56-467: The Walther HP (Heerespistole) was a pre-war commercial version of what would later become the Walther P38 . About 30,000 Walther HP pistols were produced. The vast majority were chambered in 9×19mm, but several hundred were also produced in .30 Luger and are very rare and desirable today. The Walther HP was exported to Sweden in 1939 where it was adopted as the new service pistol (as Pistol m/39) of
112-533: A "0" prefix to the serial number. The third series pistols solved the problems for the German Army and mass production began in mid-1940, using Walther's military production identification code "480". Several experimental versions were later created in .45 ACP , and .38 Super but these were never mass-produced. In addition to the 9×19mm Parabellum version, some 7.65×21mm Parabellum and some .22 Long Rifle versions were also manufactured and sold. The P.38
168-412: A "Materia Nova", "expressive of our own age". By the 1930s, Bakelite was used for game pieces like chess pieces , poker chips , dominoes , and mahjong sets. Kitchenware made with Bakelite, including canisters and tableware, was promoted for its resistance to heat and to chipping. In the mid-1930s, Northland marketed a line of skis with a black "Ebonite" base, a coating of Bakelite. By 1935, it
224-528: A Swedish contract. The designation P.38 indicates Wehrmacht adoption in 1938, although the exact date is unknown. The transition from HP to the mechanically-identical P.38-marked pistols took place 1939–1940. Sweden bought the Walther HP in 1939. During WWII, the P.38 was produced by Walther, Mauser, and Spreewerk. To conceal manufacturer identities, each wartime manufacturer used a letter code : ac (Walther); byf (Mauser), and cyq (Spreewerk), followed by
280-498: A meeting of the American Chemical Society on February 5, 1909. Baekeland started semi-commercial production of his new material in his home laboratory, marketing it as a material for electrical insulators. In the summer of 1909, he licensed the continental European rights to Rütger AG. The subsidiary formed at that time, Bakelite AG, was the first to produce Bakelite on an industrial scale. By 1910, Baekeland
336-936: A replacement as early as 1927, settling on the Walther P38 in 1938, which offered similar performance to the Luger P08 but took almost half the time to produce. The first design was submitted to the German Army and featured a locked breech and a hidden hammer but the Army requested that it should be redesigned with an external hammer. The P38 concept was accepted by the German military in 1938 but production of prototype ("Test") pistols did not begin until late 1939. Walther began manufacture at their plant in Zella-Mehlis and produced three series of "Test" pistols, designated by
392-414: A similar material fakelite (fake bakelite) exists made from modern safer materials which do not contain asbestos . The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Baekeland a patent for a "Method of making insoluble products of phenol and formaldehyde" on December 7, 1909. Producing hard, compact, insoluble, and infusible condensation products of phenols and formaldehyde marked the beginning of
448-405: A synthetic plastic was revolutionary for the chemical industry, which at the time made most of its income from cloth dyes and explosives. Bakelite's commercial success inspired the industry to develop other synthetic plastics. As the world's first commercial synthetic plastic , Bakelite was named a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society . Bakelite was produced for
504-401: A synthetic resin rather than coating it. By controlling the pressure and temperature applied to phenol and formaldehyde , he produced a hard moldable material that he named Bakelite, after himself. It was the first synthetic thermosetting plastic produced, and Baekeland speculated on "the thousand and one ... articles" it could be used to make. He considered the possibilities of using
560-538: A time on pistols produced in France after the war, being called "Gray Ghosts" by collectors on the account of their distinctive parkerizing and sheet metal grips. Post war P1 grips were made of black colored plastic. The Walther P.38 was in production from 1939 to 1945. Initial development of the pistol took place 1937–1939, culminating in the first Model HP or Heerespistole ("army pistol"), which had several variants as engineering changes were made. Early production included
616-608: A varnish, and a protective coating, as well as for the emerging electrical and automobile industries because of its extraordinarily high resistance to electricity, heat, and chemical action. The earliest commercial use of Bakelite in the electrical industry was the molding of tiny insulating bushings, made in 1908 for the Weston Electrical Instrument Corporation by Richard W. Seabury of the Boonton Rubber Company. Bakelite
