George Hendrie Sr.
Detroit Macoid Corporation
Inducted 1982
George Hendrie Sr. (1897 – 1994) was a pioneer in the development of many thermoplastic processes and products, especially those made by extrusion processing. Hendrie began his pioneering plastics career at the Detroit Macoid Corporation, a company he and his business partner, Jack Gould, ran for decades. Starting with automotive applications, the firm was actively involved in defense work during World War II, creating new applications for elastomeric polyvinyl chloride.
Hendrie was an inventor holding more than a dozen U.S. patents. Early in the 1930’s, he developed a process for dipping toilet seats and automobile parts into a nitrocellulose solution to improve their moisture and abrasion resistance. Hendrie developed a number of extrusion processes for thermoplastic materials, largely for the automotive industry and pioneered numerous other extrusion innovations.
Some of the technologies covered by Hendrie’s patents include; extrusion processes for the production of flexible sheets and films, elastomeric coated automobile steering wheels, a process for manufacturing plastic file folders, and processes for the manufacture of automotive welt and gaskets.