Later Dr. Baekeland turned his attention to the phenol condensation
products, working gradually up from test tubes to ton vats according to
his motto: "Make your mistakes on a small scale and your profits on a
large scale." He found that when equal weights of phenol and
formaldehyde were mixed and warmed in the presence of an alkaline
catalytic agent the solution separated into two layers, the upper
aqueous and the lower a resinous precipitate. This resin was soft,
viscous and soluble in alcohol or acetone. But if it was heated under
pressure it changed into another and a new kind of resin that was hard,
inelastic, unplastic, infusible and insoluble. The chemical name of this
product is "polymerized oxybenzyl methylene glycol anhydride," but
nobody calls it that, not even chemists. It is called "Bakelite" after
its inventor.
The two stages in its preparation are convenient in many ways. For
instance, porous wood may be soaked in the soft resin and then by heat
and pressure it is changed to the bakelite form and the wood comes out
with a hard finish that may be given the brilliant polish of Japanese
lacquer.
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