For the Love of Beetleware, England, and the Conspiracy Theory

The London Beetleware Backstamp! These lovelies available at Palaver! 

In the 1930's Beetleware, a thin plastic type material was used for just about everything here in the States.  But just what was it?  Beetleware, was a division of American Cyanamid out of New York. The "urea formaldehyde powder" had actually "technically" originated in London (therein called Beatl, or Beetleware) circa 1925.


The Beetlware American backstamp.  You may just see the tiny "B" in the shield more often than not.

It's use here in the States should be credited to Christian A. Kurz, Jr. (of Kurz-Kasch Company, Dayton Ohio) who was traveling in England, and saw this in use. He was a custom molder here in the states, and it was he who convinced American Cyanamid to start the licensing, and import of it here.  If Kurz-Kasch sounds familiar, it's because they are still in business today and have a long industrial history here in the States!  Read how it came to be here, in Jeffrey's book.

Dish Samples from my collection. Note the one on far right has wood in it!

So it was that back in the late 1920's and early 30's London was using Beetleware everything.  Their designs were so mod and you'll see so many neat mustard pot and egg cups. Talk about upscale plastics - the Brits had some amazing stuff!  I especially want to mention they made a lot of mottled colors, the confetti type blues and greens, quite lovely.  Check out these pudding bowls to see how lovely and well made they were!



Gorgeous Pudding Bowls , $15.27 bargain priced at Palaver (price subject to current exchange rate)



Here in the States, circa 1933, just about any color of Beetlware was available! Note, no mottled or confetti colors in this ad! From Beetleware President's lips, a customer was happy with her lavender toilet screws!!!

A New Yorker ad from 1930 boasts about the "new Beetleware" having unbreakable cups, tumblers, and mugs. Some of the colors mottled and translucent.  By 1933, more bold brights were introduced.  Americans adored and embraced the bold colored picnic ware, knobs, electric components, travel trailer dishes, and premiums! Ahhhhh the premiums...it was boasted in a 1934 article by RS Childs, then Beetleware President that sales in 1933 of Beetleware mugs, tumblers, measuring spoons and PREMIUMS alone accounted for 16,000,000 pieces being made.  So how many pieces were really produced? Plastic was BIG! 

Post Grape and Nut Flakes Cereal Premium Bowl, with Mickey Mouse, $28 at TheFarmersWifeInIowa

This lovely premium features Orpan Annie, and is a steal at $6 from Carols Threads. 

Note how Beetlware states who is giving the premium, in this case Ovaltine! Photo: CarolsThreads


The rumors go that Melmac was introduced as a solution to the dissatisfaction of earlier picnic plastics, which would indicate that Beetlware could be a culprit of breaking, cracking, or snapping in half.I have to say the plates I have are very thin. Perhaps thin flimsiness wasn't appreciated in the long run, contrary to the 1930's claims of this super duper plastic being unbreakable, it certainly WAS.
 

United States Beetlware Dish Samples- Flimsy or not,  I love the Dishes!

MY MELMAC CONSPIRACY THEORY 
People laugh at my theory that MELMAC was just the new and improved Beetlware . It's my personal opinion from years in Marketing, that American Cyanamid was smart in many ways--seeing how well Beetleware's reception initially was, (arms wide open) but knowing they had to improve upon it they wanted an out. During this time, in 1937 melamine powder was very inexpensive and quite honestly, another plastic with some similar components as it's successor Beetlware.  Many will tell you I'm wrong, but I say to them, they were both urea formaldehyde plastics were they not? Beetleware was said to be Unbreakable in 1930 and Melmac unbreakable also were they not? Both were marketed and sold by American Cyanamid were they not?  YES THEY WERE! Recipe for Marketing Success: One cup Beetleware Powder, add some of this a pinch of that and voila, new and improved super duper plastic called Melamine, or Melmac if produced by American Cyanamid. Just my theory....you should know however both were produced by American Cyanamid over the years. In 1940's you could buy either Beetlware or Melamine!  MONOPOLY ANYONE?

If only the plastic can talk, this cup at RetroChalet.

LINKS YOU MAY LIKE:

Beetleware on Etsy
BBC Beetleware Powderpuff Dish

Read Excerpts in Jeffrey Miekle's Book

British Plastics Federation

View or Buy Bakelite and Plastics (Find Beetleware Here) From Vanished Eras.

See My 100+ Plastic Items  for sale!
Sources :
Plastics Products VOL10-11, 1934 Int,

Hemco , Hemcoware, Hemcolite, Westinghouse Saga - Early Melamine and Melmac Dinnerware

Photo Courtesy of Cathigreen on Etsy!

Hemco Plastics Division 

of Bryant Electric Company

Bridgeport, Connecticut

Hemco's Early Plastics
Hemco was one of the earlier plastic molders who had it's plastics in the form of dinnerware on the market for industrial and consumer use. 

