THE CALCO CHEMICAL COMPANY, AMERICAN CYANAMID, by Anthony S. Travis
New Jersey’s Calco Chemical Company was founded in 1915 at a site close to the town of Bound Brook, almost adjacent to the Raritan
River, to manufacture coal-tar intermediates required to make synthetic dyestuffs. After 1918, Calco also successfully embarked on the
manufacture of synthetic dyestuffs by processes that were far more complex than hitherto used in American chemical industry. With the
help of technical experts such as Victor L. King, Calco introduced process improvements based on its own innovations. Inventive activity
was enhanced from 1927 with the creation of a research department, one of the earliest in the U.S. chemical industry.
In 1929, confronting difficult trading conditions, Calco was acquired by the American Cyanamid Company, and became the dye-making
and organic chemicals hub of that corporation. Subsequently Calco diversified into sulfa, or “wonder,” drugs, based on its dye
intermediates, and amino resins. It was the American first mover, as inventor and innovator, in these areas, both of which had important
military applications during World War II. Calco became the largest American manufacturer of sulfa drugs, used in animal health
products long after they had been displaced by penicillin. Calco’s amino resins (1929) and melamine (1939) became the basis of the
first colored household molded plastic goods and the ubiquitous Formica products. The Bound Brook facility was the international
leader in instrumental analysis and color matching of dyes, and, mainly through Edwin I. Stearns, in the 1930s contributed to the first
phase of the instrumental revolution. After 1945, American Cyanamid’s Calco Chemical Division was a leader in vat dyestuffs,
fluorescent whitening agents, polyurethane and acrylic polymers, and the invention of herbicides.
From 1958 to 1975, the Bound Brook facility operated one of the most successful stations of the M.I.T. School of Chemical Engineering
Practice. Graduate students gained extensive hands-on experience in improvements in manufacturing plant and a wide range of site-
specific developments. During this period, the facility embarked on the design and construction of continuous, automated process
equipment, mainly with the aim of replacing certain batch processes. The outcomes were not always as intended, partly due to
aggressive programs that made inadequate allowances for changes in the chemistry.
During much of the twentieth century, the chemical industry was the largest manufacturing sector in the United States, and was held in
the highest esteem. After 1960, however, it was faced with the problem of severe decline in invention and innovation. This had a
particularly adverse impact on the affairs of Bound Brook, which is here analyzed in considerable depth. Nevertheless, despite the
running down of the facility from the end of the 1970s, American Cyanamid’s subsequent diversification into the life sciences was firmly
grounded in its heritage of research and development at Calco.
Chemical manufacture involves not only production of useful goods but also of coproducts and by-products for which storage and
disposal are problematic. Sometimes, as in the case of the manufacture of aniline, Bound Brook developed new processes that
overcame the problem of waste disposal. Where this was not possible, the Raritan River was used as a sink for liquid waste. Following
expansion in the early 1930s, the facility confronted considerable pressures from state and local health agencies concerned with the
deterioration of the condition of the river arising from the often colored and poorly degradable releases. For Calco, the main focus was
on minimizing releases to the Raritan River. These pressures and regulations (of which those imposed by the New Jersey Department
of Health were among the most stringent) stimulated inventions and innovations in the treatment of liquid waste, particularly with the
opening: in 1940 of extensive waste treatment facilities, in 1957 of the largest biological waste-treatment system in New Jersey, and in
1977 of the world’s largest continuous activated-carbon wastewater treatment plant.
New Jersey’s Calco Chemical Company was founded in 1915 at a site close to the town of Bound Brook, almost adjacent to the Raritan
River, to manufacture coal-tar intermediates required to make synthetic dyestuffs. After 1918, Calco also successfully embarked on the
manufacture of synthetic dyestuffs by processes that were far more complex than hitherto used in American chemical industry. With the
help of technical experts such as Victor L. King, Calco introduced process improvements based on its own innovations. Inventive activity
was enhanced from 1927 with the creation of a research department, one of the earliest in the U.S. chemical industry.
In 1929, confronting difficult trading conditions, Calco was acquired by the American Cyanamid Company, and became the dye-making
and organic chemicals hub of that corporation. Subsequently Calco diversified into sulfa, or “wonder,” drugs, based on its dye
intermediates, and amino resins. It was the American first mover, as inventor and innovator, in these areas, both of which had important
military applications during World War II. Calco became the largest American manufacturer of sulfa drugs, used in animal health
products long after they had been displaced by penicillin. Calco’s amino resins (1929) and melamine (1939) became the basis of the
first colored household molded plastic goods and the ubiquitous Formica products. The Bound Brook facility was the international
leader in instrumental analysis and color matching of dyes, and, mainly through Edwin I. Stearns, in the 1930s contributed to the first
phase of the instrumental revolution. After 1945, American Cyanamid’s Calco Chemical Division was a leader in vat dyestuffs,
fluorescent whitening agents, polyurethane and acrylic polymers, and the invention of herbicides.
From 1958 to 1975, the Bound Brook facility operated one of the most successful stations of the M.I.T. School of Chemical Engineering
Practice. Graduate students gained extensive hands-on experience in improvements in manufacturing plant and a wide range of site-
specific developments. During this period, the facility embarked on the design and construction of continuous, automated process
equipment, mainly with the aim of replacing certain batch processes. The outcomes were not always as intended, partly due to
aggressive programs that made inadequate allowances for changes in the chemistry.
During much of the twentieth century, the chemical industry was the largest manufacturing sector in the United States, and was held in
the highest esteem. After 1960, however, it was faced with the problem of severe decline in invention and innovation. This had a
particularly adverse impact on the affairs of Bound Brook, which is here analyzed in considerable depth. Nevertheless, despite the
running down of the facility from the end of the 1970s, American Cyanamid’s subsequent diversification into the life sciences was firmly
grounded in its heritage of research and development at Calco.
Chemical manufacture involves not only production of useful goods but also of coproducts and by-products for which storage and
disposal are problematic. Sometimes, as in the case of the manufacture of aniline, Bound Brook developed new processes that
overcame the problem of waste disposal. Where this was not possible, the Raritan River was used as a sink for liquid waste. Following
expansion in the early 1930s, the facility confronted considerable pressures from state and local health agencies concerned with the
deterioration of the condition of the river arising from the often colored and poorly degradable releases. For Calco, the main focus was
on minimizing releases to the Raritan River. These pressures and regulations (of which those imposed by the New Jersey Department
of Health were among the most stringent) stimulated inventions and innovations in the treatment of liquid waste, particularly with the
opening: in 1940 of extensive waste treatment facilities, in 1957 of the largest biological waste-treatment system in New Jersey, and in
1977 of the world’s largest continuous activated-carbon wastewater treatment plant.
| Summary of the Book by Anthony S. Travis, Dyes Made in America 1915-1980: The Calco Chemical Company, American Cyanamid and the Raritan River (Jeremy Mills Publishing), 2004. |
| Calco Chemical Company, 1925. Click to Enlarge. |
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