Page 3 | CHEM-TEXTS | Vol. 13, 1979
75 Years of Excellence in Manufacturing Chemicals
[AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH OF INDUSTRIAL PLANT]
This recent aerial photo of the Naugatuck Chemical plant shows the growth of the plant in 75 years. At the top is the Borough of Naugatuck’s Treatment plant. Not shown in the photo is the TSSC and EMIC Bldgs. The building at the lower left is the old Rubber Regenerating Company.
From one small building, Bldg. 1, and one simple product—sulfuric acid—the Naugatuck Chemical plant has grown to be one of the world’s leading manufacturers of rubber chemicals. Today, virtually every automobile tire on the road contains one of the chemicals manufactured by the people in the Chemical Manufacturing unit.
The plant is also a major producer of agricultural chemicals and thermoplastic polymers. Omite® miticide is used in every part of the world to control mite damage on cotton, fruit, and other valuable food crops.
In 75 years the plant has grown to over 100 buildings that occupies 69 acres of land along the Naugatuck river. Besides the plant location Naugatuck is also the world headquarters for the Chemical division.
Roots Traced to Goodyear
Uniroyal Chemical traces its roots to Charles Goodyear and his patent for vulcanizing rubber onto cloth for coats, shoes and gloves.
Goodyear, who lived in Naugatuck, founded two companies there, Goodyear India Rubber Glove Co. and Goodyear Metallic Rubber Shoe Co., and issued licenses for his vulcanization method to a number of New England manufacturers, who each produced a single vulcanized product.
A group of the licensees formed a purchasing cooperative in 1892, called the United States Rubber Co., which grew to be the Uniroyal of today.
In 1892, the Rubber Regenerating Co., was formed in Naugatuck to reclaim the scrap rubber from the many footwear and clothing plants in New England.
Naugatuck Chemical Co. Formed
The Rubber Regenerating Co. was buying its sulfuric acid from a plant in New Jersey, until 1904
when a group of Naugatuck investors formed the Naugatuck tube Chemical Co. to produce sulfuric acid for the rubber firm.
The two Naugatuck plants, Rubber Regenerating Co. and Naugatuck Chemical Co. were acquired by United States Rubber company in 1910 and 1913, each operating as a separate division. Later, the two were brought under single management as the Naugatuck Chemical Division of the United States Rubber Co.
Aniline Made
During World War I, aniline, used more and more as an agent to speed the vulcanization process, was in short supply, since most of it was produced overseas. When the German blockade shut off the shipments of aniline, the Naugatuck Chemical Co. began to make its own aniline, the first organic chemical manufactured by the chemical division.
Aniline was the first of many specialized rubber chemicals developed and manufactured at Naugatuck Chemical.
In World War II, the country found itself without its sources of raw rubber. The government and a number of companies, including U.S. Rubber joined forces to develop a synthetic rubber needed for the tires to keep our military moving.
The synthetic rubber industry was founded, with Naugatuck Chemical one of the firms which began to manufacture it, along with plastics and latex.
Agricultural Chemicals Organized
After World War II, Naugatuck Chemical began the production of agricultural chemicals, which today is a major factor in the division. But that new use of chemicals was based on the old, for it was a rubber chemical which was devel-
continued on page 4
[PHOTOGRAPH OF OLD BUILDING]
This is an old photograph of the Rubber Regenerating Co. Bldg. It is presently being renovated for the plant’s Technical Department.
The Rubber Regenerating Co. was founded in 1892 to reclaim the scrap rubber from the many footwear and clothing plants in the New England area.
Charles Goodyear who lived in Naugatuck received a patent for vulcanizing rubber onto cloth for coats, shoes and gloves. He issued a license for the vulcanization process to a number of New England manufacturers.
[PHOTOGRAPH OF INDUSTRIAL BUILDING]
Bldg. 1, the original Naugatuck Chemical plant, was dismantled in 1978. It manufactured sulfuric acid for the Rubber Regenerating Co. On the side of Bldg. 30 is one of the signs painted throughout the plant as part of the Parallel Planning program.
