John Wesley
Hyatt
(1837 - 1920)
invented
Celluloid
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John
Wesley Hyatt was born in Starkey, New York in
1837. At the age of 16 he began work as a printer
in Illinois and later in Albany in New York State.
Here, billiard ball maker, Phelan & Collander
were offering a $10,000 reward for a suitable
substitute for ivory, the growing shortage of
which was threatening their business. Hyatt spent
several years in the search for such a material
but there is no evidence that the prize was ever
awarded. Indeed, Hyatt set up his own
manufacturing company which, a little later,
became the Albany Billiard Ball Company.
Initially, composition balls were coated in a
coloured layer of almost pure cellulose nitrate.
In his experiments, Hyatt discovered the solvent
action of camphor on cellulose nitrate under
moderate heat and pressure, and this was the
basis of his 1870 patent. But, in addition, he
also developed the necessary machinery for
working his new material - something which his
unsuccessful predecessor, Parkes, had failed to
do. One of the first uses of the new plastics
material was for making denture plates -
previously made from hard rubber - and Hyatt
formed the Albany Dental Plate Company in 1870.
In 1872 its name was changed to the Celluloid
Manufacturing Company and in 1873 the company
moved to larger premises in Newark, New Jersey.
Celluloid had been born.
He was awarded the Perkin Gold Medal in 1914.
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