Plastic Innovations: History

My Favorite Highlights of the Early History of Plastic

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My Favorite Highlights of the Early History of Plastic</h1>
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It’s difficult to imagine modern life without plastics. Take a moment …</div>
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Our cars (seat cushions, air bags, bumpers, dashboards …)</div>
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Our fashion (nylon, spandex, polyester, faux fur …)</div>
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Our homes (carpeting, foam insulation, vinyl siding, composite decking …)</div>
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Our appliances (televisions, coffee makers, alarm clocks, electric toothbrushes …)</div>
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Our sports (football pads, bicycle helmets, surfboards, skis …)</div>
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Our health (preemie incubators, bandages, hygienic medical packaging, syringes …)</div>
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Our food packaging (tamper resistant film, takeout boxes, milk jugs, leftover containers …)</div>
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Shall I go on …?</div>
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We haven’t always had these modern marvels of innovation. Plastics are a relatively new invention. Here are my favorite highlights from the early history of plastic:</div>
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Parkesine (1862): The first man-made plastic, called Parkesine after its inventor Alexander Parkes, is revealed at the Great International Exhibition in London. Created from part of the cell wall of plants (cellulose), Parkesine was transparent, moldable and retained its shape when cooled. The material was touted as able to do anything that natural rubber could—but less expensively.</div>
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Celluloid (1865): American John Wesley Hyatt developed a way to make billiard balls from something other than ivory: cellulose nitrate. By the 1880s and 1890s companies made celluloid products such as bowls and combs that imitated ivory and tortoiseshell and other more expensive materials.</div>
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Rayon (1891): A modified cellulose, rayon was first developed in Paris, France, by Louis Marie Hilaire Bernigaut, the Count of Chardonnet. He was searching for a way to produce a substitute for silk—he called his invention rayon since it was shiny and appeared to produce rays of light.</div>
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Bakelite (1907): A totally synthetic plastic, Bakelite retained its shape and form even under stress and heat. In the 1920s and 1930s Bakelite jewelry, clocks and telephones became popular as people embraced their “unearthly-looking” appearance that did not resemble natural materials.</div>
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Cellophane (1912): Created by a Swiss chemist trying to develop a waterproof table cloth—and later used to wrap Whitman’s candies—cellophane really took off in food packaging when DuPont made it moisture-resistant in 1927.</div>
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Vinyl (1920s): Polyvinyl chloride, called PVC or vinyl, was developed to replace natural rubber and quickly proved itself one of the most versatile plastics. Vinyl is commonly used for blood bags and IV tubing and in building and construction products including siding, piping, roofing, tubing, hoses, flooring and electrical cable insulation.</div>
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“Plastic” (1930s): The word “plastic” becomes a part of consumers’ everyday language to describe a wide variety of these new materials—which continues today.</div>
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Polyethylene (1930s): Produced in fits and starts in the 1930s in the United Kingdom, polyethylene has become the most widely used plastic and is a mainstay of modern packaging: beverage bottles, milk jugs, bags, food storage containers and more.</div>
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Polyvinylidene Chloride (1933): Discovered by accident by a Dow Chemical lab worker, polyvinylidene chloride (not to be confused with vinyl) was initially used to protect military equipment against saltwater. Since it clings to nearly anything and forms an oxygen barrier, it was introduced as a film for food packaging and became well-known as Saran Wrap.</div>
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Nylon (1939): DuPont unveils stockings made from the new nylon at New York’s World Fair. Nylon rapidly replaced silk in clothing and military applications during World War II.</div>
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Polyester (1950): Discovered in the 1940s, polyester became a big part of our culture when DuPont marketed a new fabric under the name “Dacron”—the first washable synthetic fabric.</div>
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Polypropylene (1950s): Despite legal wrangling over its true inventors, polypropylene rapidly becomes one of the most popular plastics. Due to its versatility, it is used in nearly all plastic applications.</div>
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Polystyrene foam (1954): Dow Chemical introduces polystyrene insulation under the brand name “Styrofoam<span style="background: transparent; border: 0px; font-size: 10px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top;">®</span>.”  Polystyrene foam went on to be used in lightweight protective packaging, buoys/docks, movie sets, takeout containers and more.</div>
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Could anyone have foreseen how much these early innovative materials would transform our lives? And the innovations continue … Stay tuned for a more recent history of plastics.</div>
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My Favorite Highlights of the Early History of Plastic

My Favorite Highlights of the Early History of Plastic It’s difficult to imagine modern life without plastics. Take a moment … Our ...

