American Cyanamid Company. Calco Chemical Division

New Jersey’s Calco Chemical Company was founded in 1915 at a site close to the town of Bound Brook, almost adjacent to the Raritan River, to manufacture coal-tar intermediates required to make synthetic dyestuffs.

After 1918, Calco also successfully embarked on the manufacture of synthetic dyestuffs by processes that were far more complex than hitherto used in American chemical industry. With the help of technical experts such as Victor L. King, Calco introduced process improvements based on its own innovations. Inventive activity was enhanced from 1927 with the creation of a research department, one of the earliest in the U.S. chemical industry.

In 1929, confronting difficult trading conditions, Calco was acquired by the American Cyanamid Company, and became the dye-making and organic chemicals hub of that corporation. Subsequently Calco diversified into sulfa, or “wonder,” drugs, based on its dye intermediates, and amino resins.

After 1945, American Cyanamid’s Calco Chemical Division specialized in vat dyestuffs, fluorescent whitening agents, polyurethane and acrylic polymers, and the invention of herbicides.

With the 1993 Cyanamid virtually finished its transformation from a chemical to a drug and agricultural products company.

Cyanamid Principal Subsidiaries include: Acufex Microsurgical, Inc.; Cyanamid Inter-American Corp.; Cyanamid International Corp.; Cyanamid Metals Corp.; Cyanamid International Sales Corp.; Cyanamid Overseas Corp.; Davis & Geck, Inc.; Glendale Protective Technologies, Inc.; Jacqueline Cochran, Inc.; Lederle Parenterals, Inc.; Lederle Piperacillin, Inc.; La Prairie, Inc.; Shulton, Inc.; Toiletries, Inc.

The company also lists subsidiaries in the following countries: Australia, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Netherlands Antilles, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Venezuela, and West Germany.

From the guide to the American Cyanamid Company, 1945-1977, (Special Collections Research Center)