The Plastic Revolution: Celluloid

sponsored by dashlane the word plastic is derived from the Greek word for to form or shape and the term really predates the stuff that we call modern plastics it's been used as early as the 16th century to refer to any compound that was say moldable or shapeable but it is a particularly apt term for modern plastics which can't apparently be shaped into almost anything and because of that have been shaped into well almost everything we have a very mixed relationship with plastic the term itself has come to mean fake or cheap and plastic trash in the environment has become an issue of international concern but plastic is so related to our modern life so pervasive that plastic is practically the definition of modernity and that material which can be shaped into almost everything has shaped us as well almost from the very beginning the story of celluloid the first man-made plastic is history that deserves to be remembered I really can't say enough good things about - laying the sponsor of today's episode we all spend so much time online these days and Security's become first of mine - line saves and helps you strengthen your passwords it auto fills online forms and protects you with a single password that's held locally so can't be lost even if - land we're hacked - link hasn't included VPN so you don't have to worry about your passwords even if you're on an unsecured Network simply put - Lane protect you from Pirates it's easy to download and set up there are two versions you can use the free version on one device free for a lifetime and the premium version can be downloaded as many devices as you like - Lee makes life easier takes away worries and that deserves to be remembered download - lame free for your first device using the link in the description below and you get a free 30 day trial of the premium version and no credit card is required to sign up plasticity is a general property of materials that refers to the ability of that material to undergo deformation without breaking soil has plasticity that's why you can leave a footprint metal has plasticity that's why it can be bit the materials we call plastics have such high plasticity ability to form them into new shapes that they become named after the ability plastic is moldable polymer what we think of plastic is the epitome of fake can not naturally derive the building blocks of plastic are not just rooted in nature they are fundamental to it polymers are so-called macromolecules very large molecules made up of repeating chains of smaller molecules the smaller molecules called monomers joined together in a process called polymerization to create three-dimensional structures that can include thousands of molecules for example proteins typically though not exclusively the backbone of polymers will be carbon which is strong and stable and well suited to forming molecular bonds today we create many forms of artificial polymers but natural polymers biopolymers are central to life itself poly nucleotides are polymers that's that stuff that we call DNA these large molecular masses and by that I mean compared to smaller molecular compounds but we are still talking about molecules here exhibit certain characteristics they tend to be tough that is they have an ability to absorb energy by plastically deforming rather than fracturing they tend to form glass or semi crystalline structures rather than crystals they tend towards visco-elasticity which is that they show characteristics of both viscosity and elasticity are roughly the ability to deform under pressure and yet return to an original form to get the idea natural rubbers of biopolymer as our natural gums like chicle so our wool silk and resins like Ambridge lack all of these bio polymers exhibit some characteristics of the stuff that we today called plastic humans have been using bio polymers in their natural form for a very long time there's evidence that people been chewing gum made of tree resin since the Stone Age Mesoamericans were using natural tree rubber to make balls at least since the 2nd millennium BC process for making silk textiles was developed in China in the 4th millennium BC and wool textiles date back to at least 1500 BC there's written evidence of the use of shellac a natural resin secreted by a bug that can be dissolved into liquid reshaped and hardened again in the 1st millennium BC the most abundant biopolymer on earth is cellulose which is the stuff that forms the cell walls and cellulose is what allows wood to be strong it's what allows paper which is mostly made out of cellulose to be flexible it's what allows wall to be spud into textiles Wood is about 40 to 50 percent cellulose but the purest natural form of cellulose is cotton which is 90 percent cellulose cellulose was also the foundation of the first man-made plastic in the 1830s had been discovered that cellulose could be nitrated that is have a chemical nitro group introduced into the compound this was generally done by mixing cellulose with nitric acid the resulting compound nitrocellulose was highly combustible first use was as an explosive commonly called gun cotton gun cotton can be very volatile in the first attempts to manufacture it were abandoned because the factories tended to well blow up while gun cotton itself has an interesting