Bakelite

Bakelite was an early form of hard, brittle thermosetting plastic, used in camera making from the 1930s to the 1960s. Many products were made from this material - for example radios, electrical fittings, kitchen utensils - and it was capable of producing complex flowing shapes popular from the art-deco era. The word "Bakelite" was originally a trade-name, it is also known as "phenolic".

See Category: Bakelite for a list of Bakelite cameras.

Links

In English:

• Bakelite story at Marriott's World
• Bakelite and Plastic Museum
• Bakelite cameras at Reijo Lauro's Camera Site
• Wikipedia article on Bakelite material

In Dutch:

• Bakeliet, a website about bakelite, with pages about the bakelite cameras (follow the "Vervolg / Next" links to see more cameras)

Glossary Terms