American Cyanamid was a large, diversified, American chemical manufacturer, founded by Frank Washburn in 1907.
Cyanamid -- as the company was commonly called -- produced an immense range and variety of products. Its activities were organized into 11 Operating Divisions, whose names are suggestive of the products manufactured. They were Organic Chemicals (dyes, elastomers, melamine, dusulferization catalysts, many others); Industrial Chemicals (paper chemicals, acrylic plastics, plastics additives, many others); Fibers (acrylic fibers), Pigments (titanium dioxide), Consumer Products (shampoos, perfumes and other fragrance products, household cleaners); Agricultural (animal feed additives, veterinary pharmaceuticals, fertilizers, pesticides, plant growth regulants, many others); Lederle (antibiotics, vitamins, sutures, vaccines, many others); Formica Corp. (subsidiary, making decorative laminates and kitchen countertops); Cyanamid of Canada (fertilizers, other products, and sale of US-made products in Canada); Cyanamid International (sale of company products throughout the world). Additionally, the company had several joint ventures, such as Jefferson Chemical (partner: Texaco) and CyRo Industries (partner: Rohm & Haas). There were also a number of smaller companies acquired over the years, such as an industrial safety products distributor and Bloomingdale Aerospace, which produced lightweight aircraft panels built on hexagonal core material.
In 1972, Cyanamid acquired a home building company, Ervin Industrics, and invested heavily to expand that busines over the next eight years. The company's thrust was Planned Unit Developments, or PUDs, which were housing developments built around private golf courses. Hence, Cyanamid became at one point the largest operator of golf courses in the USA. After sustaining losses in excess of $100 million, Cyanamid discontinued the business and sold the real estate and other assets.
The Operating Divisions had their own research activities, manfacturing facilities, and sales forces. Functions common to all divisions were organized and administered at the corporate level, by eight Service Divisions: Engineering and Construction (plant/process design and building); Transportation and Districution (warehousing, shipment, logistics); Purchasing (sourcing raw materials and supplies); Personnel (hiring, compensation, compliance); Public Affairs (public relations, Washington office); Treasury (financial management); Controller (accounting, financial reporting); Corporate Development and Planning (strategy, long-range planning, capital investment analysis, staff to the Executive Committee).
Over the years, Cyanamid scientists developed numerous important new chemical, pharmaceutical, and medical products. Perhaps the most significant is Tetracycline, discovered by a Lederle researcher in 1945. The Davis & Geck branch developed the first synthetic absorbable suture, during the 1970s, based on an ingenious glycolic acid polymer (thus utilizing a natural body protein, which reduced inflammation and scarring). Cyanamid also pioneered the development of antibiotic feed additives (products containing subtherapeutic levels of various antibiotics) fed to cattle, swine, and others, which stimulated growth, feed efficiency, and overall well-being of the animals.
Cyanamid not only had many "firsts", but eventually several "onlies" -- products of which it was the only producer. One was tuberculosis vaccine, another was Sabin polio vaccine. Cyanamid was the sole producer of buttons for US military clothing, astonishingly sturdy melamine buttons which were virtually bulletproof.
The name Cyanamid was known mainly industrially and among agricultural producers. The broad public knew the company principally by its abundant brand names, including Formica, Breck (shampoos), Old Spice, Nina Ricci, Jacquiline Cochran, Melmac, Pine-Sol, Centrum, and numerous others. The company moved from its New York City headquarters to Wayne, New Jersey during the 1960s, creating modernistic facilities on a forested site adjacent to a large reservoir and waterfowl preserve (currently occupied by Toys R Us).
Lederle Laboratories - maker of Centrum, Stresstabs vitamins and Orimune the Sabin oral polio vaccine - was Cyanamid's pharmaceutical division.[1] Davis & Geck was the company's medical device operation. In consumer products, its Consumer Products division made Shulton products including Old Spice cologne and after-shave lotion, Breck shampoo and Pine-Sol household cleaner. Melmac was Cyanamid's trademark for plastic kitchenware.[2][3]
In its later life, the company frequently brushed up against the law for its earlier environmental abuses (which were legal when they occurred). During the 1970s, tens of millions of dollars were spent on effluent treatment -- such as a $15 million tertiary water treatement plant in Bound Brook NJ, which returned water to the Raritan River that was cleaner than the river itself. Tens of millions more were spent in efforts to clean up large wastewater pools, which had decades of accumulation of unpleasant and sometimes toxic chemicals. In the end, Cyanamid abandoned a number of hazardous waste sites to the government, notably the Bound Brook and Bridgewater sites in New Jersey.[4][5]
The company merged with American Home Products in 1994. At that time, the purchase price, $9.5 billion, made it the second-largest industrial acquistion in US history to that point.
The company was involved in a well-known legal case in the United Kingdom which set the test for interim injunctions in England and Wales and set down what became known to lawyers as the "American Cyanamid" rules.[6]
American Cyanamid is now known as Cytec.