Bakelizer
date: label: date made
content: about 1909
name: label: user
content: Baekeland, L. H.
label: maker
content: H. William Dopp & Son
notes: label: Description
content: This is the steam pressure vessel used by Leo H. Baekeland, the chemist and inventor, to produce commercial quantities of the first totally synthetic plastic, Bakelite. It was produced by reacting phenol and formaldehyde under pressure at high temperatures. The product was a thermosetting resin which proved to be an extremely versatile substance, readily moldable and quite strong when combined with fillers such as cellulose.
label: Description
content: The Bakelizer was used around 1909, and dubbed "Old Faithful" by its early operators. Made of iron alloys and still in usable condition, it's about 35 inches wide, 40 inches deep, and nearly 72 inches tall.
label: Description
content: An inscription cast into the door of the Bakelizer reads "H. W. DOPP CO. BUFFALO N.Y. / USA." H. William Dopp (1824-1888) was a German machinist who immigrated to the U.S. in 1849 and, in 1878, established the H. William Dopp & Son firm in Buffalo, N.Y. William H. Dopp, Jr. (b. 1853) continued the firm.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Chemistry
label: See more items in
content: Industry & Manufacturing
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Union Carbide Corporation, Specialty Chemicals Division
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1983.0524.01
label: catalog number
content: 1983.0524.01
label: accession number
content: 1983.0524
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Reaction Vessel
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: iron (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: cast (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: each detached leg: 45 3/4 in; 116.205 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 71 1/2 in x 35 in x 40 in; 181.61 cm x 88.9 cm x 101.6 cm
label: Measurements
content: vessel: 45 in; x 114.3 cm
label: Measurements
content: base: 47 1/2 in; x 120.65 cm
label: Measurements
content: crate: 84 in x 58 in x 59 in; 213.36 cm x 147.32 cm x 149.86 cm