In the preceding post I mentioned that I was thinking about collecting bakelite cameras. On doing a little more research I was surprised to find that he died in Beacon, NY – quite close, about a 20 minute ride from one of our houses. I was even more surprised to discover that he was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, less than 10 minutes away from our other house. Of course I went to see his grave.

After initial success developing Velox, a photographic paper that would allow enlargements to be printed by artificial light. He turned his attention to synthetic resins:

By the 1900s, chemists had begun to recognize that many of the natural resins and fibers were polymeric, a term introduced in 1833 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius. Adolf von Baeyer had experimented with phenols and formaldehydes in 1872, particularly Pyrogallol and benzaldehyde. He created a “black guck” which he considered useless and irrelevant to his search for synthetic dyes. Baeyer’s student, Werner Kleeberg, experimented with phenol and formaldehyde in 1891, but as Baekeland noted “could not crystallize this mess, nor purify it to constant composition, nor in fact do anything with it once produced”.

Baekeland began to investigate the reactions of phenol and formaldehyde.He familiarized himself with previous work and approached the field systematically, carefully controlling and examining the effects of temperature, pressure and the types and proportions of materials used.

The first application that appeared promising was the development of a synthetic replacement for shellac (made from the secretion of lac beetles). Baekeland produced a soluble phenol-formaldehyde shellac called “Novolak” but concluded that its properties were inferior. It never became a big market success, but still exists as Novolac.

Baekeland continued to explore possible combinations of phenol and formaldehyde, intrigued by the possibility that such materials could be used in molding. By controlling the pressure and temperature applied to phenol and formaldehyde, he produced his dreamed-of hard moldable plastic: Bakelite. Bakelite was made from phenol, then known as carbolic acid, and formaldehyde. The chemical name of Bakelite is polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride. In compression molding, the resin is generally combined with fillers such as wood or asbestos, before pressing it directly into the final shape of the product. Baekeland’s process patent for making insoluble products of phenol and formaldehyde was filed in July 1907, and granted on December 7, 1909. In February 1909 Baekeland officially announced his achievement at a meeting of the New York section of the American Chemical Society.

In 1917 Baekeland became a professor by special appointment at Columbia University. The Smithsonian contains documents from the County of West Chester Court House in White Plains, NY, indicating that he was admitted to U. S. Citizenship on December 16, 1919.

In 1922, after patent litigation favorable to Baekeland, the General Bakelite Co., which he had founded in 1910, along with the Condensite Co. founded by Aylesworth, and the Redmanol Chemical Products Company founded by Lawrence V. Redman, were merged into the Bakelite Corporation.

The invention of Bakelite marks the beginning of the age of plastics. Bakelite was the first plastic invented that retained its shape after being heated. Radios, telephones and electrical insulators were made of Bakelite because of its excellent electrical insulation and heat-resistance. Soon its applications spread to most branches of industry.

Baekeland received many awards and honors, including the Perkin Medal in 1916 and the Franklin Medal in 1940. In 1978 he was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame at Akron, Ohio.

At Baekeland’s death in 1944, the world production of Bakelite was ca. 175,000 tons, and it was used in over 15,000 different products. He held more than 100 patents, including processes for the separation of copper and cadmium, and for the impregnation of wood. (Leo Baekeland)

His final years were rather sad:

As Baekeland grew older he became more eccentric, entering fierce battles with his son and presumptive heir over salary and other issues. He sold the General Bakelite Company to Union Carbide in 1939 and, at his son’s prompting, he retired. He became a recluse, eating all of his meals from cans and becoming obsessed with developing an immense tropical garden on his winter estate in Coconut Grove, Florida. He died of a stroke in a sanatorium in Beacon, New York, in 1944. (Wikipedia: Leo Baekeland)

Tragedy continued to afflict the Baekeland family when Barbara Daly Baekeland, ex-wife of Brooks Baekeland, Leo’s grandson was murdered by her own son, Antony in 1972:

[She] had a complex and allegedly incestuous relationship with her son, Antony Baekeland, who was gay or bisexual. Baekeland attempted to “fix” her son by hiring prostitutes to have sex with him. After this failed, while the pair were living in Majorca in the summer of 1968 following Barbara and Brooks’s divorce, Barbara was alleged to have raped her son.

During his young adulthood, Antony displayed increasingly regular signs of schizophrenia with paranoid tendencies, and his erratic behavior caused concern among family friends. He was eventually diagnosed with schizophrenia; however, his father initially refused to allow him to be treated by psychiatrists, a profession he believed to be “amoral”.

In late July 1972, Antony tried to throw his mother under the traffic outside her penthouse on Cadogan Square in Chelsea, London. She was only saved by his physical weakness, and the intervention of her friend Susan Guinness. Although the Metropolitan Police arrested Antony for attempted murder, Barbara refused to press charges. Antony was subsequently admitted to The Priory private psychiatric hospital, but was released soon afterwards.

