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a bridge to the 18th century. Building a Bridge to the Eighteenth Century By: Neil
Postman Neil Postman identifies himself as a ?neo-Luddite?. ...
a Bridge to the 18th Century. American Plastic Plastic materials have become
so numerous that you cannot go through a single day ...
... Until the early 18th century the working of iron has been restricted by a practical ...
in the Darby family's own construction of the first iron bridge, and in the ...
... Not only did he create a bridge between the 18th-century classical period and new
beginnings of Romanticism, but he started a new era of music. ...
... The composer of some of the most influential pieces of music ever written, Ludwig
van Beethoven created a bridge between the 18th-century classical period and ...
Submitted by inasad on July 4, 2005
Category: Book Reports
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American Plastic
Plastic materials have become so numerous that you cannot go through a single day without touching something made of plastic. Toothbrushes, ballpoint pens, unbreakable dishes, cabinets and knobs for machines and appliances, light switches – all of these things and many more are made of plastic.
It seems hard to believe that before 1869, there was no such thing as plastic. The first plastic, celluloid, was invented in 1869 by John Wesley Hyatt, (Meikle 5). A $10,000 prize had been offered to anyone who invented a material that could replace ivory for making billiard balls. In his experiments, Hyatt dissolved nitrocellulose and camphor in alcohol. This produced a solid, white material that could be pressed into blocks. The celluloid blocks could then be cut and ground into billiard balls. Mr. Hyatt won the prize and patented his invention (10, 11). For more that 40 years afterward, Hyatt’s celluloid was the only kind of plastic.
Manufacturers began making it into combs and brushes, buttons, piano keys, handles, and stiff collards and cuffs for men’s shirts (24, 25). Celluloid also became the main material for making plates for false teeth. The celluloid plastic was lighter and had less taste than the hard rubber that had previously been used to hold false teeth. George Eastman, a manufacturer of photographic equipment, invented a way to make celluloid film. Photographers until then had been taking pictures on chemically treated glass plates.
The main problem with celluloid was that it caught fire easily. In 1909, Leo Hendrik Baekeland, a Belgian chemist living in New Jersey, invented a new kind of plastic called Bakelite. Bakelite was hard to burn and impossible to melt. Telephone sets were among the first products made from Bakelite (34-50).
Since the early 1900’s, many different plastics have been developed, each having a special characteristic or advantage that makes it good for...
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