Scott Bader was formed in 1920 in London (UK), then moved to Wollaston (UK) in 1940. The company has been instrumental in the development of polyester resins, designing the first room temperature cure polyester resin in 1941 and the first 'air drying' polyesters in 1949. Ernest Bader established Scott Bader Ltd as a Common Ownership Company in 1951 and three years later Scott Bader developed the first marine polyester resin. This was used to make the GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic) hull for Halmatic's 'Perpetua' (the first large GRP boat in the world).
The company continued its close relationship with the marine industry and designed marine class Gelcoats in 1965. By 1980, an extensive range of Crystic® products had been built up and sold all over the world in markets such as building; transport; chemical containment and piping.
The development of today's Speciality Polymer business started in the 1960s with sales of Polidene, polyvinylidine chloride copolymers, for barrier coatings. Sobral alkyd resin production also commenced in this decade. By the early 1970s, Polidenes were in full scale production and in the late 1970s were also being used to offer fire retardant properties to the textile industry.
In 1975 Scott Bader received The Queen's Award for Technological Innovation for a full gloss Lightning emulsion paint based on Polidene.Here is a comprehensive overview of the development history of Scott Bader:
| 1922 |
First low-viscosity cellulose nitrate introduced to the UK lacquer industry. |
| 1924 |
First oil-soluble synthetic resins introduced from Germany. |
| 1928 |
American phebolic resins introduced to the UK. |
| 1931 |
Tego film for the manufacture of high grade plywood introduced to the UK from Germany. |
| 1933 |
First acrylic emulsions for leather introduced. |
| 1934 |
First chlorinated rubbers introduced for the paint industry. |
| 1936 |
First naphthenate driers for the paint industry introduced. |
| 1938 |
Oxidised rubbers for the paint industry introduced. |
| 1940 |
Production of phenolic resins started. |
| 1941 |
Reclaimed rubber emulsions introduced to combat wartime rubber shortages. |
| 1943 |
Production of alkyd resins started. |
| 1946 |
First unsaturated polyester resins made in Europe. |
| 1947 |
First cold curing polyester resins. |
| 1949 |
First UK Technical Forum on UP resins held at Wollaston. |
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First UK manufacture of sulphonamide resins. |
| 1950 |
First GRP boat made using SB UP resins. |
| 1951 |
First manufacture in UK of translucent GRP roof sheeting. |
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"Tod 12" the first GRP production series boat made with SB resins. |
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First cold curing non-air inhibited resins introduced |
| 1952 |
First complete car body made with SB resins. |
| 1953 |
First thixotropic UP resins introduced. |
| 1954 |
C189 introduced - first purpose designed marine laminating resin. |
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"Perpetua" - first large GRP boat, 15 metre, in the world made with Crystic resin. |
| 1955 |
Alkali soluble PVA emulsion introduced. |
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Acrylic copolymer emulsion for paint applications introduced. |
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UP resins used in first transparant GRP roof sheeting. |
| 1956 |
Polymeric and monomeric plasticisers introduced. |
| 1957 |
First Gelcoats developed. The term "Gelcoat" has become the industry term for these materials. |
| 1962 |
Polidene PVdC emulsions introduced |
| 1964 |
First all GRP fishing fleet produced in South Africa using Crystic resins. |
| 1967 |
First all GRP passenger carrying hovercraft built with Crystic resins. |
| 1968 |
The "Sir Thomas Lipton" early advanced technology GRP sandwich construction 17 metre yacht. Winner if the 1968 singlehanded transatlantic race. |
| 1969 |
Polidene copolymer emulsions for high-gloss paint introduced. |
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First intumescent UP resin, Crystic Fireguard, introduced. |
| 1970 |
First 28 metre GRP trawlers built in Peru with Crystic resin. |
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Intumescent emulsion paint developed. |
| 1971 |
Crystic SMC introduced. |
| 1972 |
First 39 metre GRP yacht moulded in France with Crystic resin. |
| 1973 |
Crystic 600 first Bisphenol modified UP resin for chemical containment. |
| 1974 |
First alkali soluble acrylic emulsions introduced. |
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Water-dilutable alkali-soluble acrylics introduced. |
| 1975 |
SB receive "Queen's Award for Technological Innovation". |
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Crystic resin used for first all GRP offshore RNLI lifeboat. |
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First British Rail High speed trains using structural GRP made with Crystic resins. |
| 1977 |
First environmentally safe marine antifouling coating, Crystic Copperclad. |
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First blister resistant marine matched laminating system. |
| 1978 |
First ocean racing yacht injected using Crystic resins. |
| 1979 |
"Eclipse" first lightweight Kevlar/GRP and PVC foam sandwich construction injected using VARI process. Joint "Yacht of the year" winner and highest individual points scorer in the Admirals Cup 1979 race. |
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Crystic low styrene emission resins intoduced for hand laminating application. |
| 1980 |
Crystic 388 first clear Class 1/0 fire retarardant resin introduced. |
| 1981 |
First resins to use visible light as the curing agent introduced. |
| 1982 |
Crystic Impel moulding compounds introduced. |
| 1983 |
First passenger carrying hovercraft bonded together using Crestomer structural adhesives. |
| 1987 |
First "Sandown" class of minehunters made using Crestomer 1152PA structural fillets. |
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Crestomer 1174PA first Crestomer hybrid resin intoduced. |
| 1988 |
"Flippin 'Eck" first high speed powerboat. First use of advanced Crystic resin hybrid technology with Crestomer and Kevlar reinforcements. |
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First "purpose designed" low styrene emission resins for spray application introduced. |
| 1989 |
"Flippin 'Eck" wins UKOBA national championships for Class 1 and Class 2 boats. |
| 1990 |
"Flippin 'Eck" almost wins the world championships but defeated by an oil leak. |
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First "Fab 3" prototype RNLI lifeboat built with technology proven in "Flippin 'Eck. |
| 1992 |
Aberfeldy bridge, worlds largest GRP bridge installed using the Crystic Plank system. |
| 1993 |
First introduction of low styrene emission resins based on new wax free technology. |
| 1994 |
New wax free styrene emission technology wins awards at BPF Conference. |
| 1997 |
Crestomer Advantage cartridge based structural adhesive system introduced. |
| 1998 |
Crystic Protec introduced setting new standards for exterior weathering performance. |
| 1999 |
Crystic LS98PA, first low styrene emission gelcoat inroduced. |
| 2006 |
Crestapol 1250, first purpose designed laminating resin with low fibre print through. |
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Crestapol 1230, introduced setting new standards for high temperature performance in a thermosetting resin. |
| 2007 |
Crestapol laminating resins for use in high performance laminates using carbon fibre introduced. |