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WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 3:51 pm
by 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
Re: WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 3:52 pm
by Steve
There was no shortage of rust during WW2 evidently!
Re: WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 4:27 pm
by Roaring20s
Very interest to see it marked that way.
James.
Re: WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 4:44 pm
by poodling around
Roaring20s wrote: Mon May 29, 2023 4:27 pm
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 ?
Re: WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 4:57 pm
by 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.
Re: WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Mon May 29, 2023 11:52 pm
by 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
Re: WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 1:09 am
by 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 978 times
James.
Re: WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 7:13 am
by Steve
Roaring20s wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 1:09 am
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!
Re: WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 8:07 am
by poodling around
Steve wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 7:13 am
Roaring20s wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 1:09 am
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 ?
Re: WW2 - puzzle to me ???
Posted: Tue May 30, 2023 10:55 am
by poodling around
Roaring20s wrote: Tue May 30, 2023 1:09 am
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'.