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Donald Alstadt Inducted into National Inventors Hall of Fame

February 3, 2026

Dr. Donald Alstadt, inventor of the Chemlok® Rubber-to-Metal Adhesive System, has been inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame as part of its 2026 class. Alstadt, a chemist at LORD Corporation (now Parker Lord), patented this solvent-borne adhesive technology in 1956. His former schoolmate, RDAbbott’s Carl Hoglund, helped commercialize Chemlok, which has transformed rubber-to-substrate bonding across a variety of industries while improving everyday life.

National Inventors Hall of Fame

Each year since 1973, the National Inventors Hall of Fame has honored another class of world-changing inductees. Alstadt’s invention of Chemlok was the first in a series of advancements that revolutionized assembly in the automotive, aerospace, agriculture, off-highway, defense, and energy industries. Today, Chemlok and Chemlok-derived technologies are used in almost every vehicle in the world. They’re also widely used by the rubber industry.

Chemlok and RDAbbott

RDAbbott is celebrating Donald’s Alstadt’s induction because his story is an important part of our history. Before Carl Hoglund became RDAbbott’s president in 1958, he was the right-hand man to Robert David Abbott, after whom our company was named. Hoglund was instrumental in commercializing Chemlok, and RDAbbott became LORD’s first chemical distributor. Later, RDAbbott helped LORD commercialize aqueous rubber-to-substrate products and new structural adhesives.

Other 2026 Inductees

In addition to Donald Alstadt, the National Inventor Hall of Fame class of 2026 includes:

  • Louis Argenta and Michael Morykwas for Vacuum Assisted Closure® (V.A.C.®)
  • Sara Blakely for SPANX® Shapewear
  • Olive Dennis for Railroad Passenger Car Improvements
  • Gebisa Ejeta for Sorghum Hybrids
  • Frank S. Greene Jr. for Semiconductor Memory Technology
  • Maurus Logan for Ty-Rap® Cable Ties
  • George Maison, Irving Porush, and Charles Thiel for Metered Dose Inhaler (MDI)
  • Teresa Meng for CMOS Wi-Fi
  • Henry Samueli for Broadband Communications
  • Reuben Trane for Lightweight Convector Radiators
  • Feng Zhang for CRISPR Gene Editing
RDAbbott proudly distributes Parker Lord solutions that include Chemlok, Floklok®, LokRelease™, and Sipiol® products. As the video on this web page shows, Chemlok is the invisible bond of everyday life. For more information about Chemlok and other Parker Lord products, contact RDAbbott.

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