Who discovered casein formaldehyde?
The first casein formaldehyde process was developed by Adolph Spitteler and W. Kirsch, who used whey and formaldehyde and tested the action of enzymes. Krisch, head of a large firm of printers in Hanover experimented with casein to make a washable white board for replacing the slates used in school – paper was too expensive at that time for use by children to practise writing. He collaborated with Adolf Spitteler, a chemist in Bavaria and on July 15th 1899, a patent for “plastic compositions” was awarded in Germany. A vintage Conway Stewart 211 boxed set (Photo David Wells) The Manufacturing History of casein. The patent was taken up by firms in Germany (Vereinigten Gummivarenfabriken, at its factory in Harburg) and in France by Pellerin and Orosdi (Compagnie Francaise de la Galalithe, at Levallois Perret). The product was introduced under the trade name Galalith and was first shown at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900. A lot of development work was still required to produce a sta
