste product of the Steinkohlendestillation and the company Bakelite began to produce Bakelite in the big style. Bakelite spread fast and the concept Bakelite soon became the synonym fur everything fruhen, to thermosetting plastics, even if they were used with the real Bakelite only remotely. It was used to the production by household, especially cake-advisable, phones, light switches and outlets. Phenol-formaldehyde resin is used even today in applications where thermal loading capacity, fire resistance and chemical Bestandigkeit of the connection are demanded, e.g., in Schleifscheiben, Reibbelagen, to filter papers, fire-resistant materials, timber products and isolation materials, around only unites to call. Products from Bakelite gehoren on account of her design, massive Stabilitat and Werthaltigkeit today often to Sammlerstucken in request. In addition gehort, e.g., also costume jewellery from Bakelite. Web link Bakelite museum (http: // www.bakelitmuseum.de/) Sintetica - antique plastic objects (http: // www.sintetica.de/) See also: Pertinax, celluloid, Melamin, W48, Catalin Kategorie:Kunststoff Kategorie:Chemie en:Bakelite fi:Bakeliitti nl:Bakeliet sv:Bakelit
1910 BAEKELAND had founded the still existing company (now Bakelite AG) together with the Rütgers company (May 25). In those days the Rütgers works preserved railway sleepers with tar oil on a large scale. With its production an amount of the sometimes badly marketable by-product phenol was left over. But with BAEKELAND´s new process of phenole resin production it was possible to profit from the undesirable stuff considerably - as at once had been recognized by the Rütgers managers. By the way: The commutity of Erkner is still suffering from the legacy of the Rütgers company and the GDR-successor. Soil and groundwater are extensivly contaminated with phenole and other toxic chemicals.
( Julius Rutgers )
1910 BAEKELAND founded the General Bakelite Company in Perth Amboy, New Jersey (October 10), after his garage had burned off. He successfully exerted himself for licensees and partnerships in foreign countries.