A Brief History of the Invention of Plastics

Bottles for recycling

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by Mary Bellis
Mary Bellis, known by some as CalmX, was an experimental artist, film director and producer, video game content creator, and freelance writer for some 18 years. She specialized in writing about inventors and inventions, in particular. Bellis died in March 2015.
Updated May 25, 2019

The first man-made plastic was created by Alexander Parkes who publicly demonstrated it at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London. The material, called Parkesine, was an organic material derived from cellulose that once heated could be molded and retained its shape when cooled.

Celluloid

Celluloid is derived from cellulose and alcoholized camphor. John Wesley Hyatt invented celluloid as a substitute for the ivory in billiard balls in 1868. He first tried using a natural substance called collodion after spilling a bottle of it and discovering that the material dried into a tough and flexible film. However, the material was not strong enough to be used as a billiard ball, not until the addition of camphor, a derivative of the laurel tree. The new celluloid could now be molded with heat and pressure into a durable shape.

Besides billiard balls, celluloid became famous as the first flexible photographic film used for still photography and motion pictures. Hyatt created celluloid in a strip format for movie film. By 1900, movie film was an exploding market for celluloid.

Formaldehyde Resins - Bakelite

After cellulose nitrate, formaldehyde was the next product to advance the technology of plastic. Around 1897, efforts to manufacture white chalkboards led to casein plastics (milk protein mixed with formaldehyde) Galalith and Erinoid are two early tradename examples.

In 1899, Arthur Smith received British Patent 16,275, for "phenol-formaldehyde resins for use as an ebonite substitute in electrical insulation," the first patent for processing a formaldehyde resin. However, in 1907, Leo Hendrik Baekeland improved phenol-formaldehyde reaction techniques and invented the first fully synthetic resin to become commercially successful with the trade name Bakelite.

Here is a brief timeline of the evolution of plastics.

Timeline - Precursors

  • 1839 - Natural Rubber - Method of processing invented by Charles Goodyear
  • 1843 - Vulcanite - Invented by Thomas Hancock
  • 1843 - Gutta-Percha - Invented by William Montgomerie
  • 1856 - Shellac - Invented by Alfred Critchlow and Samuel Peck
  • 1856 - Bois Durci - Invented by Francois Charles Lepage

Timeline - Beginning of the Plastic Era With Semi-Synthetics

  • 1839 - Polystyrene or PS - Discovered by Eduard Simon
  • 1862 - Parkesine - Invented by Alexander Parkes
  • 1863 - Cellulose Nitrate or Celluloid - Invented by John Wesley Hyatt
  • 1872 - Polyvinyl Chloride or PVC - First created by Eugen Baumann
  • 1894 - Viscose Rayon - Invented by Charles Frederick Cross and Edward John Bevan

Timeline - Thermosetting Plastics and Thermoplastics

  • 1908 - Cellophane - Invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger
  • 1909 - First true plastic Phenol-Formaldehyde (trade name Bakelite) - Invented by Leo Hendrik Baekeland
  • 1926 - Vinyl or PVC - Walter Semon invented a plasticized PVC
  • 1933 - Polyvinylidene chloride or Saran also called PVDC - Accidentally discovered by Ralph Wiley, a Dow Chemical lab worker
  • 1935 - Low-density polyethylene or LDPE - Invented by Reginald Gibson and Eric Fawcett
  • 1936 - Acrylic or Polymethyl Methacrylate
  • 1937 - Polyurethanes (trade-named Igamid for plastics materials and Perlon for fibers) - Otto Bayer and co-workers discovered and patented the chemistry of polyurethanes
  • 1938 - Polystyrene made practical
  • 1938 - Polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE (trade-named Teflon) - Invented by Roy Plunkett
  • 1939 - Nylon and Neoprene - Considered a replacement for silk and a synthetic rubber respectively by Wallace Hume Carothers
  • 1941 - Polyethylene Terephthalate or Pet - Invented by Whinfield and Dickson
  • 1942 - Low-Density Polyethylene
  • 1942 - Unsaturated Polyester also called PET - Patented by John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson
  • 1951 - High-density polyethylene or HDPE (trade-named Marlex) - Invented by Paul Hogan and Robert Banks
  • 1951 - Polypropylene or PP - Invented by Paul Hogan and Robert Banks
  • 1953 - Saran Wrap introduced by Dow Chemicals
  • 1954 - Styrofoam (a type of foamed polystyrene foam) - Invented by Ray McIntire for Dow Chemicals
  • 1964 - Polyimide
  • 1970 - Thermoplastic Polyester this includes trademarked Dacron, Mylar, Melinex, Teijin, and Tetoron
  • 1978 - Linear Low-Density Polyethylene
  • 1985 - Liquid Crystal Polymers