PLASTICS — KLINE 229 



hardness, strength, resistivity, and insolubility. Most of the molded 

 products of synthetic resin composition which are on the market 

 belong to the thermosetting type. 



HISTORY OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLASTICS IN AilERlCA 



A chronological survey of the development of plastics in America 

 is presented in the following paragraphs. By discussing them in 

 the order of their appearance on the market a better idea of the 

 underlying needs which led to their production and their relative 

 importance in the plastics industry today will be obtained. The spe- 

 cial properties which characterized each new material and which 

 in many instances were there by design and not by mere chance alone 

 will be described. The important uses which have been made of 

 these various plastics will be recounted. 



Cellulose nitrate plastic. — The oldest of the synthetic plastics is 

 the cellulose nitrate or pyroxylin type. It is amazing that a material 

 so hazardous to handle and so readily decomposed by heat has held 

 an important share of the plastics business for so many years. How- 

 ever, it has many unique properties which until recently have made 

 it the best available thermoplastic material for many purposes. 

 Alexander Parkes, an Englishman, prepared various articles from a 

 solution of cellulose nitrate and camphor during the period 1855 to 

 1865, but John Wesley Hyatt, an American, is generally credited 

 with being the first to attempt to work with cellulose nitrate as a 

 plastic mass rather than in solution. He is said to have been moti- 

 vated by a desire to find a substitute for ivory in the manufacture of 

 billiard balls, in order to win a prize ojffered for that achievement. 

 Although unsuccessful in obtaining the award, Hyatt with his 

 brother, Isaiah S. Hyatt, took out a patent in 1869 for making solid 

 collodion with very small quantities of solvent, dissolving the 

 pyroxylin under pressure, thus securing great economy of solvents 

 and a saving of time. The Albany Dental Plate Company was or- 

 ganized in 1870 to handle the first application of the cellulose-nitrate- 

 camphor plastic. By January 28, 1871, the demand for the material 

 for miscellaneous uses had become sufficiently great to bring about 

 the formation of the Celluloid Manufacturing Co., which moved in 

 1872 from Albany to Newark, its present location. Today Celluloid is 

 only one of a number of trade names, such as Nixonoid and Pyralin, 

 that are used to designate cellulose nitrate plastics produced by 

 various firms in America. 



Cellulose nitrate plastic was one of the first to be used in the auto- 

 mobile, being employed in sheet form as windows in the side cur- 

 tains of early models. Its flexibility and nonfragility were impor- 



