German automobiles featuring Plexiglas

2023-01-10T15:35:30-05:00

Four photographs depicting various German automobiles with Plexiglas windshields and window panels. Per notations accompanying the photographs, the automobiles are identified as follows: 1) Opel Super 6 Spezial-Stromlinienkarosserie; 2) Sportwagen Alfa-Romeo S.E. Benito Mussolini; 3) Stromilinien-Omnibus der Fahrzeugwerke Recklinghausen; 4) Raupenketten-Kraftomnibus Daimler-Benz. Notably, the automobile in the fourth photograph bears a swastika and insignia of the Third Reich.

The Rohm and Haas Company was founded in 1907 in Esslingen, Germany through the partnership of German chemist Otto Röhm and German businessman Otto Haas. In 1933, Röhm's experiments with the polymerization of methyl methacrylate led to the creation of a clear, solid plastic sheet, which he trademarked Plexiglas. During World War II, the demand for Plexiglas, which both Allied and Axis forces used for submarine periscopes and aircraft windshields, canopies, and gun turrets, helped transform Rohm and Haas into a major chemical firm.