A History of Plastics

 

Earliest - horn, tortoiseshell

1284 – First recorded mention of The Horners Company of London, with horn and tortoiseshell as the predominant early natural plastic.

1820s - vulcanised rubber, gutta percha, parkesine, cellulose

1823 – Macintosh uses rubber gum to waterproof cotton and the ‘mac’ is born 1845 – Bewley designs extruder for gutta percha 1850 - First submarine telegraph cable in gutta percha laid between Dover and Calais 1862 – Display of Parkesine, predecessor of celluloid (cellulose nitrate), at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London 1872 – Hyatt brothers patented first plastics injection moulding machine 1885 – George Eastman Kodak patents machine for producing continuous photographic film based on cellulose nitrate. 1880 – Fashion for long hair leads to cellulose nitrate replacing horn as the preferred material for combs 1890 – Thermoforming introduced and used to make babies rattles from cellulose nitrate 1892 – Viscose silk (rayon) developed by Cross and Bevan  (Chardonnet Silk) 1898 – Beginning of mass production of rpm gramophone records from shellac 1899 - Krische and Spittler in Germany awarded patent for Casein Plastic from milk. Artefacts introduced at the Plastics Universal Exhibition in 1900

1900 – 1929 - early synthetics::casein, bakelite, ureas

1909 – Casein plastics, derived from milk, developed by Erinoid. 1910 – stockings made of viscose (CA) begin to be manufactured in Germany 1915 – Queen Mary sees casein products at the British Industries Fair and orders several pieces of jewellery made from it 1916 – Rolls Royce begins to use phenol formaldehyde in its car interiors and boasts about it 1919 – Eichengrun produce first cellulose acetate moulding powder 1921 – Beginning of rapid growth of phenolic mouldings especially for electrical insulation, with addition of phenolic laminates in 1930 1922 – Staudinger publishes his work that recognises that plastics are composed of long chain molecules – leading to Nobel prize in 1935 1924 – Rossiter at British Cyanide develops urea thiourea formaldehyde resins, subsequently commercialised as the first water white transparent thermosetting moulding powder. 1926 – Harrods hosts first display of new coloured thermosetting plastic tableware produced by Brookes and Adams, The Streetly Manufacturing Company and Thomas De La Rue and Co. 1926 – Eckert and Ziegler patent first commercial modern plastics injection moulding machine. 1929 – Bakelite Ltd receives its largest ever order for phenolic moulding powder for the casing of the Siemens telephone

1930s - plastics as an industry

1930 – ‘Scotch’ tape, the first transparent sticky tape invented in US by 3M Company 1932 – Screw per-plasticisation in injection moulding patented 1933 - BPF founded 1933 – Fawcett and Gibson at ICI discover polyethylene 1933 – Crawford at ICI develops first commercial synthesis of poly(methyl methacrylate) 1935 – Troester in Germany produce first extruder designed for thermoplastics. 1935 – Carothers and DuPont patent nylon 1936 - First production of aircraft canopies made from ‘Perspex’. 1937 - Columbo and Pasquetti in Italy produce first twin screw extruder machine 1937 – First commercial production of polystyrene by IG Farben, Germany 1938 – Full scale production of nylon 6 fibre begins in United States 1938 – First toothbrush with nylons tufts manufactured 1938 – Plunkett (DuPont) discovers PTFE 1939 – First commercial production of polyethylene in UK by ICI 1939 - Outbreak of war – strategic stockpiles, plastics in war

1940s - plastics in war

1940s - Use of polyethylene in radar 1940 – First production of PVC in UK 1940 – DuPont introduces polyacrylonitrile (PAN), an early engineering product 1941 – Whinfield and Dickson, of the Calico Printer's Association of Manchester, patent "polyethylene terephthalate" (PET); followed by the creation of the first polyester fiber called Terylene. 1942 – ‘Super Glue’ (methyl cyanoacrylate) first discovered by Dr Harry Coover, Eastman Kodak 1943 – First pilot plant for polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) ; to be marketed under trade mark ‘Teflon’  1945 - The production of LDPE the Sqezy bottle by Monsanto caused a rapid expansion of the industry, with containers produced to replace glass bottles for shampoos and liquid soaps. 1947 – Formica melamine faced decorative laminates introduced into the UK 1948 – Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) produced         1948 – George deMestral invents Velcro, patented in 1955 1948 – Introduction of 12” long playing records made from polyvinyl chloride (pvc) 1949 – First Airfix self-assembly model produced, made of polystyrene 1949 – High impact polystyrene introduced as a commercial plastic 1949 – Launch in US of Tupperware made from low density polyethylene 1949 – ‘Lycra’ based on polyurethane, invented by DuPont

