History On Plastic

Today’s plastics are one of the most used materials on a volume basis in U.S. industrial and commercial life. Plastics are broadly integrated into today’s lifestyle and make a major, irreplaceable contribution to virtually all product areas. Although the plastics industry in the United States is now in its second century, the most important developments have occurred since 1910. However, the roots of these modern developments go back not only to the research of cellulose nitrate by John Wesley Hyatt in the 1860s, but also to the plastic-like compositions used by man through the centuries.

One can go as far back as the Old Testament to find references about natural materials used as fillers, adhesives, coatings, and the like. These materials were the precursors of modern plastic materials. Historians continue to differ as to the exact year or decade that the plastics industry began because the definition of “plastic” is a matter of interpretation.

Certainly, the history of the rubber industry has a bearing on plastics. This is because ebonite, or hard rubber, discovered in 1851, was the first thermosetting material to be prepared and the first material that involved a distinct chemical modification of a natural material. But ebonite was not exploited commercially for some years after its discovery; for that reason, its historical importance has become somewhat blurred.

Source : www.plasticsindustry.org/AboutPlastics/content.cfm?ItemNumber=670