History, at Random

From July 10, 1945, here’s an advertisement by General Electric promoting and introducing “PLASTICS”.

The advertisement, divided into six sections – each with an emblematic illustration – describes the use of plastic in three contexts: Military: The M-51 fuse; The home: kitchen utensils; Industry and machinery: gears; The military once again: the triple-cluster aerial bazooka as used by USAAF P-47s and P-51s, and, binoculars. The ad then concludes with a section about the design and development of plastic.

Though the first genuinely synthetic polymer had existed for some time (Bakelite, created by Leo Bakeland in 1907), only by the 40s and 50s did mass production of plastic actually commence.

The war was winding down, victory was obvious, and GE was thinking of the future.

The full text is presented below…

26,000,000 fuses. At the tip of this trench mortar is the M-51 fuse – most difficult mass production job ever done in plastics. Sixty-seven different operations check its perfection. Design was completed and mold started by G.E. the day before Pearl Harbor. Why was General Electric picked for this job?

You’ll find the right answer in your own kitchen. The handle on your coffee maker, the case on the kitchen clock, the light switch on the wall – chances are these are G-E plastics. For General Electric has molded more plastic products than anybody else. And some you’d never guess. For example…

Cloth that wears like steel. Steel against steel is noisy. Wears fast. Imagine, then, a gear made of cloth – packed in layers, impregnated with resin, pressed under heat. Oddly enough, G-E engineers who discovered this found that for certain uses such gears were not only quieter, but actually outwore steel.

Would plastic bazookas blow up? The first hundred plastics tried failed. Then G.E. laminated a rare paper with a special resin. The plastic tube stood the shock of repeated firings, was non-inflammable. Now many planes carry these rocket launchers. G.E.’s 1400 presses turn out everything from electronic equipment housings to submarine parts.

Salt-water-proof binoculars are new. And won’t mildew in the tropics. General Electric worked these out with the U.S. Naval Observatory and specialists in optics. Plastics were combined with metal, and, to make shrinkage the same, a new metal alloy was developed. The lenses are universal focus, specially treated for night vision.

How do plastics get born? Designers say what shape, how heavy or light, soft or hard. Engineers design special machinery. Chemists then invent the plastic to fit the need. Finally, a factory can go to work. In war or peace, General Electric research and engineering count in plastics, too. General Electric Company, Schenectady, New York.

Hear the G-E radio programs: The G-E All-girl Orchestra, Sunday 10 p.m. EWT, NBC – The World News, Monday through Friday 6:45 p.m. EWT, CBS – the G-E House Party, Monday through Friday, 4 p.m. EWT, CBS.

Reference

Thompson, Richard C., Swan, Shanna H., Moore, Charles J., and vom Saal, Frederick S., Our Plastic Age, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, B, V 364, July 27, 2009.

This advertisement is particularly eye-catching in its use of light and dark, which visually symbolizes its message: An organization, operating regardless of day or night, producing vitally needed products for the military. The company? Reeves Sound Laboratories.

Located at 215 East 91st Street in Manhattan (unfortunately, there does not seem to be a Google street view of the address), the company, founded by Hazard E. Reeves, was a division of Reeves-Ely Laboratories, and conducted research into advanced gunfire control systems and computers, radar and tracking systems, guided missile controls, aircraft control instruments, flight trainers and aerodynamical computers, precision instruments, servo mechanisms, and, sound recording systems. By 1956, the company merged into the Dynamics Corporation of America.

IT’S 4 A.M. IN TIMES SQUARE

AND OVER BERLIN – BOMBER CREWS ARE USING A PRODUCT MADE JUST OFF BROADWAY

Previously, the cutting of crystal oscillators had been an art known to only a few technicians. But then these New Yorkers pitched in: Debutantes, dancing teachers, actors, stenographers, artists, clerks, butcher boys, beauticians, models and others joined hands with housewives to show what they could do when a war industry came to Times Square.

Over a thousand workers (mostly women) came from the five boroughs and the suburbs. Everyone started from scratch. Management and workers were unskilled at the start. They learned the job together under the guidance of the United States Army Signal Corps experts. Production processes were studied and broken down into the simplest possible operations. X-Ray equipment and other highly scientific apparatus were brought in to help.

In the first month, only a few crystal were produced. Now a year later, these people are turning out many more crystals than was believed possible a year ago.

A production miracle? Perhaps. But maybe it’s because these people are Americans – because they’re New Yorkers…or because a large percentage of the employees have relatives doing the toughest job of all – in the Armed Service of their country.

These workers have done their work so well that they have been awarded the Army-Navy “E” which they accept with this pledge:

“I promise to wear this pin as a promise to every man in our Armed Services that, until this war is won, I will devote my full energies to the cause for which they are giving their lives.”

First to fly above Times Square, this pennant will give promise of even greater things in store for ’44.

For a fascinating glimpse into the Lab’s activities with a direct connection to the advertisement, watch the 1943 video Crystals Go To War, (at Jeff Quitney’s channel) – “narration by one of the research scientists of the U.S. Army Signal Corps” – produced for Reeves Sound Laboratories by Andre deLaVarre. The film is also available at Archiv.org.

References

Industrial Research Laboratories of the United States – Including Consulting Research Laboratories (Bulletin of the National Research Council) Number 113; July, 1946. Compiled by Callie Hull, with the assistance of Mary Timms and Lois Wilson.

Hazard E. Reeves, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazard_E._Reeves

Reeves Instrument Corporation, at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reeves_Instrument_Corporation

The Age of Advertising: General Electric and Plastic – July 10, 1945

The Age of Advertising: Reeves Sound Laboratories (1943-1944)