What is "hemacite"

Hemacite \Hem"a*cite\, n. [Gr. a"i^ma blood.] A composition made from blood, mixed with mineral or vegetable substances, used for making buttons, door knobs, etc.

n. A material made from sawdust and the blood of slaughtered animals, used in the late nineteenth century for doorknobs, buttons, etc.

Hemacite is a material made from sawdust and the blood of slaughtered animals cattle and pig. It was invented (and patented) by Dr W H Dibble of New Jersey in the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Hydraulic pressure (40,000 psi) and chemical compounds, blood and sawdust were transformed by Dibble's Hemacite Manufacturing Company into everything from doorknobs and roller skate wheels to cash register buttons and telephone receivers; there is even extensive use in Victorian jewellery. Hemacite was inexpensive but fell out of favor with the popularity of new plastics like Bakelite, it is quite easy to misidentify Hemacite with Bakelite.