When was ...

[pete]

... the first plastic and/or resin clarinet made? What make/model?

I know that it was before WWII, because I've got pictures of a V. Kohlert's Sons clarinet: they changed their name to just Kohlert after WWII.

I also know that Bakelite was developed between 1907 and 1909.

(I'm also looking for info on the first rubber clarinet and the first metal clarinet.)

 

[Gandalfe]

The Wikipedia article on clarinet has a beginning bibliography that might be a starting place for your research Pete.

One of my favorite sites, The Silver Clarinet sez:

"The clarinet was first made of plastic in 1948. The Selmer company developed a clarinet that year with a plastic body. The product was so well received that production of the metal clarinet was stopped by manufacturers within a few years."

​

"Metal clarinets were in production from 1895-1965 with the majority being made between 1924-1939 for the American market. Attempts to make a metal clarinet before Agostino Rampone invented the double-walled design in 1879 were apparently useless experiments. The Rampone design was put forward by Conn with considerable success."

The eBay Guide site sez, "The first production of metal clarinets began after a Conn patent in 1888. Other makers came up with some great instruments in the first two decades of the 20th century -- most of these were double-walled. A flood of student horns began to hit the market in the 1920s. In the late 20s new pro models were designed as top-of-the-line instruments, but production of the better quality ended with the depression. Around 1938 top pro quality metal clarinets were being made again, but that stopped abruptly with the War. After the War, Conn didn't make any more, and most other makers phased out metal clarinets except for LeBlanc which made a student Noblet until 1963."

 

[pete]

I'm answering myself, for one part. Looks like the first metal clarinet was introduced in 1817 or 1818 by Halari (these dates are mentioned on a couple of websites).

If I've got a picture of a plastic clarinet from before WWII, that means that the 1948 date is wrong .

 

[SOTSDO]

Strictly speaking, the first plastic clarinet was the first rubber clarinet. Rubber is a natural plastic, with all of the same kind of problems and desirable qualities as stuff like ABS and PS.

Bakelite plastic is a thermosetting plastic, one that polymerizes when heated, instead of melting when heated past the same point. It's nasty stuff to deal with, but was a wonderful substitute for diecast pot metal, when used in its lieu.

Lazarus played rubber clarinets back in the day, so that pushes them back to the late 1800's or so.

 

[jbtsax]

Ok SOTSDO. You are going to need to explain your comment that rubber is a "natural" plastic to those of us who are scientifically challenged like myself. Can you elaborate on that a bit (in layman's terms, of course).

I remember when Tom Ridenour was trying to promote his hard rubber clarinet and bass clarinet made in China in our music store. He claimed that his rubber clarinet was closer to wood than plastic clarinets because rubber comes from trees. I thought that all sounded like something that comes from bulls, but of course I listened politely to his pitch.

His clarinets had some good design ideas, but the manufacturing quality from China was just not very good at that time and we passed on carrying his line.

 

[SOTSDO]

Always happy to oblige my friends and neighbors...

The method whereby the molecules "link up" in natural rubber (caoutchouc in French, for those of you following along at home) is similar to the way that styrene molecules link up when it transitions from a very viscous liquid to solid.

Different plastics do this in different ways. And, most of them are man-made.

The only "natural" plastics are based upon plant products, such as rubber, camphor, gutta percha or cellulose. Most have limited use these days, excepting only rubber and Cellophane.

For more than you would ever want to know about plastics, in a wonderful book that is extremely entertaining as it informs, check out the book Plastic - The Making of A Synthetic Century by Stephen Fenichell. From how it all began with rubber and cellulose, to how George Eastman committed suicide (on his bed, with a Luger pistol), this book has it all.

 

[jbtsax]

Thanks for that easy to understand description. How do they make the usually flexible rubber hard to make mouthpieces and instrument bodies out of?

 

[SOTSDO]

Heat and sulphur. (Note that I refuse to use the "modern" sulfur - tradition and all of that, I guess.)

The rubber raw material (which is usually a mixture of a number of substances (including the vital sulphur, not really a compound in the chemical sense) is squeezed into a mold and then heated to the magic temperature. At that point, the sulphur causes the rubber to "cross link" and then retain its shape under all temperatures. It's called vulcanization, was discovered by Goodyear (and then immediately pirated by British manufacturers), and is the reason that we use rubber today. Without it, all you have is a sticky, smelly mess.

Vulcanized rubber (rubber suitable for use in stuff like tires and clarinet mouthpieces and tank track) can be "devulcanized" in an autoclave. It then returns to the original gooey rubber, ready to be remolded into something else.

This is an extremely filthy process that is hazardous for the employees (autoclaves explode occasionally), and not for the faint of heart. We had one of these plants in East Saint Louis, and you could tell for a week who had been out there by the stink that they brought back to the office on their equipment and field notes.

And then, there is carbon disulphide, a chemical use extensively in rubber processes. Nasty stuff...