History

crystex cover pictures

  • In 1900, Percy Crosley, a Chemical Engineer employed by Hoare Miller Company, British owners of extensive Indian mining facilities, was consigned to find some use for the mountains of scrap mica accumulating at the source. Crosley discovered that high -grade mica mixed with powdered electrical glasses and fused at high temperatures and high pressures produced a new material inheriting the insulating advantages of mica and glass.
  • In 1914, Mycalex Corporation, Limited of England started to manufacture and sell Glass-Bonded Mica as an insulator known under the trade name “MYCALEX.”
  • In 1919, Mycalex Corporation of America was established.
  • In 1923, The British Company granted a non-exclusive license to General Electric USA.
  • In 1930, Another license was granted to Westinghouse Electric Corporation USA.
  • In 1931, Jerome Taishoff, born in Russia in 1900 immigrated to the U.S.A. in 1907. He was a business entrepreneur and aided in the formation of Mycalex Corporation of America.
  • In 1933, Jerome Taishoff facilitated the acquisition of the original US patents for Mycalex by assignment from Mycalex Company, Limited of England, and relocated the Mycalex business to Clifton New Jersey.
  • In 1944, The introduction of Transfer Molding processes of glass-bonded mica permitted the molding of complex geometries with or without metal inserts.
  • In 1949, After world war II, the process for producing synthetic mica was brought from Germany to the United States with the help of the prominent German researcher Dr. Wilheim Eitel. Subsequently, the Bureau of Mines continued the research in conjunction with the Mycalex Corporation of America.
  • In 1955, After several years of experimenting and spending about one million dollars on researching, Mycalex successfully developed a process of manufacturing synthetic mica. A plant was set up in Caldwell, NJ and Synethic Mica was produced commercially.
  • In 1963, In the interest of more effective and economical operations, the Caldwell plant was consolidated into the Clifton Plant and a new addition was built to accommodate this facility. Jerome Taishoff passed away on December 20, 1964, and the Mycalex business was left to his only daughter and sole heir, Vishay Taishoff.
  • In 1965, Monogram Industries purchased Mycalex Corporation of America and made it a subsidiary of Spaulding Fibre Co., Inc.
  • From 1969 to 1973, Mycalex hit all-time record-breaking sales. The company had approximately 400 employees and sales of $12 million annually.
  • In 1981, Spaulding Fibre purchased its competitor Mykroy Ceramics Glass-Bonded Mica and merged it with Mycalex to become Mykroy/Mycalex Ceramics.
  • In 1983, Monogram Industries sold Spaulding Fibre Company Inc. to Nortek Industries, and Spaulding Fibre became a new business renamed Spaulding Composites Company Inc.
  • In October 2003, George Flores founder of  Crystex Composites LLC purchased the Mykroy/Mycalex assets from Spaulding Composites.