Bayer and You

50 years of Bayer activities in Pittsburgh resulted in thousands of product applications that affect our lives here and others around the world. Here are some of those touch points.

• If you were proud of America’s first manned space flights in 1961, imagine how elated we were when our urethane foam successfully cushioned early astronauts against the shocks of re-entry.
  
  
• If you worked in the mills or mines around Pittsburgh in the early sixties, your protective hard hat was probably made of Merlon® polycarbonate.
  
  
• If you discovered your first pair of comfortable shoes after 1965, the soles may have been molded with Bayflex® polyurethane.
  
  
• If you had tickets to opening day at Pittsburgh’s new Three Rivers Stadium on July 16, 1970, you saw the Pirates lose to Cincinnati on TartanTurf® backed by our polyurethane base.
  
  
• If you noticed even fewer cars with chrome bumpers and grilles after 1973, that’s because Bayer’s invention of RIM technology made it possible to mold flexible front and rear panels all in one piece.
  
  
• If “Jaws” scared you silly in 1975, it may have been the famous shark’s realistic hide made of our polyurethane elastomer.
  
  
• If the CDs you’ve been buying since 1982 are still in great shape, credit the indestructible properties of our Makrolon® polycarbonate substrate.
  
  
• If you weren’t crazy about lilac as the hue for the freshly painted Hulton Bridge in 1991, don’t blame Bayer. We only provided the polyurethane topcoat that protects that vibrant color.
  
  
• If you think eye-candy colors are only possible with paint, think again. That’s what Bayer MaterialScience did when we invented AURA® Infusion Technology in 2001. Now everything plastic from safety glasses to cell phone face plates can be custom-colored in a benign water-based medium that won’t harm the planet.
  
  
• If you like futuristic concept cars, you probably loved zaZen, a 2006 innovation from Bayer MaterialScience and Rinspeed. zaZen’s holographic brake light glows from the seemingly weightless, transparent Makrolon® roof, turning the rear window into a luminous holographic surface.