Early examples of Beetleware "mania" included hard plastic kiddie dishes and Mickey Mouse mugs. In Newsweek Magazine circa 1939, Hemco proudly explained they had hundreds of new dies for producing such items.  A small picture of Mickey Mouse next to the article read, "We hired salesman who knew dishes rather than switches and plugs...and almost before we knew it, we had an important new business on our hands."

Kiddie dishes like this were mass produced by Hemco Plastics Division.

In 1943, Modern Plastics reported, "Hemco is molding a wide variety of fighting material. This includes plastic inner helmets, coil forms for military radio, plastic bomb loading funnels, radio parts, fuze noses, airplane instrument cases, ship lighting reflectors....."    Add that to the already evident masses of plastic cups, utensils, divided kiddie dishes,  and kitchen items.

Rare 1939 Hemco Plastics were beautiful in color and styling.  This item was referred to as Beetleware. Credit: MOMA

Hemco's Industrial & Consumer Dinnerware 
Sometime during this entire era, contracts with the aviation industry were also evident for dinnerware.  We can see by viewing these rare early examples made by Hemco (identical to Watertown Ware shapes for the navy) here on fellow researcher Christopher McPherson's wonderful Plastic Living Site.    Fellow researcher Robin Ptacek, an avid collector of early plastics has assembled beautiful collection of early brightly-colored Hemco.  Colors so radiant such as bright reds, greens, yellows and blues are becoming harder and harder to find.  Some of the earlier wares were Beetle, Polystryne, and Melamine.   It is not uncommon to find an old wicker hamper full of a picnic set marked Hemco!

Rare Hemcoware Cups (probably melamine) as offered by Cathigreen on Etsy!

Hemco was Competing with Westinghouse (it's owner)
In 1946, it is stated that through "Plastics Business" the Bryant Electric Company, Westinghouse owns Hemco Plastics Company, a leading custom molder of plastics.   So one must ponder the question was Westinghouse using Hemco to mold it's many radio cases, fan parts, and  washer, dryer, dishwasher, refrigerator parts?

Westinghouse radio by VintageRatz on Etsy.  Makes you wonder was Hemco molding the cases?

 
What's even stranger, Westinghouse is also doing their own melamine and melmac branded dishes to compete against it's own Hemcoware! Pieces can be found marked Westinghouse, Ovation, Newport, Darien, and more.....

Photo from TheCreekHouse on Etsy showing a Westinghouse backstamp!

Photo and this Westinghouse creamer/sugar set available from TheCreekHouse on Etsy!

Westinghouse's other line "Newport" divided bowl by RetroChalet on Etsy!

Ovation line by Westinghouse offered at JetSetVintage on Etsy!

Hemco's Three Lines of Dinnerware: 


Several brands produced for the Hemco line were marked Hemco, Hemcoware, and Hemcolite.  Curiously, some of these lines were melamine, and others made of a more ridgid polystryene-type material.

This photo from Black Market Antiques, and is that of a "HemcoLite" cup and saucer.

I originally thought that the "Hemcolite" line was indeed the Polystryene line, (hence lighter in weight making it perfect for picnic plastics) but examples with all different backstamps have emerged making me wonder just really was going on.  Of course we may fathom the factory could have "forgotten" to change the backstamps, marking the dishes wrong but that theory was debunked when I read in a Consumer Reports magazine of November 1954, it mentions "Hemcoware" as using "improved polystreyene for its cups."   So just what was melamine and what was polystrene and why was there so much mixing and matching going on?   It's so confusing as some Hemco was Beetleware, Polystryene, or Melamine! Geesh!

Hemcoware Plates, thinner than most 1950's melamine were great for picnic use also, these sold by RetroChalet on Etsy! 

I do have a set of nicely sturdy Hemco dinnerware in my camp in Maine.  They are thicker than these above Hemcoware dinner plates, and resemblant of most 1950's thick melmac.  It is unclear why there were so many variants of Hemco, unless Westinghouse just wanted to cover all angles and all markets, which was probably smart at the time.

Hemcolite cups as offered by ZebrasandBubblegum on Etsy! See below for same molds from Long Island!

Hemco's Molds are Found in Long Island, NY: 
I'm afraid we won't get the answers to these questions, as Hemco molds turned up in Long Island City, NY and are backstamped as such. I have been unable to find out a lot of information, except finding a few rare dolls on this site, dolls circa 1949-1961 which begs the question WHEN during that time did HEMCO PLASTICS sell their molds to PMA Corp?    If you compare they are dead-ringers for Hemco molds, but molded in a polystrene.

The same exact Hemco plates and cups, except made of a cheaper, thinner polystrene were also sold by RetroChalet but backstamped NY Plastic Molded Arts Corp, Long Island NY.  

More from Long Island, NY.

Additional Information: 

Hemco at MOMA 1939 Examples found here

Read about Bryant Electric Company on Wikipedia
History of Bridgeport, Connecticut on Wikipedia
Plastic Molded Arts Corp (doll information)