Plastics processing

Like many of the other Australian industrial pioneering companies, Nylex[116] was the story of one family and a few key men. John Walton Derham came from an upper middle class Melbourne family. He was not academically inclined, as other distinguished members of the family were, and had no technical education, but he had drive and practical skill. During an early venture in the radio business, which failed, he became aware of the rapid growth of plastics -essentially 'Bakelite', phenolformaldehyde at the time. In 1927 he founded Australian Moulding Corporation and imported moulding powders. While most others imported finished products, Derham experimented with cheap second-hand equipment in moulding, learning the fundamentals from overseas journals. His first products were simple knobs, outer cases of radio receivers and the like. From imported finished products he learnt of new products such as urea-formaldehyde and finally PVC, and experimented with these. Soon competition started; Moulded Products (1931), Dunlop (South Melbourne, 1932), Associated Glass Manufacturers (1933) and a number of smaller companies followed. After some ups and downs, Derham was offered the opportunity to buy into Moulded Products. Rapid adoption of the new imported plastics -by the late thirties now including PVC from Germany and later the USA -and war-time demand provided opportunities for growth and adaptive innovation. Innovations developed by Nylex included PVC wire coating, moisture proof striking surfaces for matches and PVC copolymer solution for moisture-proofing rifles, all for the military services.

Peace, opening up better contact with international developments and machinery, and the growth of the industry, brought sophistication: large extruders, calenders (Fig. 24), plastic films, laminates, PVC hoses and wall papers. Know-how was partly imported, partly obtained from the major polymer producing companies, and partly generated internally by incremental innovation. The rate at which processors could adapt the new processes determined entry into the polymer manufacture. For this reason the larger companies, Monsanto, Shell, APC established technical service laboratories as did ICI Australia, side by side with their own Central Laboratories at Ascot Vale in 1959. In addition ICI deliberately entered the processing industry ('Visqueen' polyethylene film 1954) to promote the technology and the market.

24 Calender for processing PVC laminated sheet at Nylex Factory, Mentone, Victoria.

Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering