Spencer E. Palmer
Eastman Chemical Products
Inducted 1990
Spencer E. Palmer (1896 – 1979) was instrumental in expanding the U.S. injection molding industry by developing an injection molding machine while working at Tennessee Eastman. His injection molding machine design was the basis of early injection molding machines built and marketed by HPM and Reed Prentice. This allowed the expansion of the injection molding industry in the United States when the industry was dominated by European injection molding machinery.
Palmer graduated from Princeton University in 1918 as an infantry captain in World War I. Following the war, he worked as a marketing strategist at the Celluloid Corporation for ten years. He then joined the plastics group at Tennessee Eastman in 1931. He headed Eastman’s Tenite™ plastics sales group for the next 27 years. In that position, he helped stabilize the industry because of his strict adherence to a policy of selling from the published list price to all users. Under his direction and leadership, the firm’s Plastics Division grew steadily.
In 1958, he became the first vice president of Eastman Chemical Products. Palmer helped the plastics industry expand greatly, supplying products for industrial applications and consumer items. He insisted that Eastman technologists and scientists be made available to work with industry and technical trade groups to establish standards and work with government agencies to gain acceptance of new plastic materials and products.
He was a director of the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI – now PLASTICS) from 1938 to 1939 and served as the association’s vice president in 1950. He was also a charter member of The Plastics Pioneers Association.
Areas of Expertise:
Plastic machinery, Plastics marketing