History of technology |
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This is a timeline of the development of plastics, comprising key discoveries and developments in the production of plastics.
Year | Event | Reference |
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1600BC | Mesoamericans used natural rubber for balls, and figurines. | [1] |
1000BC | First written evidence of Shellac | |
Middle Ages | Europeans used treated cow horns as translucent material for windows. | |
Year | Event | Reference |
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1839 | Eduard Simon, a German apothecary, discovers polystyrene | |
1844 | Thomas Hancock patents the vulcanization of rubber in Britain immediately followed by Charles Goodyear in United States. | [2] |
1856 | Parkesine, the first member of the Celluloid class of compounds and considered the first man-made plastic, is patented by Alexander Parkes. | [3] |
1869 | John Wesley Hyatt discovers a method to simplify the production of celluloid, making industrial production possible. | |
1872 | PVC was accidentally synthesized in 1872 by German chemist Eugen Baumann. | [4] |
1889 | Eastman Kodak successfully filed a patent for the celluloid film | [5] |
1890s | Galalith, a plastic derived from casein developed by Wilhelm Krische and Adolph Spitteler. | [6] |
1890s | Auguste Trillat discovered the means to insolubilize casein by immersion in formaldehyde, producing material marketed as galalith. | [6] |
1894 | Shellac phonograph records are developed and soon become an industry standard. | |
1898 | Polyethylene was first synthesized by the German chemist Hans von Pechmann while investigating diazomethane. | [7] |
Year | Event | Reference |
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1907 | Bakelite, the first fully synthetic thermoset, was reported by Leo Baekeland using phenol and formaldehyde. | |
1912 | After over 10 years research, Jacques E. Brandenberger develops a method for producing cellophane and secures a patent. | [8] |
1926 | Waldo Semon and the B.F. Goodrich Company developed a method to plasticize PVC by blending it with various additives. | |
1930 | Neoprene produced for the first time in DuPont | [5] |
1930s | Polystyrene first produced by BASF | [1] |
1931 | RCA Victor introduced their vinyl-based Victrolac compound for records. Vinyl records have twice the groove density of shellac records with good sound quality. | |
1933 | The first industrially practical polyethylene synthesis discovered by Eric Fawcett and Reginald Gibson at the Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) works in Northwich, England. | [9] |
1935 | Nylon is invented and patented by DuPont | [5] |
1938 | Nylon is first used for bristles in toothbrushes. It features at the 1939 worlds fair and is famously used in stockings in 1940 | |
1938 | Polytetrafluoroethylene (commonly known as teflon), discovered by Roy Plunkett at DuPont. | |
1941 | Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is discovered at the Calico Printers' Association in Britain. Expanded polystyrene first produced [5] | |
1950 | DuPont begin the manufacture of polyester. | |
1951 | J. Paul Hogan and Robert L. Banks from Phillips polymerized propylene for the first time to produce polypropylene | |
1953 | Polycarbonate independently developed by Hermann Schnell at Bayer and Daniel Fox at General Electric | |
1954 | Polypropylene was discovered by Giulio Natta with production starting in 1957 | [1] |
1954 | Expanded polystyrene, used for building insulation, packaging, and cup, was invented by Dow Chemical. | [1] |
1957 | Italian firm Montecatini begin large-scale commercial production of isotactic polypropylene. | |
1960s | High-density polyethylene bottles introduced and soon replace glass bottles in most applications | [10] |
1965 | Kevlar developed at DuPont by Stephanie Kwolek | |
1980s | Polyester film stock replaces cellulose acetate for photographic film and computer tapes. | |
1988 | First polymer bank notes issued in Australia | |
Karl Ferdinand Braun was a German electrical engineer, inventor, physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. Braun contributed significantly to the development of radio and television technology: he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Guglielmo Marconi "for their contributions to the development of wireless telegraphy", was a founder of Telefunken, one of the pioneering communications and television companies, and has been both called the "father of television" and the co-father of the radio telegraphy, together with Marconi.
An invention is a uniques or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an idea is unique enough either as a stand alone invention or as a significant improvement over the work of others, it can be patented. A patent, if granted, gives the inventor a proprietary interest in the patent over a specific period of time, which can be licensed for financial gain.