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#1732798025280672-613: A wide variety of filling materials, including cotton, powdered bronze, and slate dust, but was most successful with wood and asbestos fibers, though asbestos was gradually abandoned by all manufacturers due to stricter environmental laws. Baekeland filed a substantial number of related patents. Bakelite, his "method of making insoluble products of phenol and formaldehyde", was filed on July 13, 1907, and granted on December 7, 1909. He also filed for patent protection in other countries, including Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Hungary, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and Spain. He announced his invention at
728-465: Is a semi-automatic pistol design, which introduced technical features used today in commercial and military semi-automatic pistols, including the Beretta 92FS and its M9 sub-variant. The P38 was the first locked-breech pistol to use a double-action/single-action (DA/SA) trigger (the earlier double-action PPK was an unlocked blowback design, but the more powerful 9×19mm Parabellum round used in
784-403: Is also resistant to electricity, and prized for its low conductivity. It is not flexible. Phenolic resin products may swell slightly under conditions of extreme humidity or perpetual dampness. When rubbed or burnt, Bakelite has a distinctive, acrid, sickly-sweet or fishy odor. The characteristics of Bakelite made it particularly suitable as a molding compound, an adhesive or binding agent,
840-409: Is also used in the mounting of metal samples in metallography . Bakelite items, particularly jewelry and radios, have become popular collectibles. The term Bakelite is sometimes used in the resale market as a catch-all for various types of early plastics, including Catalin and Faturan , which may be brightly colored, as well as items made of true Bakelite material. Due to its aesthetics,
896-402: Is still manufactured and produced in sheet, rod, and tube form for industrial applications in the electronics, power generation, and aerospace industries, and under a variety of commercial brand names. Phenolic resins have been commonly used in ablative heat shields. Soviet heatshields for ICBM warheads and spacecraft reentry consisted of asbestos textolite, impregnated with Bakelite. Bakelite
952-570: The Catalin company, through a different process which enabled them to introduce 15 new colors. Translucent jewelry, poker chips and other items made of phenolic resins were introduced in the 1930s or 1940s by the Catalin company under the Prystal name. The creation of marbled phenolic resins may also be attributable to the Catalin company. Making Bakelite is a multi-stage process. It begins with
1008-601: The Swedish Armed Forces . At the outbreak of World War II sales of the pistol were stopped after only 1500 pistols had been delivered so the Husqvarna m/40 was adopted instead. Walther P38 The Walther P38 (originally written Walther P.38 ) is a 9 mm semi-automatic pistol that was developed by Carl Walther GmbH as the service pistol of the Wehrmacht at the beginning of World War II . It
1064-536: The Army and black buttons for the RAF . In 1947, Dutch art forger Han van Meegeren was convicted of forgery, after chemist and curator Paul B. Coremans proved that a purported Vermeer contained Bakelite, which van Meegeren had used as a paint hardener. Bakelite was sometimes used in the pistol grip, hand guard, and buttstock of firearms. The AKM and some early AK-74 rifles are frequently mistakenly identified as using Bakelite, but most were made with AG-4S . By
1120-736: The German military. West Germany desired to rebuild its military so that it could shoulder some of the burden for its own defense. Walther retooled for new P38 production since no military firearms production had occurred in West Germany since the end of the war, knowing that the military would again seek Walther firearms. When the Bundeswehr announced it wanted the P38 for its official service pistol, Walther readily resumed P38 production within just two years, using wartime pistols as models and new engineering drawings and machine tools. The first of
1176-400: The P38 needed a locked breech design). The shooter could chamber a round, use the safety- decocking lever to lower the hammer without firing the round, and carry the weapon with a round chambered. The lever can stay on "safe", or if returned to "fire", the weapon remains safely "ready" with a long, double-action trigger pull for the first shot. Pulling the trigger cocks the hammer before firing
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#17327980252801232-517: The Spreewerk (cyq) die broke. Subsequent pistols appear to be marked "cvq" due to the broken die. About 31,400 pistols are so marked. Spreewerk production ended April 1945. From 1945 to 1946, several thousands of pistols were assembled for the French armed forces (frequently dubbed "grey ghosts" because of parkerized finish and grey sheet metal grips). Only after 1957 was the P38 again produced for
1288-661: The area of inexpensive board and tabletop games produced in China, Hong Kong, and India. Items such as billiard balls, dominoes and pieces for board games such as chess, checkers, and backgammon are constructed of Bakelite for its look, durability, fine polish, weight, and sound. Common dice are sometimes made of Bakelite for weight and sound, but the majority are made of a thermoplastic polymer such as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Bakelite continues to be used for wire insulation, brake pads and related automotive components, and industrial electrical-related applications. Bakelite stock
