THE PLASTIC MAN

By: Fiorenzo Arcadi, Toronto Hockey Repair

People tend to forget that the things they take for granted today were, at one time, revolutionary concepts. Go to the Hockey Hall of Fame and look closely at the equipment worn until the 1960's. It was heavy, cumbersome and offered minimal protection.

Using the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, as far as equipment and protection went, it was a beginning, maybe even the end of the beginning and a time for a new beginning. Because, along came Mac.

Athol McLean (Mac) Carr Harris was born in London, Ontario, August 14, 1914. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and served in the Royal Canadian Air Force, ending his career in the RCAF with the rank of Flight Lieutenant. A pretty unassuming thumbnail biography for a man who would revolutionize the world of protective equipment in the sporting world. Typically Canadian, with more than a modicum of modesty, his invention does not carry a single reference to his name. High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) in no way resembles Athol McLean (Mac) Carr, but to those in the know in the world of plastics, the names are inseparable.

Prior to 1958 most protective equipment was made of wood or vulcanized fibre, a hard brownish sheet of material imported from the United States. To increase the protective properties of these materials they had to be fortified with a leather or felt backing. The other major component of protective equipment, especially football helmets, was cellulose acetate butyrate. The major drawbacks to this substance were it was brittle in cold weather and would crack under pressure. There were no thermal plastic moulding materials available then which were satisfactory for applications requiring impact resistance in below freezing temperatures.

Mac had read about a new high density polyethylene material developed in Germany. He noticed a great increase in rigidity and thought it would be an ideal replacement for the low grade protection offered by the current products in the sporting goods industry.

Mac took a sample of the material to Bob Ostrander of Wellinger and Dunn, at the time one of the leading sporting goods manufacturers in North America. Ostrander agreed with Mac that the material could be a suitable replacement for the materials that Wellinger and Dunn were currently using.

For Mac, the sporting goods application provided the ideal opportunity to expand his newly formed injection moulding business. With a $900 investment (big money in 1958) Mac built a mould for knee caps for a child's leg guard. Mac took the HDPE knee cap to Wellinger and Dunn where a felt back was added and the new product was shipped off, to Sears and Roebuck in Chicago for testing. Upon receiving the results of the Sears and Roebuck testing, Wellinger and Dunn immediately ordered 12,000 pairs of the knee pads. The genesis of protective equipment had reached another beginning.

Mac assumed if the pads were okay for children, they would also be well received by older players. Realizing the risk to his company if his product failed, since both the moulds and the HDPE resins supplied by chemical manufacturers such as Dow, Dupont and Union Carbide were very expensive, Mac forged ahead and the new era of protective equipment was born. The new pads, moulded in various colours and sizes were well received and ordered by every equipment manufacturer in Canada. It would be the 1970's before there would be another major change in the process, this time using sheets of preformed resins. This allowed for a wider variety of moulds producing pads of different shapes and thicknesses, so each pad can be tailored for more specific uses.

John Cooper, was the Vice President of the sports goods division of Cooper Canada Ltd., the largest manufacturer of hockey equipment in the world. The production and research and design departments of Cooper reported directly to him. "I was very closely involved with the work that Mac Carr Harris was doing." Cooper said recently "I can support the key and vital impact this (HDPE) had on the athletic protection industry at that time. The use of these technologies was originally introduced by Mac and are now used universally.

Cooper's comments on the importance of Mac's contribution are echoed by Donald P. Clarke, of the Canadian Plastics Institute. "Mac was an important member in the development of the first high density polyethylene pad for athletic equipment." Clarke adds that "Canadians must come to understand that the most important benefit from the innovation has undoubtably been received by the thousands of sportsmen who have greater protection from the increasingly severe body contact that is inherent in most sports. The welcomed reduction in injuries has led to significant savings in medical and treatment costs."

"The explosive growth in the number of participants in Canadian sports has naturally expanded the businesses of the manufacturers of athletic equipment. A large factor has been the increasingly higher quality of their products, in part due to the introduction of this innovation. Canada is now considered the world leader in the manufacture of hockey equipment."

Clarke is blunt in his identification of the source of this product. "The original idea of using HDPE was the concept of Mac Carr Harris. At that time he was in the plastic injection moulding business and new materials were just being developed. Everybody in the business was constantly looking for applications which would keep their moulding machines busy twenty four hours a day. It was the only way they could survive.

"Clarke tries to put some of the numbers in perspective. "Each player's uniform contains approximately 24 pads. In 1995 there were over 30,000 amateur hockey teams in Canada totalling more than 400,000 players. This means there are more than 10 million protective pads on the ice in Canada. When these numbers are expanded to a world scale, including baseball players, the numbers top 20 million. Canadians must realize that the penetration of this innovation has been total, that is 100% of the former vulcanized pads have been replaced by the innovative HDPE pads.

This author's first contact with Mac was by phone in the early 1980's. His company had been producing the plastic pads for 20 years when he called and told me he had athletic moulded plastics I might be interested in. I explained to him I was operating a sporting goods repair business on a shoe string out of the family home. Mac wanted to know the address and when I told him, he asked if it was near the old Wellinger and Dunn plant he had visited so many times before.

Mac arrived armed with samples of his product and showed me how I could use the moulded plastic to repair the equipment more cheaply and quicker. Embarrassed, I explained the familiar financial plight of the small home based business ... no money. Mac. looked at me, told me to wait, and left. He returned minutes later with a box of "samples" I could use to try his product. He grumbled he couldn't charge for samples and maybe I could use them. A month later, more "samples" arrived. He became a regular visitor and we did business, but I could not get over the idea of a man running this large company taking the time to look after the little guy. Mac believed in offering a hand up, not a hand out.

Unfortunately, Mac also suffered a major setback. In the early days, to supplement the revenue flow of his company, Mac developed a plastic tent peg known as Durapeg. They were manufactured and sold by the millions throughout Europe and North America. Mac took a case of copyright infringement to the Supreme Court, only to be told he didn't have a case because the rival pegs were a different colour. Mac was furious and the entire incident seemed to sap a lot of his drive and energy.

Mac is retired and living in Oakville, most hockey players unaware of his contribution.

It seems that the Pabulum syndrome strikes again. A major achievement by a Canadian is ignored. Maybe it was modesty on Mac's part, but when something becomes commonplace world wide, no one realizes that the idea was born in Canada. Until now, Mac was just another Canadian inventor. His product changed our way of life, but until you read this, you probably didn't know who to thank. Next time a speeding forward blasts a 90 mph slap shot off your shins in a hockey game, thank Mac. It is the least he deserves.