Haskelite

Haskell invented a process for making glue from blood-albumin. The process used slaughterhouse blood from the Chicago stock yards.[1] The inexpensive waterproof adhesive was called "black albumin glue."[2] It was used to bond wood pieces.[3] One product Haskell made from this was a lightweight waterproof plywood, first known as Ser-O-Ply.[4] He applied this glue to wood veneers and manufactured plywood for various applications. Some of these applications were boats, airplanes, tanks, trucks, automobiles and rail cars.[4] The plywood panels were from 1/8th inch up to an inch thick and had various layers of crossed grain ply veneers to create the thickness and strength. Typical moldable plywood panels were about five feet wide by twenty feet long and 3/16th of an inch thick.[5] The plywood sheets made this way were eventually given the brand trade name of "Haskelite."[6] It is named after Henry L. Haskell, inventor of the glue bonding the plywood.[7]

Haskell formed a company for making plywood that ultimately became the Haskell Manufacturing Company in Ludington, Michigan and the Haskelite Manufacturing Corporation in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The glue was applied cold and spread onto wood veneers with rollers. A stack of three sheets of veneer was then put through a press, where each panel was subjected to a pressure of 150 psi between metal plates at 210 °F (99 °C).[6] This pressure and heat made the bond between the veneers permanent and the glue became insoluble.[3] The plywood was given brand names depending on its characteristics.[8] Plymetl had metal faces and was used in construction of airtight clothes vaults for storing furs and expensive garments.[9] Plymold was a plastic-based plywood that could be molded, and Phemaloid was a fire-resistant paneling.[10]

1917 Haskell canoe

Thinner moldable plywood was used to make watercraft.[11] One model was the Haskell canoe. It was made from a type of plywood Haskell produced, consisting of veneers of birch on the outside and a redwood core. The unseamed canoe was made from a single piece of plywood; thousands were sold in the US. There were no ribs used in the building of the canoe.[3]

Fairchild F-46 aircraft of 1938

Haskel plywood was used for aircraft parts, especially fuselages and wings.[3] The first plane made with moldable plywood was constructed with Haskelite, and was the Curtiss two-place fighter Whistling Bill.[12] Haskell plywood was used for construction of experimental and commercial aircraft.[13] A Johnson Twin-60 experimental airplane was built in 1927 that had 85% Haskelite plywood in its wings, seats, instrument board, and fuselage parts.[14] The first successful commercial airplane it was used on was the 1937 Fairchild Aircraft model F-46.[15]

The Haskelite company was considered Ludington's most important industry during World War I.[16][17] The company made 5,000 military aircraft for the US and allies from 5,000,000 square feet of plywood produced. In 1927, the company manufactured aircraft body parts for Charles Linbergh's Spirit of St. Louis single engine plane. Haskelite's contributions during World War II were wooden aircraft body parts for US and ally airplanes. It made plywood parts for airplane trainers, gliders, bombers, and transports. Among these were plywood components for Britain's De Havilland Mosquito ("Wooden Wonder") fighter bombers. The manufacturing company also made wooden parts for Cessna Aircraft Company to use on their trainer airplanes.[18]

• Carrom Company
• Haskell Manufacturing Company
• Haskelite Manufacturing Corporation

• Beld, Gordon G. (2012). The Early Days of Aviation in Grand Rapids. Charleston, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 978-1614238058.
• Dunbar, Willis Frederick (1955). Michigan Through the Centuries. Detroit, Michigan: Lewis Historical Publishing Company.
• Hardwood_Record (1920). Hardwood Record. Chicago, Illinois: Hardwood Company.
• Kane, Joseph Nathan. Famoue First Facts and Records. New York City: The H. W. Wilson Company. The first airplane of molded plywood was the "Whistling Bill," a two-place fighter, built in 1918 by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company, Garden City, Long Island, N.Y. The fuselage was made of four 3/32nd-inch longitudinal sheets of Haskelite, three-ply birch plywood, steamed and formed to contour in a concrete die.
• Marine_Engineering (1933). Marine Engineering. Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation.
• Motor_Boat (1920). Motor Boat. Motor Boat Publishing Company.
• Motor_Body (1919). Motor Body, Paint and Trim. Motor Boat Publishing Company.
• Smith, S.H. (1930). Veneers and Plywood. S.H. Smith.