Source: Bakelite Corporation, 247 Park Avenue, New York, N. Y.
Cocktail Lounge Using Tar-Acid Laminated Decorative Material.
Source: Bakelite Corporation, 247 Park Avenue, New York, N. Y.
In decorative uses, laminated materials have made remarkable progress in recent years. In this application the material made from laminated paper is veneered on wood or fiber board, and the surface is so durable that refinishing is probably not necessary during the life of the equipment. Table tops for public rooms such as restaurants, cafeterias, and bars are widely used because of the beautiful designs obtainable and because the material is not discolored by lighted cigarettes, alcohol or other liquids, and does not chip or crack. Laminated sheets are used for bathroom and kitchen walls, doors, window sills, store and theater fronts, lobby walls in hotel and office buildings, and counter tops in banks and post offices. The liner Queen Mary is equipped with panels of this material as is also the new Library of Congress Annex. Most of the leading hotels have installed bar and cocktail lounges of laminated materials because of the range of color and the ease with which novel designs may be carried out.
Almost any solid color, design, or imitation of another material may be given the laminated sheet simply by printing it upon the top sheet of paper used in the impregnated assembly. Thus a beautiful piece of walnut or mahogany may be photographed, inexpensively reproduced upon paper, and the finished laminated sheet will closely imitate the polished wood. The combination of beauty with long life should permit the widespread use of this type of material in all sorts of building and equipment. It has been suggested as a possibility in automobile body construction.
Other important uses are in trim and door strips for mechanical refrigerators, in cafeteria trays, buckets and special containers, tires for factory trucks, textile spools, miners’ safety helmets, gaskets, valve discs and rings for pumps, pulleys, besides many others.
Production of tar-acid resins for laminating.
Statistics of production and sales of synthetic resins for laminating were not separately compiled prior to 1935. Since that year the resins made from cresylic acid have been used to the greatest extent in laminating, followed by those made from phenol. Tar-acid resins reported as “used in paints, varnishes, and lacquers” may include appreciable quantities of resin varnishes used for laminating. The total production and sale in 1937 of tar-acid resins used in laminating, therefore, would be the sum of the 20 percent of the total (see table [3]) reported for laminating plus some part of the 25 percent reported for surface coatings.
Domestic producers of tar-acid resins for laminating are located in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. The makers of the laminated materials are located in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and Connecticut. Their products are marketed under a number of trade names, including Micarta, Dilecto, Celoron, Formica, Textolite, Phenolite, Insurok, Spauldite, Synthane and Phenol Fibre.