How It Was Used?

Erinoid offered manufacturers new and exciting applications. The material was supplied in sheets, rods, tubes and discs. It was non-flammable, odourless and did not conduct electricity. It could be sawn, drilled, glued and turned like wood. Dyed in a wide range of colours, it provided a cheap substitute for many expensive materials such as ivory, amber, horn, tortoiseshell, coral, ebony and bone.

As well as buttons early applications included knitting needles, fountain pens and instrument panels, it provided an ideal substitute for ivory piano keys.


'It can be used on the keys of the cheapest piano, as who would grudge about a shilling a set extra above the price of celluloid - when the selling value of even a tenpounder will be considerably enhanced.'
The Pianomaker, January 1916

From January 2016, this website is managed by Stroud Local History Society

SM 1973 298 8 Erinoid Casein brochure p5
SM Erinoid PVC from catalogue
SM Erinoid Laboratories c1950