1344-599: The article "Bakelite – What It Is" by Allan Brown. The range of colors that were available included "black, brown, red, yellow, green, gray, blue, and blends of two or more of these". The article emphasized that Bakelite came in various forms. Bakelite is manufactured in several forms to suit varying requirements. In all these forms the fundamental basis is the initial Bakelite resin. This variety includes clear material, for jewelry, smokers' articles, etc.; cement, for sealing electric light bulbs in metal bases; varnishes, for impregnating electric coils, etc.; lacquers, for protecting
1400-417: The breech and re-engaging the barrel; ending its return travel with a fresh round chambered, hammer cocked and ready to repeat the process. The hinged locking piece assisted breechblock design provides good accuracy due to the in-line travel of the barrel and slide. Initial production P38 pistols were fitted with walnut grips, but these were later supplanted by Bakelite grips. Sheet metal grips were used for
1456-457: The commercial manufacture of synthetic phenolic resin as "distinctly an American achievement", and noted that "the publication of figures, however, would be a virtual disclosure of the production of an individual company". In England, Bakelite Limited, a merger of three British phenol formaldehyde resin suppliers (Damard Lacquer Company Limited of Birmingham , Mouldensite Limited of Darley Dale and Redmanol Chemical Products Company of London ),
1512-523: The date (e.g.: ac44: Walther 1944 production). Spreewerk did not mark production dates. Pistols were produced in blocks of 10,000 consecutively numbered pistols, with each block having a consecutive letter suffix, to conceal production volume. 1,277,680 P.38s were produced during WWII: 617,585 by Walther in Zella-Mehlis; 372,875 by Mauser in Oberndorf; 287,220 by Spreewerk Grottau. Late in the war,
1568-674: The demand for molded plastics led the company to concentrate on molding rather than cast solid resins. The Bakelite Corporation was formed in 1922 after patent litigation favorable to Baekeland, from a merger of three companies: Baekeland's General Bakelite Company; the Condensite Company, founded by J. W. Aylesworth; and the Redmanol Chemical Products Company , founded by Lawrence V. Redman . Under director of advertising and public relations Allan Brown, who came to Bakelite from Condensite, Bakelite
1624-514: The first half of the 20th century. Beginning in the 1920s, it became a popular material for jewelry. Designer Coco Chanel included Bakelite bracelets in her costume jewelry collections. Designers such as Elsa Schiaparelli used it for jewelry and also for specially designed dress buttons. Later, Diana Vreeland , editor of Vogue , was enthusiastic about Bakelite. Bakelite was also used to make presentation boxes for Breitling watches. By 1930, designer Paul T. Frankl considered Bakelite
1680-400: The first shot with double-action operation. The firing mechanism extracts and ejects the first spent round, cocks the hammer, and chambers a fresh round for single-action operation with each subsequent shot; all features found in many modern handguns . Besides a DA/SA trigger design similar to that of the earlier Walther PPKs the P38 features a visible and tactile loaded chamber indicator in
1736-416: The first time in 1872 by Adolf von Baeyer , though its use as a commercial product was not considered at the time. Leo Baekeland was already wealthy due to his invention of Velox photographic paper when he began to investigate the reactions of phenol and formaldehyde in his home laboratory. Chemists had begun to recognize that many natural resins and fibers were polymers . Baekeland's initial intent
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1792-433: The foaming that would otherwise occur. The resulting substance is extremely hard and both infusible and insoluble. Molded Bakelite forms in a condensation reaction of phenol and formaldehyde, with wood flour or asbestos fiber as a filler, under high pressure and heat in a time frame of a few minutes of curing . The result is a hard plastic material. Asbestos was gradually abandoned as filler because many countries banned
1848-427: The form of a metal rod that protrudes from the rear of the slide when a round is chambered. The moving-barrel mechanism is actuated by a wedge-shaped hinged locking piece underneath the breech. When the pistol is fired, the barrel and slide recoil together, until the hinged locking piece drives down, disengaging the slide and arresting further rearward movement of the barrel. The slide continues its rearward movement on
1904-409: The frame, ejecting the spent case and cocking the hammer before reaching the end of travel. Unlike most autopistols which eject empty cases to the right, the Walther P38 ejects empty cases to the left. Two recoil springs on either side of the frame and below the slide, having been compressed by the slide's rearward movement, drive the slide forward, stripping a new round from the magazine, driving it into
