PITTSFORD, N.Y.-Being sold is not new to Mobil Chemical Co.'s Plastics Division. The Pittsford-based unit traces its roots back to the 1940s to a Macedon, N.Y., plastic clothesline company called Kordite, founded by brothers Howard and Richard Samuels. The firm soon expanded its product line to include polyethylene film.
Kordite was purchased by Textron Inc. in 1955, and was later briefly owned by National Distillers and Chemical Corp., a predecessor to Quantum Chemical Corp., before being acquired by Mobil in 1962.