What Are Plastics
Plastics are types of polymers, synthetic or man-made, that can be molded, shaped, cast or drawn to create products. Polymers are chains of molecules that have repetitive chemical units called monomers. Though natural polymers do exist, (ex - amber, tortoise shells and horns from animals,) semi-synthetic and full synthetic products were not introduced until the late 1800's. The first commercial artificial plastic was created as an answer to a New York manufacturer's request (which offered $ 10,000 but there is no evidence that it was ever collected) for a material that could be used to make billiard balls so that ivory would not have to be used. This new product called celluloid was created around 1863 by John Wesley Hyatt, a printer in Albany, New York, could be molded and dyed to mimic natural products.1
Hyatt found his original process to be expensive, (the solvent used was a mixture alcohol and ether,) evaporated slowly and cracked and shrank while drying. Hyatt would soon find that his "problem" had been resolved in Great Britain, as Alexander Parkes displayed at the Great International Exhibition in London. Parkes had recently created a substance that was made from nitrocellulose and camphor in 1862, hoping to satisfy the need for something that mimicked luxury items like the natural polymers mentioned above. They were in high demand but had a limited supply. He eventually had a product that kept its shape as it dried, could be molded just as rubber could, and could be produced more cheaply! Parkes modestly named this product Parkesine.2
Equipped with new information, Hyatt used Parkes' technique and advertised a hard, durable substance that withstood atmospheric conditions, (these fascinating characteristics would eventually become a health and environmental nightmare.) Items such as denture plates, combs, handles for utility items, piano keys were manufactured by the Celluloid Manufacturing Company, Hyatt's new company. The new products created using cellulose derived from natural cotton and acid was marveled and described as "perfect imitations" that "defied detection".3
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