1950s - textiles, fashion, toys, domestic uses

1950s – the polyethylene bag makes its first appearance 1950s – Introduction of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) copolymers 1950 - ICI opens new factory at Redcar to produce Terylene 1951 - Festival of Britain 1953 – Commercialisation of polyester fibres introduces the concept of ‘drip dry’ and ‘non-iron’ 1954 - Polystyrene foam (introduced by Dow Chemical Co.) 1955 – First production of high density polyethylene in UK 1956 – Reliant Regal 111, first commercially successful all glass-reinforced-plastic bodied car goes on sale 1956 – Eero Saarinen’s Tulip Chair launched, consisting of seat made of glass-fibre-reinforced plastic. 1956 – DuPont files patents for first acetals (POM) 1957 – The hoop is reinvented as the Hula Hoop by Knerr & Medlin, Wham-O Toy Company 1957 – First production of polypropylene by Montecatini using Ziegler-Natta catalysts 1958 – First production of polycarbonates (Bayer and General Electric) 1958 – Lego patents its stud and block coupling system and produces toys of cellulose acetate, later Acrylonitrile- butadiene-styrene polymer. 1959 – Barbie Doll unveiled by Mattel at American International Toy Fair

1960s & 70s - colour and design

Early 1960s – introduction of water based acrylic paints 1960 – Ethylene-vinyl acetate co-polymers launched by DuPont 1962 – DuPont launches polyimide films and varnishes 1962 – Silicone gel breast implants pioneered successfully 1965 - Kevlar® is first developed by DuPont 1966 – Blow moulding of fuel tanks introduced 1967 – Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) ‘Blow’ chair designed by Scolari, De Pas and Lomazzifor manufactured by Znaotta 1969 – Neil Armstrong plants a nylon flag on the moon. 1970 - First Yellow HDPE pressure pipes for gas introduced into UK by Wavin/British Gas. 1973 - Polyethylene terephthalate beverage bottles introduced 1976 - Plastics in its great variety of forms becomes the most used type of material in the world 1977 – Polyaryletheretherketone (PEEK) was first prepared by ICI 1979 – Introduction of first commercial mobile/ portable ‘phones 1979 - First PVC-U double glazed windows installed

  

1980s & 90s - high performance plastics

1980 – First production of linear low density polyethylene 1980 - First Blue HDPE pressure pipes for potable water introduced into UK. 1982 – First artificial heart made mainly of polyurethane, introduced implanted in a human. 1983 – The slim plastic Swatch watch made of 51 mainly plastic components 1983 – ICI and Bayer launch PEEK, PPS (polyphenyene sulphide), and PES (polyether sulphone) 1987 - BASF in Germany produces a polyacetylene that has twice the electrical conductivity of copper. 1988 – Introduction of triangular recycling symbols relating to plastics 1989 - First light-emitting polymers (poly-ethyne) discovered in Cambridge 1990 – ICI launches Biopol, the first commercially available biodegradable plastic 1991 – Dyson’s vacuum cleaner launched in Japan 1994 – Smart car with lightweight flexible integrally coloured polycarbonate panels introduced 1998 – Free standing Zanussi Oz fridge, with insulation and outer skins made in one process from polyurethane foam introduced

2000 + - plastics fit for the future

2000s Nano-Technology applied to  polymer and composit applications 2000 - First commercial metallocene catalysed polyolefins introduced. 2001 - iPod dreamed up by Tony Fadell, an independent inventor, developed by Apple Computers 2005 – NASA explores the advantages of a polyethylene based material RFX1, as the material for the spaceship that will send man to Mars 2005 – Polycond project established to look at the potential of conductive polymers 2008 – Airbus 380, comprising 22% carbon-fibre reinforced plastics flies into Heathrow 2009 - Boeing 787 (nicknames 'Boeing's Plastic Dream') comes into service, its skin is made up of 100% Plastic composites with plastic making up 50% of all materials in the plane.

Credits:
BPF, PHS, Science Museum, Sylvia Katz, Colin Williamson, Susan Mossman, John Russell, Ralph Kay, Deborah Jaffé

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