Celluloid
From the middle of the 19th
century the supply of ivory became insuficient to
meet the demand,so much so, that in the USA,
Phelan & Collander who were manufacturers of
billiard balls, offered $10,000 for a suitable
substitute - but, so far as is known, the prize
ws never awarded. John Wesley Hyatt tried various
compositions and patented several ideas,
including an 'improved method of making solid
collodion'. He was aware of the earlier work
on cellulose nitrate - particularly that by
Parkes and Spill and of the beneficial effect of
incorporating camphor. His crucial contribution
was the use of heat and pressure - heat melted
the camphor making it into a solvent for the
cellulose nitrate. This minimised the need for
additional solvent and eliminated most of the
problems associated with the much larger quantity
of volatile solvent used by his predecessors.
This breakthrough in approach was the reason why
Spill's patent action against Hyatt was
ultimately unsuccessful. In 1870 Hyatt and his
brother set up the Albany Dental Plate Company to
manufacture dental plate blanks from the new
material which they called Celluloid. In
1871 the Celluloid Manufacturing Company was
established in Albany, transferring to Newark,
New Jerse in 1872. A further reason why Hyatt's
enterprise was successful where others had failed
was that he developed machinery for working the
new material - his 'stuffing machine' was a
forerunner of injection moulding. He worked with
machinery manufacturers such as Burroughs to make
the first plastics processing machinery.
Celluloid became the generic name
for cellulose nitrate plastics and its use for
knife handles, washable collars and cuffs, toys,
table tennis balls, etc became widespread.
However, the highly inflammable nature of
celluloid was always a hazard to its manufacture
and use, and as newer plastics materials became
available its use gradually declined. In the USA,
celluloid companies became merged into and
engulfed by firms making newer plastics and in
1949 manufacture of celluloid at Newark ceased -
77 years after it began there.
It is used now only to make table
tennis balls, the properties of which have not
yet been successfully imitated by any other
material. Celluloid has long lost its economic
importance but the word itself has not died
because of the influence its ideas has had on 20th
century technology.
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