The American Catalin Corporation was founded in New York, N.Y., in 1927. In 1929 the Catalin Corporation of America was incorporated with manufacturing rights purchased from the American Catalin Company. By 1942 the company had one affiliate in England and about 3100 stockholders.

Catalin further developed processes of phenol formaldehyde thermoset plastics developed by Dr. Leo Baekland and the Bakelite Company. Catalin especially developed the light-colored, transparent, filler-free Bakelite resin in a wide range of colors expanding the popularity of thermoset plastics for domestic products including costume jewelry, fashion accessories, radios, and other products.

Catalin manufactured and sold semi-finished articles as sheets, rods, tubes, and shapes form specail castings. Catalin also offered a liquid phenolic resin for impregnating wood, paper, cloth and textiles, and they made several types of adhesives.

Company tradenames included Aquapearl, Catacond, Catalane, Catalin, Catavar, Loabond, Loalin, Loavar, Opalite and Prystal.

Because Catalin's color process did not use traditional fibrous fillers, however, Catalin proved much less durable than Bakelite. By 1942, the company suspended its manufacture of jewelry and cast items to concentrate on wartime production, including from 1941 polystrene powder. After the war, petroleum-based thermoplastic plastics grew in popularity and the market for Catalin diminished.

See:

Simonds, Herbert R. and Ellis, Carelton. Handbook of Plastics (New York: D. Van Nostrand Co., 1943), 11.

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/rbmscl/americancatalin/inv/ "Catalin Radio History," http://catalinradio.com/p-2817-history.html