Spare Aeola Buttons

[Stephen Chambers]

For proof of the flammability of celluloid, go here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/2173870.stm

 

(Not for accordion fans of a nervous disposition )

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks Malcolm, I hadn't heard about that incident, but it's a story that I will retell. (It might even earn me a few free pints along the way ! )

 

I see that it made headlines in the Daily Mirror, The Sun, the Daily Star and the Daily Mail :

 

 

I nearly mentioned the fact that celluloid is reckoned to be unstable and capable of spontaneous combustion (and that its chief constituent is cellulose nitrate = "gun cotton", an explosive), but I didn't want to alarm Helen.

 

Thank goodness my accordions are wood-finished.

 

(Edited to add newspaper articles.)

Edited July 27, 2005 by Stephen Chambers

[Stephen Chambers]

So that's how Jimi Hendrix's guitar kept catching fire?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

'Fraid not Paul, that had more to do with the lighter fuel he poured on them !

[John Wild]

I nearly mentioned the fact that celluloid is reckoned to be unstable and capable of spontaneous combustion (and that its chief constituent is cellulose nitrate = "gun cotton", an explosive), but I didn't want to alarm Helen. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Some years ago, I worked for the British Film institute. At that time, old nitrate film was stored in an underground bunker originally designed as a fallout shelter in case of nuclear war. There was a program of copying old film on to modern safety film, and there was a strict limit on the number of reels that could be taken out at any one time, to minimise the possible conflagration that could occur.

 

We were told that nitrate film once alight would continue burning even if thrown into water.

 

- John Wild

[Stephen Chambers]

The first to use plastic were "those truly progressive makers, Messrs. Lachenal" (to quote J. A. Black, writing in January 1895 about the firm's pioneering use of aluminium). The material in question is a variety of Casein (the protein in milk, hardened by immersion in formaldehyde) called Erinoid, so-named because it was developed by the Condensed Milk Co. of Ireland (a.k.a. "Erin"), though it was then manufactured in Stroud, Gloucestershire, from 1914-1980.

 

Casein was made in rod, sheet and tube from 1927, and Lachenal's seem to have started to use Erinoid for concertina buttons soon afterwards. But unfortunately those late Lachenal instruments had very domed buttons and very strong springs, not a happy combination for ease of playing !

 

Following the closure of Lachenal's, in 1933, both Wheatstone's and Crabb's started to use the material.

 

And having said that, I was looking at the Wheatstone ledgers for 1926-7 last night and found that they seem to have experimented with white Erinoid on two Aeolas (#31355 and #31358) as early as November 1926, though it's unclear whether it was for the buttons or (more likely?) the sides of those metal-ended instruments...

[Stephen Chambers]

On 7/26/2005 at 4:41 PM, Stephen Chambers said:

Casein was made in rod, sheet and tube from 1927...

 

In the meantime I learnt that that was incorrect, and the source for it is now only available on The Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/20061025133901/https://www.mlaust.com/HistoryofPlastics.shtml#CASEIN_PLASTICS

 

This is the more correct history:

 

"In Britain, a wet process starting with milk curds was patented in 1909 by a Russian student, Victor Schutze, from Riga. This material was called Syrolit and a factory of the same name was set up in a disused cloth mill at Stroud in Gloucestershire. However, it was not successful and by 1913 the company was bankrupt. A new company, was established at the same premises to manufacture casein using the dry process. The new product was called Erinoid and this was also adopted as the name of the company. Production commenced in 1914 and as supplies of Galalith were cut off at the commencement of World War I, the material found a ready market and button manufacturers from Birmingham were waiting on the doorstep for the first consignments." 

 

Source: https://plastiquarian.com/?page_id=14228

[chris rowe]

Stephen, your post from April 1, 2011 mentions two Wheatstone concertinas made with Erinoid, they were made for the Astleys with white Erinoid being used instead of veneer on the sides, photos are on www.concertinashop.com.au 

[Stephen Chambers]

On 4/30/2025 at 12:08 AM, chris rowe said:

Stephen, your post from April 1, 2011 mentions two Wheatstone concertinas made with Erinoid, they were made for the Astleys with white Erinoid being used instead of veneer on the sides, photos are on www.concertinashop.com.au 

 

On re-reading this thread, I thought they probably were those two - but didn't get around to checking yet. Thanks!