YEAR | EVENT |
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 |