1960-418: The heating of phenol and formaldehyde in the presence of a catalyst such as hydrochloric acid, zinc chloride , or the base ammonia. This creates a liquid condensation product, referred to as Bakelite A , which is soluble in alcohol, acetone, or additional phenol. Heated further, the product becomes partially soluble and can still be softened by heat. Sustained heating results in an "insoluble hard gum". However,
2016-399: The high temperatures required to create this tend to cause violent foaming of the mixture when done at standard atmospheric pressure, which results in the cooled material being porous and breakable. Baekeland's innovative step was to put his "last condensation product" into an egg-shaped "Bakelizer". By heating it under pressure, at about 150 °C (302 °F), Baekeland was able to suppress
2072-492: The late 1940s, newer materials were superseding Bakelite in many areas. Phenolics are less frequently used in general consumer products today due to their cost and complexity of production and their brittle nature. They still appear in some applications where their specific properties are required, such as small precision-shaped components, molded disc brake cylinders, saucepan handles, electrical plugs, switches and parts for electrical irons, printed circuit boards , as well as in
2128-463: The layers into thermosetting industrial laminated plastic. Bakelite phenolic sheet is produced in many commercial grades and with various additives to meet diverse mechanical, electrical, and thermal requirements. Some common types include: Bakelite has a number of important properties. It can be molded very quickly, decreasing production time. Moldings are smooth, retain their shape, and are resistant to heat, scratches, and destructive solvents. It
2184-668: The new P38s were delivered to the West German military in June 1957, some 17 years and two months after the pistol had initially seen action in World War II, and from 1957 to 1963 the P38 was again the standard sidearm. In late 1963 the postwar military model P1 was adopted for use by the West German military, identifiable by the P1 stamping on the slide. The postwar pistols, whether marked as P38 or P1, have an aluminium frame rather than
2240-429: The production of asbestos. Bakelite's molding process had a number of advantages. Bakelite resin could be provided either as powder or as preformed partially cured slugs, increasing the speed of the casting. Thermosetting resins such as Bakelite required heat and pressure during the molding cycle but could be removed from the molding process without being cooled, again making the molding process faster. Also, because of
2296-575: The smooth polished surface that resulted, Bakelite objects required less finishing. Millions of parts could be duplicated quickly and relatively cheaply. Another market for Bakelite resin was the creation of phenolic sheet materials. A phenolic sheet is a hard, dense material made by applying heat and pressure to layers of paper or glass cloth impregnated with synthetic resin. Paper, cotton fabrics, synthetic fabrics, glass fabrics, and unwoven fabrics are all possible materials used in lamination. When heat and pressure are applied, polymerization transforms
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2352-514: The steel frame of the original design. Starting in June 1975, the aluminum frame was reinforced with a hex bolt above the trigger guard, and a slightly modified, stronger slide design was introduced. During the 1990s the German military started replacing the P1 with the P8 pistol and finally phased out the P1 in 2004. An improved version of the P38, the Walther P4, was developed in the late 1970s and
2408-507: The surface of hardware; enamels, for giving resistive coating to industrial equipment; Laminated Bakelite, used for silent gears and insulation; and molding material, from which are formed innumerable articles of utility and beauty. The molding material is prepared ordinarily by the impregnation of cellulose substances with the initial "uncured" resin. In a 1925 report, the United States Tariff Commission hailed
2464-771: Was acquired by Borden Chemical of Columbus, Ohio, now Hexion Inc. In addition to the original Bakelite material, these companies eventually made a wide range of other products, many of which were marketed under the brand name "Bakelite plastics". These included other types of cast phenolic resins similar to Catalin , and urea-formaldehyde resins, which could be made in brighter colors than polyoxybenzylmethyleneglycolanhydride. Once Baekeland's heat and pressure patents expired in 1927, Bakelite Corporation faced serious competition from other companies. Because molded Bakelite incorporated fillers to give it strength, it tended to be made in concealing dark colors. In 1927, beads, bangles, and earrings were produced by
2520-481: Was adopted by the police forces of South Africa, Rhineland-Palatinate and Baden-Württemberg . Improved version with a closed slide. Bakelite Bakelite ( / ˈ b eɪ k ə l aɪ t / BAY -kə-lyte ), formally polyoxybenzylmethyleneglycolanhydride , is a thermosetting phenol formaldehyde resin , formed from a condensation reaction of phenol with formaldehyde . The first plastic made from synthetic components, it
