Six named to Plastics Hall of Fame

The Plastics Academy named six new posthumous members in the Plastics Hall of Fame: Howard Irvin, Ronald Saxton, Walt Schrenk, Charles Sears, Bill Stoesser and Dennis Tully.

The posthumous members will be inducted at a March 24 dinner at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington. The ceremony will be part of the Spring National Board Meeting of the Plastics Industry Association.

"These new posthumous inductees proudly represent the length and breadth of our great industry, with a wealth of accomplishments in polymer science, engineering, manufacturing, equipment design and business management," said Jay Gardiner, president of the Plastics Academy. "Each individual has been elected by the living members of the Hall of Fame after a lengthy screening process."

Here are the new members of the posthumous class of 2020:

Howard Irvin, the developer of Cycolac ABS, Irvin received an honorary doctorate from the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, as well as a degree from the Harvard School of Business. He was executive vice president and technical director of Marbon Chemical, a division of Borg-Warner Corp. Cycolac ABS, now produced by Sabic, remains one of the industry standard brands in ABS resins.

Ronald Saxton joined DuPont armed with a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1953 as part of Wilmington, Del.-based DuPont's polymer processing group. There, he worked on the mechanisms and mathematical modeling of single- and twin-screw extrusion processing. Saxton also developed technologies in viscous mixing, heat transfer, process scale-up and reactive extrusion. His Saxton Mixer is still used in the commercial production of ionomer resins.

Walt Schrenk joined Dow Chemical Co. in 1954 and rose to the position of senior research fellow. Schrenk was a prolific inventor, holding more than 67 patents. He is known as the "father of coextrusion using feedblock technology," the Plastics Academy said. This technology is still used today in many commercial processes including cast film and sheet, blown film and blow molding.

Dennis Tully, a graduate of the UMass Lowell plastics engineering program, Tully joined his father's company, Miniature Tool & Die Inc., and later he bought the business and rebranded it MTD Micro Molding. MTD has become a leading micromolder of medical parts, including implantable components. MTD was named the 2018 Plastics News Processor of the Year.

Charles Sears, was the founder of Dri-Air Industries Inc., a maker of compressed air and desiccant dryer equipment. A pioneer in the auxiliary equipment industry, Sears developed the two-bed and four-bed desiccant dryer system. He had more than 40 years of experience in the design and manufacturing of drying equipment.

Bill Stoesser, an early leader in the field of injection molding, Stoesser established himself in both mold making and custom processing. He built his own plastic molding machine in 1947, and founded Stoesser Industries Inc, a West Coast molder. The company also included a fully equipped machining facility for the in-house production of small metal parts. Today Stoesser Industries is part of SMC Ltd.