Samuel L. Belcher’s achievements are varied and far-reaching, coming primarily in the areas of blowmolding and stretch blowmolding.

Technical achievements cited for his induction include the first PET bottle with an integrated handle, which he patented and licensed to Mitsubishi of Japan. Belcher was also behind the first flip-top, living hinge closure for a liquid detergent bottle, McDonald’s foam clamshell package, and the invention of a process for adding print to thermoformed containers.

In addition to his 54 patents, covering developments in twin-sheet thermoforming and structural foam pallets, Belcher created Rubbermaid’s plastic spice turntable (its single-largest-volume item ever produced), and was named a Fellow of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), which granted him a Lifetime Achievement Award through its Blow Molding Div.

Belcher is still active in the industry through his consulting firm, Sabel Plastics (Moscow, OH), founded in 1987. Prior to that, he worked with Cincinnati Milacron, Wheaton Industries, Owens-Illinois, and Rubbermaid.

 F. Reed Estabrook Jr.’s contributions include processing innovations, like pioneering the use of beryllium copper for mold components and molds, and plastics promotion in connection with his public relation and lobbying efforts for the Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI).

In earlier work, Estabrook was key to the design and molding of phenolic field telephone handsets and electrical components for the Navy during World War II, Northern’s line of molded melamine dinnerware, and molded nylon gears.

His involvement in the plastics community includes a fellowship at the SPE as well as posts with the SPI, the Plastics Pioneers Assn. (PPA), and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

 Michael F.X. Gigliotti worked for 35 years in a variety of technical management positions for Monsanto (now Solutia). This lengthy tenure linked him with many programs that helped commercialize and market plastics. Most notable among these was Monsanto’s House of the Future. A feature of Walt Disney World’s Tomorrowland as the world’s first all-plastic house, the structure was created and managed by Gigliotti in 1957 and remained a Tomorrowland fixture for 10 years.

Gigliotti also pioneered prototyping and commercialization programs for plastics in the automotive, pipe, construction, housing, and furniture markets. Creator of Monsanto’s LOPAC program (low-oxygen-permeation packaging), Gigliotti managed EVAL, plastic’s first true barrier material, which was followed by Coca Cola’s first plastic carbonated-beverage bottle.

Founder of the technical management consulting practice MGA Inc., Gigliotti has also organized numerous trade missions, tours, and conferences in locales as far reaching as South Africa, Finland, Australia, and Japan.

 John R. Kretzschmar, a long-time resin salesman and founder and president of a blown-film manufacturer, applied his professional communication, leadership, and management skills into administration over a nearly all-inclusive spectrum of plastics industry associations. These titles included president of the SPE, president of the PPA, chairman of the Plastics Academy, director of the SPI, director of the National Plastics Center & Museum, and director of the SPE Foundation.

A graduate of the University of Missouri, Kretzschmar was recognized by that school with an Honor Award for Distinguished Service in Engineering in 1988. He also received a distinguished achievement award from SPE.

 An early innovator of military applications for plastics, Dominick V. Rosato translated his experience as the director for plastics research and development at Raybestos-Manhattan and work at Ingersoll-Rand’s injection molding machinery division into a prolific writing career covering plastics.

As technical editor of Plastics World magazine, Rosato prepared more than 2000 articles, papers, and presentations, and in addition to writing 45 chapters for various industry handbooks and reference texts, Rosato published 25 plastics handbooks on his own, covering topics as diverse as mechanical engineering, blowmolding, product design, injection molding, composites design and manufacturing, filament winding, environmental effects on plastics, and extrusion.

Rosato started as a toolmaker at Shram Industries, but the Army Air Force commissioned him to work in its Nonmetallic Structures & Materials Lab at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, OH during World War II. During the Korean War, he served as the deputy chief of plastics research and development there as well.

Albert Spaak’s range of experience in the plastics industry is extensive. He began work as a draftsman and designer for a molding machine manufacturer, and then spent 20 years processing and marketing polyethylene. He also worked with the Plastics Institute of America to develop and educate plastics personnel.

Spaak’s early contributions include work on the design, development, and manufacture of an all-mechanical, electric-drive, toggle molding machine for DeMattia Machine & Tool Co. Following World War II, Spaak also worked on what may be the earliest rudimentary example of a molding cell, created at DeMattia. It included a hydraulic press packaged with molds and auxiliary equipment, including the first small mold chiller and a scrap granulator.

His marbleizing cylinders used with plunger-style presses created the first wood-grain molded parts, and he helped promote HDPE for W.R. Grace—later Allied Chemical—going so far as to mold HDPE bowls in the basement of the Macy’s department store in the 1950s.

Spaak used personal funds while president of the PPA to create its Education Fund, which established a scholarship to support students enrolled in two- and four-year colleges who were pursuing careers in plastics.

Editor’s note: Election into the Plastics Hall of Fame is for those who have contributed to the development of plastics and the industry in the U.S. Criteria to qualify for nomination to the Hall include one or more of the following: a significant scientific, engineering, or equipment invention or breakthrough; development of an outstanding product, market, end-use niche, or business endeavor; long and valuable service to a segment, constituency, discipline, or association of the plastics industry; and a record of constructive, collaborative action with government, regulatory, academic, consumer, environmental, health, trade, and/or other industry-related groups. Up to nine living persons and five posthumous may be inducted every three years.