ABSTRACT
The compound used in making disc records, replacing shellac gradually in the 1940s and then totally with the advent of the LP record. Union Carbide developed a vinyl resin in the 1930s (Vinylite) that was compatible with production equipment of the time, so that factories set up to make shellac records could make vinyl records as well, or change over completely. Western Electric used vinyl for radio transcriptions, and Muzak used it for its music services. RCA made vinyl (Victrolac) radio transcriptions, and then the unbreakable V-Discs during World War II. In 1944 RCA issued a few Red Seal records on transparent cherry-red vinyl. Cosmo Records made the first major seller on vinyl,a children’s item named “Tubby the Tuba.” Red vinyl was also used for the RCA 45-rpm record, and for the Columbia microgroove LP of 1948.
