1388059
9780299091705
In 1869, an Albany printer discovered how to mix nitrocellulose with camphor under high pressure to yield a hard, shiny, moldable substance which he and his brother called celluloid. This discovery was the dawn of the Plastics Age, but it represented only the first step in establishing a new technology. Examines the 20 years of laboratory trial and error that produced the first artificial plastic, as well as the equally difficult challenge of selling the product to a public that wasn't sure what to use it for. He shows how the struggle to find uses for the new material and to create markets for it was as significant as solving the problems of making it. Illustrated.Friedel, Robert is the author of 'Pioneer Plastic The Making and Selling of Celluloid' with ISBN 9780299091705 and ISBN 0299091708.
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