"The gem of plastics"

So what exactly is Catalyn™? Catalyn™ is a trade name for a plastic (Phenol Formaldehyde) that has it's roots in an earlier synthatic material, bakelite. Bakelite (also a trade name) consists of a mixture of formaldehyde and carbolic acid and was developed by Dr. Leo H. Baekeland around 1909. and was generally also composed of a filler such as asbestos or sawdust. It is heated then forced into metal molds at very high presure, during this process a thin shiny layer on the surface develops. When Bakelite's patent expired in 1910 the American Catalyn™ Corporation of New York (and a number of others) began manufacturing a follow on, composed of the same basic ingredients minus the filler material.

Catalyn™, while also a thermoset resin like Bakelite, was typically cold poured into lead molds and baked at low temperatures for a period of time then demolded and finished. The key difference is that Catalyn-is-Catalyn through and through. Bakelite is shiny only on the surface, over clean it or use alcohol or an abrasive and the shine is gone forever -the fillers start to show through giving it a dull appearance! Catalyn can literly be sanded down and (provided you sand very finely) given new life, and usually a new color!

Most people acquiring Catalyn radios, clocks, or jewelry from Antique stores or the internet may find a number of them with small stress cracks, this is because Catalyn shrinks over time. Many manufacturers were unaware of this or ignored it and created tight steel fittings and bezels that didn't flex with the contracting plastic. In addition, Catalyn is light sensitive and will change color over time. That beautiful butterscotch clock you bought on eBay started out life white, brilliant blue is now the color of seaweed, onyx green looks like rootbeer!

Fortunately, phoenol alcohol in the plastic keeps UV damage confined to the surface. Most Catalyn colors can be restored with proper buffing and the right compounds, and lot's of elbow grease, alas it will eventually revert back to it's current color again over time.

Catalyn's™ alure to many (myself included) is it's rich sheen, it's almost always translucent to a degree and the color spectrum which became available tempted many manufacturers to make wild combinations. A well preserved piece of Catalyn displays an almost liquid shine and many of these pieces were done with absolutely beautiful swirl patterns. With Catalyn the drab browns and blacks of Bakelite gave way to an explosion of color choices. A well know use of catalyn was in radio shells and reached it zenith shortly after the depression with perhaps the most famous example being the Fada Bullett

All design styles though eventually run their course, the excesses of the Art Deco period gave way to a more minimilistic approach in the post war period, and newer more durable plastics replaced the early ones.

Something of interest to note is that the American Catalyn Corporation is STILL IN BUSINESS! and still making Catalyn here in the U.S.! Believe it or not, though they only make tubes and rods of it now, primarily it would seem for the costume jewelry market.