Antony then undertook sessions with a psychiatrist while living at home. The doctor became so concerned about Antony’s condition that on October 30, he warned Barbara that he was capable of murder. Barbara dismissed the doctor’s assertion.

Two weeks later, on November 17, 1972, Antony murdered his mother by stabbing her with a kitchen knife, killing her almost instantly. She was 51 years of age at the time, and Antony was 25. Police arrived and found Antony at the scene of the crime. He later confessed to, and was charged with, her murder.

Antony was institutionalized at Broadmoor Hospital until July 21, 1980, when, at the urging of a group of his friends, he was released. Upon his release, Antony, now aged 33, flew directly to New York City to stay with his 87-year-old maternal grandmother, Nini Daly. Only six days after his release, on July 27, he attacked her with a kitchen knife, stabbing her eight times and breaking several bones. He was then arrested by the New York City Police Department, charged with attempted murder and sent to Rikers Island prison.

After eight months of assessment by the psychiatric team at Rikers Island, he was expecting to be released on bail at a court hearing on March 20, 1981. However, the case was adjourned by the judge due to a delay in the transfer of his medical records from the UK. Antony returned to his cell at 3:30 PM on March 20, 1981, and was found dead there 30 minutes later, suffocated by a plastic bag.(Wikipedia: Barbara Daly Baekeland).

Taken with a Sony RX100-M3.

There are a number of cemeteries in Cold Spring, most of which I’ve already visited. I tried to go here once before. Unfortunately I didn’t realize that there was a smaller, less interesting cemetery almost directly opposite and I went to the wrong one. This is the oldest cemetery in Cold Spring, dating back to at least the 1750’s. Thomas Davenport, Cold Spring’s first settler, is interred here, as are several West Point Foundry personnel. Here also is George Pope Morris, noted author, newspaper man and poet.

This is the restored tomb of William Hopkins Morris. William Hopkins Morris (April 22, 1827 – August 26, 1900) was an American soldier, an officer in the United States Army, author, editor, and inventor. He served as a brigadier general of volunteers in the Union Army during the American Civil War.





Detail of the grave of Mary Feeley. The inscription on the grave reads: “Sacred to the memory of Mary Terresa Feely wife of John A Murphy. Daughter of Anthony and Mary Feeley. Died Dec. 3rd 1870 aged 22 years 8 mo’s and 22 days. Also their child Margaret. Died Aug. 17th, 1869, aged 11 mo’s & 11 days.
Requiescant in Pace.

Taken with a Sony A77 II and Tamron AF 18-250mm f3.5-5.6

According to Wikipedia:

Montparnasse Cemetery (French: Cimetière du Montparnasse) is a cemetery in the Montparnasse quarter of Paris, in the city’s 14th arrondissement. The cemetery is roughly 47 acres and is the second largest cemetery in Paris. The cemetery has over 35,000 graves and approximately a thousand people are buried here each year.

The cemetery contains 35,000 plots and is the resting place to a variety of individuals including political figures, philosophers, artists, actors, and writers. Additionally, in the cemetery one can find a number of tombs commemorating those who died in the Franco-Prussian war during the Siege of Paris (1870-1871) and the Paris Commune (1871).

…

The cemetery was created in the beginning of the 19th century in the southern part of the city. At the same time there were cemeteries outside city limits: Passy Cemetery to the west, Montmartre Cemetery to the north, and Père Lachaise Cemetery to the east.

In the 16th century the intersecting roads of Vavin and Raspail were dump areas for rubble and stones from nearby quarries. This created an artificial hill and is where “mont” came into the name Montparnasse. Students at the time would congregate on the hill to have fun and participate in open-air dances.

In the 17th century the future location of the cemetery consisted of three farms that belonged to the Hôtel-Dieu hospital and an estate of the Brothers of Charity (frères de la Charité). During this time monks built a windmill that is still visible today, minus its sails. During the French Revolution the land and church were confiscated and the cemetery became property of the government. At this time, anyone who died at the hospital and whose body was not claimed was buried here.

In the 19th century cemeteries were banned in Paris due to health concerns. Several new cemeteries outside the precincts of the capital replaced all the internal Parisian ones: Montmartre Cemetery in the north, Père Lachaise Cemetery in the east, and Montparnasse Cemetery in the south. Montparnasse as well as Père Lachaise and Montmartre replaced the Cimetière des Innocents (those buried here were relocated to the Catacombs). During this time the city of Paris attained the estate and surrounding grounds in order to create a cemetery for the burial of people who lived in the Left Bank of the city. Previously, these inhabitants were buried in the cemetery of Sainte-Catherine and in the village of Vaugirard.

The cemetery at Montparnasse was originally known as Le Cimetière du Sud (Southern Cemetery) and it officially opened July 25, 1824. Since its opening, more than 300,000 people have been buried in Montparnasse.

Taken with a Sony RX100M3.