The timeline of historic inventions is a chronological list of particularly important or significant technological inventions and their inventors, where known.
Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging (plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bottles, etc.). As of 2017, over 100 million tonnes of polyethylene resins are being produced annually, accounting for 34% of the total plastics market.
Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organic compound with the formula CHCl3 and a common organic solvent. It is a very volatile, colorless, strong-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to PTFE and refrigerants and is a trihalomethane that serves as a powerful anesthetic, euphoriant, anxiolytic, and sedative when inhaled or ingested. It is also part of a wider class of substances known as volatile organic compounds.
Celluloids are a class of materials produced by mixing nitrocellulose and camphor, often with added dyes and other agents. Once much more common for its use as photographic film before the advent of safer methods, celluloid's common contemporary uses are table tennis balls, musical instruments, combs, office equipment, and guitar picks.
Elisha Gray was an American electrical engineer who co-founded the Western Electric Manufacturing Company. Gray is best known for his development of a telephone prototype in 1876 in Highland Park, Illinois. Some recent authors have argued that Gray should be considered the true inventor of the telephone because Alexander Graham Bell allegedly stole the idea of the liquid transmitter from him. Although Gray had been using liquid transmitters in his telephone experiments for more than two years previously, Bell's telephone patent was upheld in numerous court decisions.
Johannes Stark was a German physicist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1919 "for his discovery of the Doppler effect in canal rays and the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields". This phenomenon is known as the Stark effect.
Arthur Eichengrün was a German Jewish chemist, materials scientist, and inventor. He is known for developing the highly successful anti-gonorrhea drug Protargol, the standard treatment for 50 years until the adoption of antibiotics, and for his pioneering contributions in plastics: co-developing the first soluble cellulose acetate materials in 1903, called "Cellit", and creating processes for the manufacture of these materials which were influential in the development of injection moulding. During World War I his relatively non-flammable synthetic cellulose acetate lacquers, marketed under the name "Cellon", were important in the aircraft industry. He contributed to photochemistry by inventing the first process for the production and development of cellulose acetate film, which he patented with Becker.
Benzocaine, sold under the brand name Orajel amongst others, is an ester local anesthetic commonly used as a topical pain reliever or in cough drops. It is the active ingredient in many over-the-counter anesthetic ointments such as products for oral ulcers. It is also combined with antipyrine to form A/B otic drops to relieve ear pain and remove earwax. In the US, products containing benzocaine for oral application are contraindicated in children younger than two years old. In the European Union, the contraindication applies to children under 12 years of age.
Marcel Grossmann was a Swiss mathematician and a friend and classmate of Albert Einstein. Grossmann was a member of an old Swiss family from Zurich. His father managed a textile factory. He became a Professor of Mathematics at the Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, today the ETH Zurich, specializing in descriptive geometry.
Alexander Parkes was a metallurgist and inventor from Birmingham, England. He created Parkesine, the first man-made plastic.
Urea-formaldehyde (UF), also known as urea-methanal, so named for its common synthesis pathway and overall structure, is a nontransparent thermosetting resin or polymer. It is produced from urea and formaldehyde. These resins are used in adhesives, plywood, particle board, medium-density fibreboard (MDF), and molded objects. In agriculture, urea-formaldehyde compounds are one of the most commonly used types of slow-release fertilizer.
Ányos István Jedlik was a Hungarian inventor, engineer, physicist, and Benedictine priest. He was also a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and author of several books. He is considered by Hungarians and Slovaks to be the unsung father of the dynamo and electric motor.
A timeline of United States inventions encompasses the ingenuity and innovative advancements of the United States within a historical context, dating from the Contemporary era to the present day, which have been achieved by inventors who are either native-born or naturalized citizens of the United States. Patent protection secures a person's right to his or her first-to-invent claim of the original invention in question, highlighted in Article I, Section 8, Clause 8 of the United States Constitution which gives the following enumerated power to the United States Congress:
To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
Phenyl salicylate, or salol, is the organic compound with the formula C6H5O2C6H4OH. It is a white solid. It is occasionally used in sunscreens and as an antiseptic.
Martin Schadt is a Swiss physicist and inventor.