Re: Perflex and the Horror Movies
By Larry Chace, forwarded by Karl Petersen
Tom Reefer recently suggested [on the PIPORG-L list]an interesting movie plot about Perflex (the synthetic leather substitute from the 1970s that showed much promise but then failed miserably after a dozen years in use). Some (long) time ago, we had a posting here on PIPORG-L about how Perflex's formula got changed by the chemical company that produced it. The original batch is *still* in use in some instruments today. The production batches, however, were modified (to cut costs) and that formulation was a disaster. Sadly, the material worked well for about 12 years and then would suddenly disintegrate. We also were told that Austin (and other organ builders) lost a great deal of money replacing failed Perflex pneumatics, even beyond the normal warranty periods. In such a case, it might be unfair for the movie to portray "evil organists and Austin collaborationists"; "evil chemists" would be ok, however!
Larry Chace (RLC1@cornell.edu)
Probably "evil marketing squeezers" who got the chemists to dumb-down the recipe. The manufacturer has changed the name of the material and sold off the division, and I could not even find the "good" replacement material this year! But then, who would ever let me try to use it in anything they wanted to keep?
Karl Petersen
kap@dragon.micron.net |
(Message sent Mon 15 Jan 1996, 01:46:15 GMT, from time zone GMT-0700.) |
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