Outlawmws
Well-known member
Two Bell System's from yesterday - Anyone have a clue who made the metal polish? you are looking at the only markings on the can:
Driver is Stanley wood handle
Driver is Stanley wood handle
Bell system
- Thread starter Shelbylex
- Start date
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
You might get lucky poking around inside the telcom archives. Or searching the indexes on "polish." Link in post #1. I remember seeing something about polish in one of my forays, but I believe it was furniture, not metal.
Nice find!
Almost martial or generic in its paucity, which is par for the course for them.
Private Lugnutz
Well-known member
How old do you think that can is and how much reading time do you want to spend on this?
Breaking into my best NJ mafia accent..., "Let me make you an offer you can't refuse."
I present a 1972 Congressional Hearing on Organized Crime that I just found on Google Books searching the term "Bell System Liquid Metal Polish" linked HERE. It provides a brief history of Bell's metal polishing requirements (phone booths and equipment sent back for repair!), spends a lot of time discussing "KS-19432", their specification for a solution they developed and tested internally, in their labs, in 1962, and then contracted out to Magnolia Chemical Company, Dallas, TX, for production, before ABRUPTLY switching to a commercial solution in 1964, called "Poly-Clean", distributed by All-Purpose Chemical Company, East Orange, NJ (of course!), chief sales agent Rocco Mazza, made by GNR Corp., Palmer, Mass.
All-Purpose and its methods of merchandising Poly-Clean to supermarkets, school districts, government facilities, and Bell are the subject of the hearing!
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