Daniel Spill was born in
Winterbourne in Gloucestershire, England on 11
February 1832. He married at the age of 18, his
bride was 15.
Although he trained as a doctor
he joined the business of his brother George. The
firm of George Spill & Co. manufactured
waterproof textiles in Stepney Green, East London
by spreading rubber onto cloth. The material was
much in demand for capes and groundsheets for
soldiers in the wet conditions of the Crimean War.
Spill became aware of Parkes'
claim for the waterproof qualities of Parkesine
probably at the 1862 exhibition. Negotiations led
to an agreement not only to use it for
waterproofing but also to develop Parkesine in
the works of George Spill at Hackney Wick.
In 1866, the Parkesine Co. was
established with Daniel Spill as works manager
and Parkes as managing director. The Company did
not prosper and was wound up in 1868, Spill
taking over most of the stock. He formed the
Xylonite Co. in 1869 to carry on the business but
that did not fare much better and was wound up in
1874.
Undaunted by these failures,
Spill established Daniel Spill & Co. in
Homerton, continuing to make Xylonite and Ivoride.
This enterprise succeeded in that others entered
into an agreement with Spill in 1877 to form the
British Xylonite Co. in the same premises. This
company did go on and prosper.
Spill's later years were largely
occupied in a long legal battle in America with
Hyatt and the Celluloid Corp. for infringment of
his patents. The lawsuit was filed in 1875, found
in his favour in 1880, but reversed in 1884.
Spill returned to England and in 1887 died of
diabetes at the age of 55.
For more than 20 years Spill had
doggedly pursued the goal of making a successful
business from Parkes' invention.
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