Collection inventory

Overview of the Collection
Creator:	Kosy, Walter R.
Title:	Walter R. Kosy Papers
Inclusive Dates:	1948-1994
Quantity:	9 linear ft.
Abstract:	Product literature, photographs, research files and writings, mostly from Kosy's years at Borg-Warner and his work in the use of plastic in the automotive industry, including ABS and Cycolac.
Language:	Majority in English, a few items in German
Repository:	Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries 222 Waverly Avenue Syracuse, NY 13244-2010 https://library.syracuse.edu/special-collections-research-center

Biographical History

Walter R. Kosy (1920-1994) was an American engineer and consultant in the field of chemical engineering, specifically plastics.

Born June 12, 1920 in Detroit, Kosy graduated from Wayne State University in 1942 with a degree in chemical engineering. From 1942 to 1945, he worked for Lyon, Inc. in Detroit as a metallurgist doing control and development work on cartridge cases. After World War II, Kosy created the plastics department and laboratory for Lyon Inc. From 1950 to 1955 Kosy was a project engineer on rubber, gasket and plastic problems for Chrysler Corporation in their engineering division. During this time he was also an instructor in rubber and plastics courses at the Chrysler Engineering Institute. He then moved to the General Industries Company in Elyria, Ohio in 1955 as their sales engineer.

Kosy spent the longest part of his career, 1958 to 1980, at Borg-Warner (Marbon) Chemicals, working on sales and engineering of ABS plastics primarily for the automotive industry. In 1980, Kosy formed his own company, Plastics Technical Association, and spent the remainder of his professional life as a consultant to the plastics industry.

Kosy was a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, Society of Plastics Engineers, American Society of Body Engineers, and Engineers Society of Detroit. He and his wife Helen had two children, Linda and Donald. Kosy died January 23, 1994 in Detroit, Michigan.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Walter R. Kosy Papers contains biographical material, dealer literature, films, photographs, product literature, research files, and writing. Almost all of the material relates to Kosy's career at Borg-Warner and his work on the use of plastic in the automotive industry, including ABS and Cycolac.

Biographical material contains a certificate of appreciation, a small amount of correspondence, membership certificates, and Kosy's entry in "Who's Who in Chemical Engineering in the Detroit Area".

Dealer literature contains sales-related material, mostly for Cycolac. Included here are scripts for several presentations to potential customers.

Films contains two films on the use of plastics in automobiles, specifically ABS and Cycolac.

Photographs contains photographs. negatives, color transparencies, and slides. In addition to images of various products, mostly car parts, this series contains Borg-Warner's sales manual consisting of photographs of its products in various applications; Kosy giving a presentation in Detroit; molds for varios products; molding shops in Michigan; images for Kosy's article on vacuum molding; and slides and scripts for presentations on ABS, Cycolac, Cycovin KA, and other Marbon products.

Product literature contains brochures, booklets, and other printed material relating to plastic products, raw materials, manufacturing and molding equipment, and so on. The majority of this series consists of advertisements and technical specifications for Borg-Warner/Marbon's Cycolac.

Research files contains materials collected by Kosy throughout his career. This includes articles, conference papers, lecture material from Chrysler's Division of Engineering, plastics samples, and publications and other material from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), and Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI).

Writings contains papers and reports written by Kosy, along withnotes and other material related to his work for various clients. The majority of this material relates to the use of plastics in the automotive industry.

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Arrangement of the Collection

Material is arranged alphabetically by title or topic.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.

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Related Material

Special Collections Research Center has numerous holdings in the areas of plastics and industrial design. Please refer to the SCRC Subject Index for a complete listing.

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Subject Headings

Persons

Corporate Bodies

Subjects

Genres and Forms

Occupations

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Walter R. Kosy Papers,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Transfer from National Plastics Center and Museum, 11/06/2008. Originally, gift of Mrs. Walter R. Kosy, c. 1995.

Finding Aid Information

Created by: MM
Date: 2006
Revision history: Feb 2009 - converted to EAD (MRC); Jun 2009 - photos redistributed (MRC); 23 March 2011 - reprocessed the collection, added material, and updated the finding aid. (CEG); 23 April 2021 - bioghist minor correction (MRC); 8 Apr 2022 - media processed/updated (MRC); 18 Jun 2024 - rehoused, OS boxes renumbered, prepped for offsite (MRC)

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Inventory

	Biographical material
Box 1		Certificate of appreciation, Fort Wayne chapter ASE 10 Dec 1969
Box 1		Correspondence 1959, 1969, 1980 - includes resume and report on a trip to Europe
Oversize 1		"Marbon Design Department" photograph - mounted photo showing several design dept. staff including Kosy
Oversize 1		Membership certificates
Box 1		"Who's Who in Chemical Engineering in the Detroit Area" booklet 1948

	Dealer literature
Box 1		Slide shows for Cycolac 1967-1969, 1972 - binder containing scripts, slide lists, supporting documentation for presentations on Cycolac 800, Cycolac JS, etc. (3 folders)
Box 1		Miscellaneous 1960, 1964, 1972, undated - material relating to promotion and sale of Cycolac and other Borg-Warner/Marbon products 2 folders

	Films
Reel		ABS: Modern Material for Pipe and Fittings #10 (16mm film) (ID#: kosy_wr_001)
			Directed and edited by Bernard Howard, supervised by Holtzman-Kain Advertising, produced by Academy Film Productions. Film shows scenes of workers building rural water systems and pipelines; installation of water/pipeline in a house; demonstration showing plastic pipe samples exposed to chemical and physical forces in comparison with non-plastic materials (cooper). Includes photographs of original container labels.
Reel		Cycolac (16mm film) (ID#: kosy_wr_002)
			Features Cycolac, Marbon Chemical, Borg-Warner Corporation products, production sites, product demonstration, etc. The film is directed and edited by Bernard Howard, produced by Academy Film Productions in conjunction with by Holtzman-Kain Advertising. Includes original and photocopied container shipping labels.