history a prolific inventor from Birmingham named Alexander Parkes found a unique use for it Parkes essentially took gun cotton and dissolved it in various solvents and found out that it turned into sort of a viscous substance that could then be poured into a mold and his first thought was to use that to make waterproof cloth but it turns out that the the compound which he called Park seen could really be molded into almost anything Parkes took out his first related patent in 1855 he later won a bronze medal for excellence of product in the International Exhibition in London in 1862 exhibiting things like buttons handles for knives and razors and decorative cases for degorio types Parkes enos generally recognizes the first man-made plastic but part singh didn't quite change the world Parkes tried to commercialize this product and formed a company in 1866 but the problem was that Parkes wanted to keep the price very low that was the idea Parc scene could be used as a substitute for all manner of natural materials but its advantage was that it would be cheap to produce but in trying to keep it cheap he used substandard materials was not able to manufacture items of the same quality produced for the Crystal Palace exposition Park scene turned out to be prone to cracking and highly flammable his company folded in 1868 what took parks invention to the next step was a shortage the game of billiards likely derived from various long sport in French King Louis xi had the first known indoor billiard table made in the 15th century the sport became popular among the wealthy and into the 18th century to become more common in places like Paris cafes the balls can be made of wood or clay but the wealthy preferred ivory the game had grown in popularity and by the middle 19th century was popular enough in the United States at least virtually every estate or mansion was expected to have a billiards table that there was a growing concern about the cost and availability of ivory to meet the demand for billiard balls a New York Times article in 1867 worried that 3,500 pachyderms have been sold from the island of salon in just three years to make billiard balls the paper worried that the supply of animals might eventually be used up the first great billiard star in the United States was Michael Phelan known as the most scientific and expert player in the nation feeling worked to standardize the US billiards table became involved in manufacturing billion supplies in 1863 Valens company falen and colander offered a substantive prize of $10,000 for the first person to develop an adequate substitute for ivory in the making of billiard balls prized was never apparently awarded but it inspired an American inventor named John Wesley hyatt in brief after experimenting Haight figured out that using the chemical Kampfer turpentine chemical derived from an evergreen tree as a solvent caused a plasticizing effect on Park scene by removing volatile substances from the park C mixture he removed the shrinking and warping caused by having to drive those solvents out while Park had used camphor he apparently saw it as just another solvent and did not realize its potential Hayek called his compound celluloid the great advantage of celluloid was that it was the first true thermoplastic by making part seen less volatile I created a compound that could be heated and shaped patented in 1869 celluloid could be produced cheaply to make a wide range of things in fact almost anything including of course billiard balls Hayek created the Albany billiard ball company and his celluloid composite balls dominated the industry until the 1960s although there is no evidence that he ever collected on valence prize in 1870 Hite form the Albany Dental plant company which creates not just dentures made out of celluloid but also piano keys the dental plate company became the celluloid manufacturing company in 1872 I have developed more processes of products because celluloid could be easily dyed in colored it could be used as an alternative for a number of products it could be only derived from nature thus limiting their mass availability things like tortoiseshell marble mother pearl coral lapis lazuli and even wood textures and grains could be reproduced in celluloid it could so replicate the look of ivory that it was often marketed under the name French ivory it was used in decorative items like mirror cases and on knife handles it was used to decorate the Front's of accordions guitars hide developed a process called blow molding which allowed celluloid to be used to make dolls despite being still relatively flammable celluloid dolls are expensive collector items today if all this seems like knickknacks it was in reality the growth of the middle-class plastic made consumer items affordable and available to masses of people looking to enjoy the trappings of new wealth and in doing so possibly saved animals like elephants used for ivory and tortoises used for combs from extinction to show the meaning mantel clocks were once an important sign of wealth covered in the rarest and most expensive materials using celluloid veneers fancy metal clocks we made to look like the rarest wood grains covered with the most desired precious and semi-precious materials like the dolls those clocks today are valuable collector