WW2 - puzzle to me ???

[poodling around]

I think that during WW2 IM Pointmasters were made from metal instead of the usual bakelite.

Why was there a shortage of Bakelite I wonder ? Something to do with a shortage of oil to make this product maybe ?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155580088080 ... R9z9q5CNYg

[Steve]

There was no shortage of rust during WW2 evidently!

[Roaring20s]

Very interest to see it marked that way.

James.

[poodling around]

Very interest to see it marked that way.

James.

Yes, I agree. I have one which is in better condition.

It puzzles me as there was apparently a shortage of metal / iron during that period. For example, I think HMV and Columbia needle boxes were changed from metal to paper for that very reason - and yet IM Pointmaster could still produce metal versions. Also, why couldn't they still make bakelite ones ?

[Orchorsol]

A lot of these pass through my hands alongside the BCN thorn needles (I buy them when they're cheap, fettle them and sell them on). I've never discovered the answer to this and can only assume, as has been suggested, that materials for Bakelite were in even shorter supply than steel.

[drh]

One chemical component of bakelite is phenol--also a key ingredient in explosives that were needed for the war effort. I imagine for that reason bakelite was either hard to get or expensive or both. Phenol, of course, was also a key ingredient of Edison's condensite for diamond discs. Here's an interesting article on the subject: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/thomas-e ... feilitzsch

[Roaring20s]

Bakelite was still being use in a variety of commercial products in the first year of the war. I'm sure it took time to get industry switched over to war work. Plastics do have great use in aircraft and communications. Maybe that need force the change to metal before their factory moved into war work?

I found this advertisement in The Gramophone magazine from April 1944.

Screen Shot 2023-05-29 at 9.07.28 PM.png (580.41 KiB) Viewed 863 times

James.

[Steve]

Bakelite was still being use in a variety of commercial products in the first year of the war. I'm sure it took time to get industry switched over to war work. Plastics do have great use in aircraft and communications. Maybe that need force the change to metal before their factory moved into war work?

I found this advertisement in The Gramophone magazine from April 1944.

Screen Shot 2023-05-29 at 9.07.28 PM.png

James.

Somewhat coincidentally, I was visiting the former needle factory building in Redditch this morning!

[poodling around]

Bakelite was still being use in a variety of commercial products in the first year of the war. I'm sure it took time to get industry switched over to war work. Plastics do have great use in aircraft and communications. Maybe that need force the change to metal before their factory moved into war work?

I found this advertisement in The Gramophone magazine from April 1944.

Screen Shot 2023-05-29 at 9.07.28 PM.png

James.

Somewhat coincidentally, I was visiting the former needle factory building in Redditch this morning!

That sounds intriguing. What is it now, a car park maybe ?

[poodling around]

Bakelite was still being use in a variety of commercial products in the first year of the war. I'm sure it took time to get industry switched over to war work. Plastics do have great use in aircraft and communications. Maybe that need force the change to metal before their factory moved into war work?

I found this advertisement in The Gramophone magazine from April 1944.

Screen Shot 2023-05-29 at 9.07.28 PM.png

James.

Very interesting James.

I wonder whether they were allowed to use metal instead of bakelite because they could not use paper to make their product - or anything else. Unlike HMV and columbia needle 'tins'.