Plastic Is Invented..1909

• 1908 - Cellophane ® - Jacques E. Brandenberger
• 1909 - First true plastic Phenol-Formaldehyde tradenamed Bakelite
- Leo Hendrik Baekeland
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• 1936 - Acrylic or Polymethyl Methacrylate
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• 1938 - Polytetrafluoroethylene or PTFE tradenamed Teflon - Roy Plunkett
• 1939 - Nylon and Neoprene
considered a replacement for silk and a synthetic rubber respectively Wallace Hume Carothers
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• 1953 - Saran Wrap introduced by Dow Chemicals.
• 1954 - Styrofoam a type of foamed polystyrene foam was invented by Ray McIntire for Dow Chemicals
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• 1970 - Thermoplastic Polyester this includes trademarked Dacron, Mylar, Melinex, Teijin, and Tetoron
• 1978 - Linear Low Density Polyethylene
• 1985 - Liquid Crystal Polymers

Plastic Products

• Plastic Garbage Bags
• SILLY PUTTY
• VELCRO.

• The First Man-Made Plastic - Parkesine

  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 collodion a natural substance, 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, until the addition of camphor, a derivative of the laurel tree. The new celluloid could 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. John Wesley 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, tradenamed Bakelite.

  Bakelite Telephone

  

  Makers of water bottles, including Camelback, now sell products that don't contain BPA, a chemical that can mimic the sex hormone estrogen. But a new study says that even if they don't contain BPA, most plastic products release estrogenic chemicals.

  
  

  

  PlastiPure manufactures water bottles that it says have no estrogenic chemicals.