Pair of Mid Century Modern Lucite Table Lamps. Matching, metal core visible through the center, Lucite finials. 

Size: 4 3/4 x 27 1/8 in. 

#4413 . 

Poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA) is the synthetic polymer derived from methyl methacrylate. It is used as an engineering plastic, and it is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Hesalite, Plexiglas, Acrylite, Lucite, and Perspex, among several others. This plastic is often used in sheet form as a lightweight or shatter-resistant alternative to glass. It can also be used as a casting resin, in inks and coatings, and for many other purposes, including increasingly in furniture and even art in the latter half of the 20th Century. It is often technically classified as a type of glass, in that it is a non-crystalline vitreous substance, hence its occasional historic designation as acrylic glass. The first acrylic acid was created in 1843, and methacrylic acid, derived from acrylic acid, was formulated in 1865. The reaction between methacrylic acid and methanol results in the ester methyl methacrylate. It was developed into a more useful substance in 1928 in several different laboratories by many chemists, such as William R. Conn, Otto Röhm, and Walter Bauer, and first brought to market in 1933 by German Röhm & Haas AG (as of January 2019, part of Evonik Industries) and its partner and former U.S. affiliate Rohm and Haas Company under the trademark Plexiglas. Polymethyl methacrylate was also synthesized in the early 1930s by British chemists Rowland Hill and John Crawford at Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), who registered the product under the trademark Perspex. In the United States E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (now DuPont Company) subsequently introduced its own product under the trademark Lucite. In 1936 ICI Acrylics (now Lucite International) began the first commercially viable production of acrylic safety glass. During World War II both Allied and Axis forces used acrylic glass for submarine periscopes and aircraft windscreen, canopies, and gun turrets. Scraps of acrylic were also used to make clear pistol grips for the M1911A1 pistol or clear handle grips for the M1 bayonet or theater knives so that soldiers could put small photos of loved ones or pin-up girls’ pictures inside. They were called “Sweetheart Grips” or “Pin-up Grips.” Countless civilian applications followed after the War, and today PMMA in its many incarnations is a critical component in modern clothing, furniture, medicine, art, construction, and much more.