2576-412: Was aggressively marketed as "the material of a thousand uses". A filing for a trademark featuring the letter B above the mathematical symbol for infinity was made August 25, 1925, and claimed the mark was in use as of December 1, 1924. A wide variety of uses were listed in their trademark applications. The first issue of Plastics magazine, October 1925, featured Bakelite on its cover and included
2632-468: Was also very important to the developing automobile industry. It was soon found in myriad other consumer products ranging from pipe stems and buttons to saxophone mouthpieces, cameras, early machine guns, and appliance casings. Bakelite was also very commonly used in making molded grip panels on handguns, as furniture for submachine guns and machineguns, the classic Bakelite magazines for Kalashnikov rifles, as well as numerous knife handles and "scales" through
2688-698: Was developed by Leo Baekeland in Yonkers, New York , in 1907, and patented on December 7, 1909. Bakelite was one of the first plastic-like materials to be introduced into the modern world and was popular because it could be moulded and then hardened into any shape. Because of its electrical nonconductivity and heat-resistant properties, it became a great commercial success. It was used in electrical insulators , radio and telephone casings, and such diverse products as kitchenware, jewelry, pipe stems, children's toys, and firearms. The retro appeal of old Bakelite products has made them collectible. The creation of
2744-564: Was formed in 1926. A new Bakelite factory opened in Tyseley , Birmingham, around 1928. It was the "heart of Bakelite production in the UK" until it closed in 1987. A factory to produce phenolic resins and precursors opened in Bound Brook, New Jersey , in 1931. In 1939, the companies were acquired by Union Carbide and Carbon Corporation . In 2005, German Bakelite manufacturer Bakelite AG
2800-481: Was intended to replace the comparatively complex and expensive to produce Luger P08 . Moving the production lines to the more easily mass producible P38 once World War II started took longer than expected, leading to the P08 remaining in production until September 1942 and copies remained in service until the end of the war. As the previous service pistol, the Luger P08, was expensive to produce, Germany started to look for
2856-704: Was producing enough material in the US to justify expansion. He formed the General Bakelite Company of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, as a U.S. company to manufacture and market his new industrial material, and made overseas connections to produce it in other countries. The Bakelite Company produced "transparent" cast resin (which did not include filler ) for a small market during the 1910s and 1920s. Blocks or rods of cast resin, also known as "artificial amber", were machined and carved to create items such as pipe stems , cigarette holders , and jewelry . However,
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#17327980252802912-421: Was soon used for non-conducting parts of telephones, radios, and other electrical devices, including bases and sockets for light bulbs and electron tubes (vacuum tubes), supports for any type of electrical components, automobile distributor caps, and other insulators. By 1912, it was being used to make billiard balls, since its elasticity and the sound it made were similar to ivory. During World War I, Bakelite
2968-415: Was to find a replacement for shellac , a material in limited supply because it was made naturally from the secretion of lac insects (specifically Kerria lacca ). He produced a soluble phenol-formaldehyde shellac called Novolak , but it was not a market success, even though it is still used to this day (e.g., as a photoresist ). He then began experimenting on strengthening wood by impregnating it with
3024-403: Was used in solid-body electric guitars . Performers such as Jerry Byrd loved the tone of Bakelite guitars but found them difficult to keep in tune. Charles Plimpton patented BAYKO in 1933 and rushed out his first construction sets for Christmas 1934. He called the toy Bayko Light Constructional Sets , the words "Bayko Light" being a pun on the word "Bakelite". During World War II, Bakelite
3080-577: Was used in a variety of wartime equipment including pilots' goggles and field telephones. It was also used for patriotic wartime jewelry. In 1943, the thermosetting phenolic resin was even considered for the manufacture of coins, due to a shortage of traditional material. Bakelite and other non-metal materials were tested for usage for the one cent coin in the US before the Mint settled on zinc-coated steel . During World War II, Bakelite buttons were part of British uniforms. These included brown buttons for
3136-596: Was used widely, particularly in electrical systems. Important projects included the Liberty airplane engine , the wireless telephone and radio phone, and the use of micarta-bakelite propellers in the NBS-1 bomber and the DH-4B aeroplane . Bakelite's availability and ease and speed of molding helped to lower the costs and increase product availability so that telephones and radios became common household consumer goods. It
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