Fiberloid Company, 1894 - 1938

     The early beginnings of the Fiberloid Company can be directly traced to the formation of the Lithoid Manufacturing Company; however it is necessary to first mention an earlier organization, the Lignoid Fancy Article Manufacturing Company. Lignoid was formed in Newark, New Jersey, in 1878, and two years later the company moved to Newburyport, Massachusetts. 
     It is currently not known what happened with the Lignoid Fancy Article Mfg. Company as it seems to fade away in historical records. However, there is a possibility, but no documented proof, that the Lignoid firm was reorganized to form the Solid Fiber Company.
     The Solid Fiber Company of Newburyport, operated by Edward F. Coffin, was an established producer of cellulose nitrate sheet stock. In 1884, Silas Kenyon, George Tapley and J. D. Parsons of the United Manufacturing Co. of Springfield, Massachusetts, a paper collar and cuff enterprise, merged their business with the Solid Fiber Company of Newburyport for the manufacture of waterproof cuffs and collars. In January of 1888 Silas Kenyon, George Tapley, J. D. Parsons of Springfield, and Julius Levine, a financial backer from New York, assumed control of the Solid Fiber Company and reorganized the firm as the Lithoid Corporation. 
     The new enterprise carried on operations for several years producing their brand of pyroxylin plastic "Lithoid" for the manufacture of waterproof collars and cuffs, as well as sheet stock for piano keys. Then in the early 1890s, the company went out of business; however the machinery and factory facilities were left intact. Shortly thereafter, the businessmen previously involved in the manufacture of Lithoid decided once again to engage in a pyroxylin plastic venture. In 1894 they formed the Fiberloid Company of Maine and proceeded to manufacture a nitrocellulose plastic material they called Fiberloid. Operations were successfully carried out in the Newburyport facility until after the turn of the twentieth century.
     In 1904 the Fiberloid manufacturing plant was completely destroyed by a raging fire. The following year a new factory complex was built on a 16-acre tract of land along the Chicopee River in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield. In 1911 the name of the company was changed to the Fiberloid Company of Massachusetts. 
     By 1914, Fiberloid had doubled its plant capacity and was said to have been responsible for one-quarter of the total cellulose nitrate production in the United States, a production output equal with that of the Celluloid Company. In 1916 the name was changed to Fiberloid Corporation.
     Throughout the 1920s, Fiberloid Corporation's reputation as a manufacturer of quality pyroxylin plastics continued to grow and production increased. The line of goods marketed including toiletware, cutlery handles, automobile curtains, toothbrushes, bathroom accessories, fountain pens, golf club faces, advertising novelties, jewelry, imitation leather, and cuffs and collars. By 1930 the Indian Orchard facility consisted of 40 buildings, all protected against fire by their own fire department, with three inexhaustible water supplies. A cafeteria and emergency hospital were also located on the grounds.
     In 1933 the Monsanto Chemical Company of St. Louis purchased 14% interest in the company and five years later completely absorbed the company; in 1938 Fiberloid became the Plastic Division of Monsanto.

The Ill Fated Fifth

American Zylonite, 1881 - 1890

     In early 1881 the American Zylonite Company was formed by Leroy L. Brown of Adams, Massachusetts, who had purchased patents from British Xylonite with the intent of manufacturing pyroxylin plastic under license of Englishman Daniel Spill, the developer of Xylonite. Edward Worden in his volume Nitrocellulose Industry notes that the American name was pronounced "zy-low-nite,"� the zy� as in enzyme, while the English name was pronounced zil-o-nite,� the il� as in Spill.
     Brown was the owner of Graylock Paper Mills in Cummington and had a ready source for the cellulose fiber used in the making of cellulose nitrate. For two years following the organization of the firm, Brown and his employees worked tirelessly building a complex to manufacture raw pyroxylin plastic and finished articles from the material he called Zylonite.
     In the summer of 1883 a variety of American Zylonite goods were finally placed on the market. The product line included combs, brushes, collars, cuffs, toys, handles, shoe horns, curtain rings, surgical instruments, chess pieces, doorknobs, manicure implements, piano keys, and much more. These finished goods were all products of the Zylonite Brush and Comb Co.; the Zylonite Collar and Cuff Co.; the Zylonite Novelty Company; and United Zylonite Co.

This circa 1895 photograph shows a group of workers standing in front of a trolley car that ran between the towns of North Adams, Zylonite, Renfrew, and Adams.