pieces in its day it mints millions more could enjoy the trappings of prosperity the surprising examples in clothing in the latter half of the nineteenth century more people were moving from factories and farms to work in offices and stores now people had to dress professionally but it was expensive to keep things like collars and cuffs stiff and clean Hayate earned at least 11 different patents for celluloid clothing using detachable shirt cuffs and collars sometimes using a celluloid veneer over white paper the cuffs and collars would remain stiff to be cleaned with water thus in rapidly changing times in the development of a new middle-class celluloid literally represented the shift from blue-collar white-collar work but by far its most important impact on culture came via another medium celluloid and photography were already cousins potassium iodide added to liquid gun cotton produced a light-sensitive material that was used to make the first photo negatives on glass plates that process allowed the reproduction of photos and quickly replaced daguerreotypes but the next step used celluloid directly as celluloid qualities it was naturally transparent flexible and could be very thin and at the perfect medium to replace the glass and create photographic film American inventor Hannibal Goodwin patented process Bruce a celluloid film based to be used in Thomas Edison's kinetograph at the same time George Eastman developed a practical roll film to be used in personal cameras creating the Eastman Kodak Company Goodwin and Eastman would sue each other over patents but celluloid had allowed both affordable personal photography and practical motion pictures both transform culture in profound ways as an odd demonstration of the power of celluloid in the 19-teens early film star a green castle became so popular on film that her hairstyle the short bob became so popular that it caused a collapse in the market for one of celluloid most popular products the personal comb facing a reduced market one manufacturer of celluloid women's hair products shifted to a new line using the newly developed process of injection molding Sam foster started producing celluloid sunglasses first from a Woolworths store on the boardwalk in Atlantic City under the brand name Foster Grant the popularity of celluloid film drove the development of inexpensive celluloid sunglasses which were largely featuring movie stars in their marketing the relationship between humanity and plastic is something that author Susan Frankel describes as a toxic love affair celluloid it created this revolution that led to the development of all sorts of different kinds of plastics to make virtually everything and it's not just consumer items that we get from plastic it it led to huge advancements in science and technology and we could could we have ever gone to the moon can we go to outer space if we if we didn't have plastic it allowed us to stop taking the things we need just directly from nature I mean elephants might be extinct today if it weren't for John Wesley Hyatt but some of the very characteristics of plastic that made it popular its durability its longevity its water and permeability have now created environmental crises of their own as much as 12 and a half million tons of plastic enter the oceans each year threatening the entire ecosystem it takes an estimated 500 years for a plastic diaper to decompose new research is focusing on biodegradable plastics and the use of microbial species that can dispose of plastic waste as well as more focus on recycling and eliminating the use of single-use plastics the age of celluloid is really over pretty much everything that used to be made out of celluloid has been replaced by some newer all man-made plastic that's more stable celluloid film always had its risk because it degrades over time and it's very flammable and so millions of feet of old films rotted away degraded in the canisters are burned up in vault fires you can cause some fires in hospitals because of the film that was used for x-rays nitrate film was subtly replaced with acetate film which was less flammable more stable but even all that's being replaced by digital processes today one of the last great niches for celluloid was ping-pong balls seem to have that perfect bounce but even that era has now come to an end as of July 1st 2019 the International Table Tennis Federation gave up the celluloid balls in exchange for poly balls balls made out of all man-made polymers you can still find cellulous ping-pong balls on the market for traditionalists sometimes celluloid is used to make guitar picks but for the most part the compound that led us into the future has been relegated to the Past I hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets have forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section I will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on Facebook Instagram Twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring com and if you'd like more episodes on forgotten history all you need to do is subscribe you

Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 334,436

Keywords: history, the History Guy, invention, plastic, celluloid, history guy, us history

Id: XPBHdTH1ptc

Length: 15min 49sec (949 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 20 2019