Info may be gained from a search on plastics centered around natural materials and Belgian Leo Baekeland(1863-1844) immigrated to the U.S. in the late 1880s and possibly a citizen post 1892, inventor of Bakelite, a mixture of phenon with formaldehyde and natural material, in 1909: http://www.google.com/patents?id=mLlgAAA...;q=&f=false

Surely he worked with someone in Belgium.

kind Regards,

Raimey
rse