Toys & sporting goods

A test of 50 toys recently conducted on behalf of the Consumer Assn. of Singapore (CASE) by local testing firm Insight Laboratories found that 23 of them (46%) failed chemical toxicological tests and were found to contain higher than permitted levels of phthalates, lead, or both. Singapore currently does not have a test standard for toy safety so U.S. and international regulatory standards were adopted.

Hardly noticed amid the hulabaloo surrounding the World Cup taking place in South Africa, global electronics giant Sony is supplying a special soccer ball to African children, which, thanks to a bio-TPE from French materials supplier Arkema, is 1.6 times more durable than a conventional ball.

Odoriferous oils enclosed in microcapsules will release a pungent odor if the plastics they're contained in develops small cracks, a potentially life-saving attribute when the plastics are applied in a crash helmet.

Demand for watercraft manufacturer NuCanoe’s new canoes outpaced supply, causing some dealers to wait weeks for orders to be filled. Rotomolder MOD offered the requisite paddle, and with its help, NuCanoe cut lead times by 93%.

The delivery holdups caused NuCanoe’s director of business development, Blake Young, to search for a new contract manufacturer to handle processing and logistics, and his search took him to Meese Orbitron Dunne Co. (MOD; Ashtabula, OH). MOD operates 23 rotomolding machines at four plants in the U.S.
 

The globally ubiquitous Frisbee flying disk has been cited as one of the pinnacles of invention, and it also could be the most widely known application of molded plastic to date. Its inventor, Fred Morrison, died on January 9 at his home in Monroe, Utah at the age of 90.

When Morrison first invented the flying disc, the former Second World War pilot called it the "Pluto Platter" to capitalize on the flying saucer craze of the 1950s. The idea likely came from the times he and his wife-to-be would throw a tin cake pan to each other on the beach in California.

Researchers believe they have developed a way to ensure phthalate plasticizers become permanently bound within any PVC part in which they are used, with zero migration of the additives. This potentially huge news for processors of polyvinyl chloride appeared first in the latest issue of Macromolecule, a bi-weekly journal of the American Chemical Society.