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Walter R. Kosy Papers

A description of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MM
Date: 2006

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.

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.

Arrangement of the Collection

Material is arranged alphabetically by title or topic.

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.

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.

Subject Headings

Persons

Kosy, Walter R.

Corporate Bodies

Borg-Warner Corporation.
Engineers Society of Detroit.
Society of Automotive Engineers.
Society of Plastics Engineers.
Society of the Plastics Industry.

Subjects

ABS resins.
Automobiles -- Design and construction.
Plastics in automobiles.
Plastics industry and trade.

Genres and Forms

16mm (photographic film size)
Advertisements.
Articles.
Brochures.
Clippings (information artifacts)
Correspondence.
Photographs.
Reports.
Scripts (documents)
Slides (photographs)

Occupations

Chemical engineers.

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.

Table of Contents

Biographical material

Dealer literature

Films

Photographs

Product literature

Research

Writings

Inventory