	Photographs
Box 1		Automobiles and wheel covers undated
Box 1		Borg-Warner Cycolac sales manual - photographs of parts made from Cycolac for various companies include GE, Carrier, etc. (2 folders)
Box 2		Car parts, Cycolac (3 folders)
Box 2		"Intro to Plastics" booklet
Box 2		Kosy at Detroit Vocational Conference - demonstrating principles of injection molding
Box 2		Molds - molds for bowls, trays, hangers, etc.
Oversize 2		Molds 1950s-1980s - (233 items)
Oversize 2		Plastic molding shops, SE Michigan 1980s - color photos, in 4 small bound booklets
Box 2		"Sales Pioneers Week," Borg-Watner Jun 1974 (2 folders)
Box 2		Vacuum molding article photos
		Walter Kosy slide collection
Oversize 3			Automobiles and trucks 1968-1975, undated - interior and exterior parts; presentations in Europe; European and Japanese grilles; electric car; manufacturing; chrome parts; more (845 slides)
Oversize 4			Chrome parts/prototypes, lectures 1968-1972, undated - interior and exterior auto parts for Plymouth, Pinto, Bonneville, Camaro, Barracuda, more; script and slides for presentation "Up with ABS"; more (718 slides)
Oversize 5			Lectures, presentations, products 1968, 1972-1973, undated - lecture, "Cold forming CHRYS"; script and slides for "Here's the pitch" presentation on Cycolac KA; British, German, and Italian auromotive applicatoins of the product; images of various products, such as women's shoes, typewriters, toys, refrigerators, etc. (507 slides)
Oversize 1		Miscellaneous mounted photographs - possibly car parts

	Product literature
Box 2		Amoco undated
		Borg-Warner/Marbon, Cycolac
Box 2			Advertisements undated
Box 2			Technical specifications binder (2 folders)
Box 2			Technical specifications, German
Box 2			Technical specifications, general
Box 3			Miscellneous 1959, 1962-1965, 1967, undated - article reprints, product news, ectc.
Box 3		Cadillac plastics buyers guide
Box 3		Fiberglass
Box 3		Foster Grant
Box 3		Molding and manufacturing
Box 3		Phillips 66
Box 3		Plexiglas
Box 3		TENITE polypropylene
Box 3		Micellaneous

	Research
Box 3		Articles 1946-1961, 1965, 1973, 1978, 1987, undated - plastic products, materials, properties, chemicals, uses, etc. (2 folders) (2 folders)
Box 4		Conference papers 1960, 1964
Box 4		Experiments undated
Box 4		Graduate school lecture notes - from Chrysler Division of Engineering
Box 4		Plastic gears 1964-1966 - AGMA-SPI joint committee
Box 4		Plastics home training course - from Interstate Training Service School of Plastics; includes 2 copies of "Your future in plastics"
Box 4		Plastics samples and technical cards - polystyrene high, medium, and low impact; styrene acrylonitrile, ABS transparent
Box 4		Publications on plastic, miscellaneous 1949, 1971, 1978 - How to buy and sell plastics; Classifications of injection molds for thermoplastic materials; Injection molding of thermoplastic rigid foams
Box 4		"ResinKit" booklet, Society of Plastics Engineers 1979 - includes letter from Kosy
		Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
Box 4			Congress papers 1967-1973 (5 folders)
Box 4			Miscellaneous 1968, 1971-1973 (2 folders)
		Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE)
Box 5			SPE Bulletin 1944-1946
Box 5			Conferences 1960, 1994
Box 5			SPE Journal 1949-1950, 1958
Box 5			Miscellaneous
Box 5		Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) 1956, 1973 - annual report, constitution and bylaws, etc.
Box 5		Miscellaneous - drawing, possibly of a car part; information about a seminar on chrome-plated.plastics

	Writings
Box 5		ABS in the automotive industry 1966, [1979] - 2 different papers
Box 5		ABS plastics in the American vehicle safety program 1969
Box 5		ABS plastics in auto design undated
Box 5		ABS: A systems approach to auto design undated
Box 5		Automotive market development 1970 - 2 different papers
Box 5		BWC wheel cover program
Box 5		Colors and coatings: Establishment of a library for use on decorative methacrylic parts 1955 - technical report written for Chrysler Division of Engineering
Box 5		Comparative property data circa 1967 - originallu in a binder; unclear whether Kosy created this or this was simply his personal copy (2 folders)
Box 5		Exterior automotive applications for ABS plastics 1972
Box 5		Fiberite circa 1985 - photographs, notes,printed brochure; Kosy is listed as technical sales rep
Box 5		Klippings from Kozy 1948 - published in SPC News
Box 5		Plastic Projects Association 1950-1954, undated - includes "Introduction to Plastics" booklet, other work
Box 5		Plastics in Detroit 1949 - typescript draft and published version in SPE News
Box 5		Plastics in schools 1961, 1989-1990 - Kosy's work with Lake Shore School District
Box 6		Die rolle der cycolac ABS kunststoffe im Amerikanischen sicherheitsprogramm fŭr automobile circa 1965 - includes additional printed material in German
Box 6		Vacuum molding of plastics 1951 - as published in SPE Journal
Box 6		Miscellaneous rough drafts - marketing to truck industry, flammability of car interiors, other topics
Box 6		Miscellaneous - internal memos, notes from meetings, etc.

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