Allcocks Aerial advice please

[HayrickMeadow]

I have had these Allcocks Aerials for nearly 40 years now, and I use them regularly. They all seem to suffer, in varying degrees, from cracks in the handles, even though they are well cared for and never left damp.. are there any authentic replacement handles available, ( if they could be fitted!) or best left as they are. Any help or advice would be much appreciated. Thank you.

[Paul F]

Hi John, leave them well alone, they are xyolonite handles, often called chewing gum handles, it is how they go and all part of the patina.

If you ever had thoughts of selling the reels, but you will reduce the value of the reel by 25% changing them!

Just noticed, the top reel is double ventilated

Don't dare change those handles

[Pallenpool]

As Paul says - never do anything to them - it’s oodles of character your pins look in very good order too.

[HayrickMeadow]

Thank you for your words of wisdom gents, yes I will leave the handles alone, and put up with the cracks!

[The Bishop]

Beautiful as they are

[Nobby]

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov. ... une%201877.


also:

The British Xylonite Company could justifiably claim to be the first British firm successfully to manufacture a plastic material in commercial quantities. Xylonite, better known by its American equivalent of 'celluloid', was invented by Alexander Parkes and first displayed in 1862 under the name of 'Parkesine'. Derived from the nitro-cellulose and collodion processes, it was initially used for making domestic articles in substitution for wood, horn, ivory or tortoiseshell. Its subsequent development was closely associated with Hackney, being taken up by Daniel Spill, rubber manufacturer, in 1864 and later by the Xylonite Company at Hackney Wick and the 'Ivoride' Works at Homerton High Street. The founders of the British Xylonite Company, Levi Parsons Merriam and his son Charles, established in 1875 a small business to make combs, imitation jewellery etc. next door to the 'Ivoride' Works; the two works merged in 1879.


The original site being small and unsuitable, it was decided in 1887 to buy land at Brantham on the Suffolk bank of the River Stour and erect a purpose-built factory; finished goods continued to be made at Homerton until 1897 when a new factory was built at Hale End near Walthamstow (its products going by the trade name of 'Halex') which also housed the head office. Other types of plastics were introduced, and in 1938 the British Xylonite Company became a holding company with three subsidiaries: B.X. Plastics making xylonite and lactoid; Halex Ltd. making finished goods, and Cascelloid Ltd. making toys and bottles at Leicester and Coalville. The Distillers Company took a half-interest in 1939 and bought the entire Group in 1961, but in 1963 it formed part of a new grouping called Bakelite Xylonite Ltd. established jointly with Union Carbide, and including plants at Birmingham, Aycliffe and Grangemouth.


Several sales and mergers took place in the 1960s and 1970s, the most significant being the sale of the Brantham and Aycliffe sites in 1966 to British Industrial Plastics, a subsidiary of Turner and Newall Ltd., who were in turn purchased in 1977 by Storey Brothers of Lancaster, formerly a major commercial rival. The Brantham site now operates under the name of Wardle Storeys and until recently manufactured limited quantities of xylonite using traditional processes and equipment.

[HayrickMeadow]

Thanks for that wealth of information Nobby!

[Silfield]

Is there anything that can be done to stabilise the degradation on this material? The reel handles I have that look to be made of xyolonite only appear to hve a surface crazing and no bits falling off.
Lovely looking reels

[Dom Andrew]

Be careful with water and also alcoholic cleaners on old plastics and vulcanized rubber (ebonite). They will discolour with prolonged soaking, and some old plastics will even warp and 'melt'.

Dom.