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Article: The Bakelite Museum
- Article from:
- Professional Engineering
- Article date:
- June 13, 2007
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Professional Engineering Publishing Ltd Jun 13, 2007. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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One man's obsession has resulted in a fascinating museum, says Lee Hibbert
Once upon a time, there was a man who bought a Bakelite radio for £5. Then he bought a telephone made from the same material. And then a TV. He carried on gathering items until his collection took over his house, and then eventually his life.
That's pretty much the story of Patrick Cook, the wonderfully eccentric character who has established the Bakelite Museum in Somerset. Now housed in an old watermill, the museum is a shrine to what was the world's first entirely synthetic material, developed by chemist Leo Baekeland 100 years ago next month.
Cook says his early interest in the material quickly developed into ...