Leica IZQOO 14051. Bakelite?

[hannycatania]

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I would like to take stock of the material used for the rear caps of the optics from many years ago. Plastic or bakelite? In particular the Leica IZQOO 14051 which so many of us have or have had. The one on bakelite is a current fashion of the vintage market in the most varied objects, especially women's jewelry. I was curious to know how long Leitz has used this material and since the normal plastic has taken over. According to an article from http: //www.wetzlar-historica-italia.it/tappi.html ... it seems that bakelite has been used far back in the years and that a very common cap like IZQOO 14051 is already normal plastic material. I don't know if it can be a topic of interest or not. Thanks anyway to anyone who wants to enrich with some news.

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[lct]

I would ask your question on the Collectors & Historica forum.

[farnz]

4 hours ago, hannycatania said:

Plastic or bakelite?

Since Bakelite's chemical name is polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride it is synthetic plastic so it's not completely clear what you're asking.  Do you mean one of the modern injection moulded plastics (polymer materials) such as polyethylene or polypropylene?

The IZQOO's that I have definitely don't feel like Bakelite and they don't appear brittle like Bakelite and they don't seem heavy enough to be Bakelite so my guess is that they're probably manufactured from a urea-formaldehide (UF) resin.

Pete.

[robert_parker]

8 minutes ago, farnz said:

Bakelite's chemical name is polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride

...does that work to the tune of 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'....  ⚗️😉👍

🎼🎵....poly-oxy-benzyl-methyl-engly-colan hyd-ride... 🎶

...Yes, it does... ☺️👍

Edited April 19, 2021 by robert_parker

[farnz]

5 minutes ago, robert_parker said:

...does that work to the tune of 'supercalifragilisticexpialidocious'....  ⚗️😉👍

🎼🎵....poly-oxy-benzyl-methyl-engly-colan hyd-ride... 🎶

...Yes, it does... ☺️👍

Um diddle-diddle-diddle um-diddle-ay.

Pete.

[lct]

Bakelite has always been a sort of hard plastic to me. Resisting wear and tear for years. The lens cap of my Elmar 35/3.5 from 1948 looks still like new. Now all my 14051 caps have been normal (soft?) plastic since the seventies and the only IZQOO's i've heard of were metal so there is nothing i can do to help the OP sorry. Not sure if Mary Poppins can do anything either .

[Danner]

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I have the factory plastic canister for my 1952 Summitar 50/2.  Pretty sure it is bakelite.

[hannycatania]

It is clear that bakelite is also a synthetic plastic. I meant to distinguish it from (modern?) Plastic. The discourse on the IZQOO 14051 cap was suggested by its brightness (in fact the internal part where the bayonet hooks is gray and is of another material) and by what a friend of mine reported. I read on the internet that at the beginning of the last century, since its discovery, to obtain the condensation reaction of phenol and formaldehyde, wood flour or even asbestos fiber was added as a filler. So bakelite objects can contain asbestos fibers and if broken potentially dangerous?

[jdlaing]

26 minutes ago, hannycatania said:

It is clear that bakelite is also a synthetic plastic. I meant to distinguish it from (modern?) Plastic. The discourse on the IZQOO 14051 cap was suggested by its brightness (in fact the internal part where the bayonet hooks is gray and is of another material) and by what a friend of mine reported. I read on the internet that at the beginning of the last century, since its discovery, to obtain the condensation reaction of phenol and formaldehyde, wood flour or even asbestos fiber was added as a filler. So bakelite objects can contain asbestos fibers and if broken potentially dangerous?

No it cannot be dangerous as it is not friable contained in a plastic material.

[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Everybody,

Bakelite was developed in the early 20th Century by Dr. Leo Baekeland who was from Belgium. He did much of his work in Perth Amboy, New Jersey. USofA. The Company later moved to Bound Brook, New Jersey, USofA. Bakelite is 1 of the plastics that was developed to be a low cost, high quality, long lived replacement for woods & metals which, it was clear by the middle of the 19th Century, were becoming used up & therefore would be less available as a resource in the years to come. This type of plastic was seen as a permanent, NOT disposable replacement. Disposable plastics in the sense that people think of them today are more of a post World War 2 concept.

Best Regards,

Michael

[a.noctilux]

Hello everybody,

II have over time about a dozen  of IZQOO 14051 (now replaced with plastic cover modern 14269 or 14379 ).

When new, those old covers were very nice, with  time almost all of them cracked, some with inner parts wear, so not really "permanent" for use.

 

Some days ago, I had an LTM-M adapter stuck on one of my M, so I use one of my "almost new 14051" to release the adapter.

One of the three prongs fell out and two other half cut, not been able to release the adapter.

So I used one newer Voigtlander M rear cap to release the adapter with ease.