96 www. bus- ex. com NOVEMBER 09 Thousands of and counting

Jeff Daniels takes a look at how one of the most universal home materials is made, and some of its many uses T ake a sheet of brown paper and a decorated sheet of white, soak them in resins and then layer them before drying and pressing and you have one of the most widely used and iconic of 20th- century materials- Formica. It sounds relatively simple, and it probably was when the discovery was first made back in 1913. At the time, though, the thought wasn't on surfacing tabletops but rather as a substitute " for mica"- an important insulating material used in a flood of revolutionary new electrically powered machines springing up in the innovative ferment that was the dawn of the modern age. The engineer who recognized the potential of a newer, Formica Corporation NOVEMBER 09 www. bus- ex. com 97 Thousands ofuses-and counting