{"id":6204,"date":"2025-06-05T14:06:21","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T13:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/?page_id=6204"},"modified":"2025-08-21T12:57:39","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T11:57:39","slug":"celluloid","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/index.php\/celluloid\/","title":{"rendered":"Celluloid"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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It was not only the innovative design of the reels and weed-cutting equipment that made the company stand out from others but also the use of celluloid.<\/span><\/p>

In 1863 Phelan and Collander, an American maker of Billiard balls offered a $10,000 reward for anyone who could find a substitute for ivory suitable for making billiard balls. It was estimated that 12,000 elephants a year were killed to meet the demand for billiard balls. John Wesley Hyatt took up the challenge and eventually produced a suitable material. There is no record of him either claiming or receiving the reward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

His discovery was\u00a0<\/span>by accident<\/span>\u00a0when he spilt a bottle of Collodian, a mixture of cellulose nitrate and ethyl alcohol. The spilt substance set hard and looked exactly like ivory.\u00a0<\/span>A variation of the liquid was used as a protective second skin\u00a0<\/span>applied with<\/span>\u00a0a brush to the hands to protect them from printer\u2019s ink, grease and other substances.<\/span><\/p>

One small problem with the billiard balls was that they would catch fire when a lighted cigar came into contact with them. They would also occasionally explode when hit against each other.<\/span><\/p>

He eventually\u00a0<\/span>came up with<\/span>\u00a0the solution by adding camphor to the collodion and applying heat to the mixture. In 1869 he invented pyroxylin plastic, the world\u2019s first semi-synthetic thermoplastic.<\/span><\/p>

John\u2019s brother, Isaiah, called the new material Celluloid. The exact meaning is not known but\u00a0<\/span>is<\/span>\u00a0either an abridgement of \u201ccolloid of cellulose\u201d or cellulose coupled with the Greek \u201coid\u201d meaning like.<\/span><\/p>

The new material was quickly accepted as a better option to gutta percha in the manufacture of denture plates.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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John Wesley Hyatt<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u00a0About the same time Alexander Parkes a Birmingham metallurgist, whilst experimenting with cellulose nitrate, various oils and camphor, came up with a substance\u00a0<\/span>which he<\/span>\u00a0called Parkesine, the world\u2019s first plastic. In 1862 he started making novelties from his material, but because he used poor quality raw materials, particularly the purity of the water, the venture was not a success.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Daniel Spill a former associate of Alexander Parkes reformulated Parkes process and in 1869 came up with a new plastic compound that he called Xylonite. An imitation ivory version of xylonite was produced and he called it ivoride. Both materials would be used in the manufacture of reels.<\/span><\/p>

Hyatt\u2019s Company, The Celluloid Manufacturing Company had registered the\u00a0<\/span>name celluloid and had<\/span>\u00a0started granting licences for companies to manufacture and use the trade name. Hyatt and Spill\u2019s companies had a long quarrel over the patent rights and, after several long drawn out and procrastinated legal battles the Celluloid Company won. The Celluloid Company eventually absorbed the Xylonite Company after they could not pay the legal fees and damages. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Celluloids quickly became established in many fields\u00a0<\/span>with<\/span>\u00a0unlimited uses. By adding colours, dyes and compounds many effects could be produced. Film for still and movie cameras saw an explosion in its use. Percy Wadham whilst possibly not the first person to apply celluloid to fishing tackle certainly was the master.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was not only the innovative design of the reels and weed-cutting equipment that made the company stand out from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-6204","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6204"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6911,"href":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6204\/revisions\/6911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/percywadham.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}