Thetford Pulp Ware - Forerunner of Today's Plasticware
David Bowsher

David Bowsher has made a special study of pulp ware - not a true 'plastic' but an early cellulose moulding material, heat cured with natural and, later, synthetic resin.

The site of Thetford Moulded Products lies in Mill Lane, Thetford, Norfolk, between the two rivers - the Little Ouse and the Thet - which over the years have powered the manufacture of a wide variety of products - paper, cloth, flour, felt and in particular pulp ware. From 1866 to 1869 Mackie & Watson produced a range of paper, felt and an early type of pulp ware. When the company failed, the site lay idle until in 1873 Edward Vickers & Co. purchased the thirty or so buildings which contained a variety of interesting machinery: vats, steeps, rag boilers, rag engines, high pressure boilers, a weighbridge, patent American hat making machines, steam engines and two water wheels.

The new company known as Vickers & Knowles also failed but not before introducing several patents in 1878. In 1879 the Patent Pulp Manufacturing Co. was founded, acquiring the 1878 patent 'granted to Edward Charles Vickers and Edwin William Knowles for improvement in the treatment and application of vegetable and animal pulps or fibres for the manufacture of hollow and moulded articles in immitation of leather, earthenware or papier mâché and in the construction and arrangement for machinery to be used'. The company flourished and increased its range of articles to over 150 items (see Plastics Antiques, BIP, p9).

The main difference between papier mâché and Thetford Pulp Ware was that the pulp ware was waterproof. The chief raw material was woodpulp, jute bagging and other vegetable fibres and rags. During the Second World War supplies were restricted so secret papers were brought under escort from London to be shredded to make wartime products - mainly vulcanised fuel tanks for aircraft, tank and motor cycle helmets and containers.

The material was first cleaned by boiling with lime, then shredded in rag engines for two days to form a slurry with water. Most of the water was extracted by feeding the pulp into sieve-like formers roughly the shape of the final object. Additional water was removed with a vacuum pump and finally an hydraulic press squeezed out the remaining moisture. These blanks were placed in a drying shed for one to four weeks. When dried they felt very much like cardboard, and were stamped or embossed into their final shape by powerful cam operated machines. They were then soaked in linseed oil to make them water repellant, which turned them from grey to brown and then the decoration was added using several long and varied processes. Printed paper transfers were used for decoration or for applied advertising, and a top coat of japan or lacquer was added to make them water and acid proof.

Pulp ware manufacture ceased in the late 1950s due mainly to the introduction of polyethylene and polypropylene but also due to changes in popular taste. The company is still in operation, moulding Centurion motor cycle helmets and laminated trays with cores of paper, and so it still retains its connection with the paper products of the past.