Bakelite: The Plastic That Made History

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Bakelite: The Plastic That Made History</h1>
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I cannot imagine life without modern plastics. And that’s not just because I’m Professor Plastic.</div>
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I wake up in the morning, turn off the alarm clock, use my toothbrush and hair brush, start the coffee maker, stretch out on my yoga mat—all of these are made with plastics. Then there are the plastics in my car, my office furniture, my campus telephone … the list goes on.</div>
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But it wasn’t always this way. For much of human history, everyday tools and products were made mostly from animal skins, bone, ivory, wood, metals, plant fibers, animal hair, and the like.</div>
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The common use of natural “plastic” substances—such as rubber latex from plants and shellac from secretions of the lac beetle—began in earnest about three centuries ago, although some had been used off and on over a very long time. (For example, civilizations in Central America have played games with rubber balls for nearly 3,600 years.)</div>
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The problem was these natural plastics were difficult and expensive to obtain. As the industrial revolution created huge demand for materials, chemists began seriously searching for new sources of materials—and new materials.</div>
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A few partially synthetic plastics were invented in the 1800s. Celluloid—made primarily from plant cellulose and camphor—was created in the 1850s and still is in wide use. Galalith—made primarily from milk protein and formaldehyde—was invented in the 1890s and enabled the huge growth in costume jewelry (but eventually was eclipsed by other plastics).</div>
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Then in 1909, a Belgian chemist named Leo Baekeland created the first entirely synthetic plastic—and it would revolutionize the way many consumer goods were manufactured. Baekeland called his plastic “Bakelite.” (I guess that sounded better than “Leolite.”) Its properties made it suited for a much wider variety of purposes than its predecessors. For example, it was resistant to heat and would not conduct electricity, so it was a really good insulator—which made it particularly useful in the automotive and electrical industries emerging in the early 1900s.</div>
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Like many modern plastics, Bakelite was lightweight and durable, and it could be molded into nearly infinite shapes, so its use quickly expanded as manufacturers realized its potential. Consumers primarily were attracted to its aesthetic qualities: a sleek, stylish look coupled with a substantial, high-end feel. People bought Bakelite jewelry boxes, lamps, desk sets, clocks, radios, telephones, kitchenware, tableware, and a variety of game pieces such as chess sets, billiard balls, and poker chips. Bakelite ushered in a new era of attractive, affordable, convenient consumer goods, making it possible for a broad range of consumers to enjoy products that previously had been inaccessible.</div>
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Bakelite made perhaps its largest stamp on the world of fashion. Bakelite jewelry became immensely popular in the 1920s as an affordable and attractive replacement for other materials. It came in several colors, including translucent and marbled shades by the 1950s. Bakelite jewelry from this era often had striking patterns, such as polka dots and chevrons, and it could be carved into intricate shapes. Bakelite (and Galalith before it) introduced plastics to the fashion world, to be followed by nylon, polyester, spandex, and more. These plastics have inspired fashion designers to do more with less: more fabric choices, more creativity, and more durability, coupled often with less material, less weight, fewer wrinkles, and less expense.</div>
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Antique Bakelite items—from household appliances to jewelry—today are displayed in museums and sold for large sums. Their appeal to contemporary collectors may lie in Bakelite’s distinctive look, as well as the way they represent a particular era: a time when more and more consumers were able to take advantage of previously out-of-reach fashions and consumer goods.</div>
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After the 1950s, a large variety of plastics appeared in the marketplace and edged out Bakelite in all but a few specialized (mostly electrical) uses. But to me, Bakelite will always have a special place in history as the first truly modern plastic, one that people prized for its beauty, versatility, and durability. It ushered in the rapid growth of plastics that we now use every day in so many ways to improve our lives: medical devices that help save lives … athletic gear that enables peak performance … packaging that helps keep our food safer and fresher … clothing that keeps us cool or warm …</div>
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A 1924 article in <em style="background: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Time</em> magazine predicted that Bakelite, a “material of a thousand uses,” would one day make up nearly everything we touch, see, and use. A bit of hyperbole, of course—but prescient nonetheless.</div>
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Bakelite: The Plastic That Made History

Bakelite: The Plastic That Made History I cannot imagine life without modern plastics. And that’s not just because I’m Professor Plas...

Plastic Innovations

My Favorite Highlights of the Early History of Plastic

Bakelite: The Plastic That Made History

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