Galalith
Galalith is a material invented in 1897[1] created from the formaldehyde treatment of casein (the milk protein), so much so that it is often simplistically called casein, although such an indication is not absolutely correct because hardened casein does not have the chemical and mechanical resistance characteristics of galalith, whose name derives from the union of the Greek words gala (milk) and lithos (stone).
The material is produced by a process in which casein is kneaded and colored and then processed to produce sheets, bars or slabs; these are then treated by immersion in a diluted solution of formaldehyde that causes, with a very slow reaction, the progressive hardening. Finally the material obtained is dried and then can be processed. The production process is therefore very slow (for thicknesses of 2.5 cm it may take up to one year of immersion), moreover, even if the galalite sheets can be hot bent, mould production is not possible, which makes the processing of the material more complex.
One of the most important characteristics of this material is instead the ease of coloring, which allows you to create endless variations and imitate different materials, so that it was also called artificial horn. The coloring in fact, in addition to the mixing of colors in the production phase, can be obtained, thanks to the high porosity of the material, in a second phase by immersing the galalith in coloring baths to obtain the absorption of pigments. The new material had a great diffusion in the production of buttons, where it is still used today, and for the substitution of ivory in the piano keys cover.
Galalith was used in the production of fountain pens by some companies around the '20s, when the research for materials that could replace the hard rubber began. In particular Sheaffer used it for some models produced for a very short time, which, because of the problems they had, were reused as pens for temporary replacement. Parker adopted galalith for the production of the fountain pens of the series called Ivorine, even if the most extensive use was probably made by Conway Stewart for the production of some of his most original colored pens.
La galalite non ebbe però un grande successo e venne rapidamente abbandonata con l'avvento della celluloide. La sua porosità infatti la rende fortemente igroscopica, con la tendenza ad espandersi con l'umidità, il che comporta problemi di stabilità meccanica. Ancora peggiore, sempre per questa caratteristica, la sua resistenza all'inchiostro, che tende a produrre macchie permanenti. Inoltre l'immersione in acqua (anche solo per poche ore) comporta una espansione (fino al 10%) ed un ammorbidimento del materiale, con conseguenze distruttive in quanto ad una successiva asciugatura questo perderà la forma originale. Infine con il tempo il materiale tende a presentare delle screpolature (in genere si presentano per lunghe esposizioni alla luce e si ritiene siano causate dalle variazioni di umidità subite) che sono solo apparentemente superficiali e non possono essere rimosse.
Per tutti questi motivi, con l'eccezione della Conway Stewart che ha continuato a produrre penne in questo materiale fino agli anni '30, alla metà degli anni '20 la galalite è stata totalmente abbandonata in favore della celluloide, cosa che, unita alla fragilità del materiale che le rende di difficile conservazione, ha fatto sì che le penne costruite con esso, in particolare le Sheaffer e le Parker, siano molto rare.