Editing Celluloid (section)

==History==
[[File:Arco pen.jpg|thumb|upright|Celluloid and [[sterling silver]] pen.]]
===Nitrocellulose===
Nitrocellulose-based plastics slightly predate celluloid. [[Collodion]], invented in 1848 and used as a wound dressing and an emulsion for photographic plates, is dried to a celluloid like film.

===Alexander Parkes===
The first celluloid as a bulk material for forming objects was made in 1855 in [[Birmingham]], England, by [[Alexander Parkes]], who was never able to see his invention reach full fruition, after his firm went bankrupt due to scale-up costs.<ref name="Painter & Coleman" /> Parkes patented his discovery as Parkesine in 1862 after realising a solid residue remained after evaporation of the solvent from photographic collodion.<ref>{{cite book|last=UK Patent office|title=Patents for inventions|year=1857|publisher=UK Patent office|pages=255|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0nCoU-2tAx8C&pg=PA255}}</ref>

Parkes patented it as a clothing waterproofer for woven fabrics in the same year. Later Parkes showcased Parkesine at the [[1862 International Exhibition]] in London, where he was awarded a bronze medal for his efforts. The introduction of Parkesine is generally regarded as the birth of the [[plastics industry]].<ref name="Painter & Coleman">{{cite book |first1=Paul C. |last1=Painter |first2=Michael M. |last2=Coleman |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=CL7O_hH0aw4C&q=PARKESINE+alexander+parkes&pg=PA8 |title=Essentials of Polymer Science and Engineering |chapter=The Early History of Polymers |year=2008 |pages=7–9 |publisher=DEStech>|isbn=9781932078756 }}</ref> Parkesine was made from [[cellulose]] treated with [[nitric acid]] and a [[solvent]]. The Parkesine company ceased trading in 1868. Pictures of Parkesine are held by the [[Plastics Historical Society]] of London. There is a plaque on the wall of the site of the Parkesine Works in [[Metropolitan Borough of Hackney|Hackney]], London.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hackney.gov.uk/ep-first-plastic-in-the-world.htm |title=Hackney Council - First Plastic in the World |work=hackney.gov.uk |year=2012 |access-date=9 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304110933/http://www.hackney.gov.uk/ep-first-plastic-in-the-world.htm |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===John Wesley Hyatt===
In the 1860s, an American, [[John Wesley Hyatt]], acquired Parkes's patent and began experimenting with cellulose nitrate with the intention of manufacturing [[billiard ball]]s, which until that time were made from [[ivory]]. He used cloth, ivory dust, and [[shellac]], and on April 6, 1869, patented a method of covering billiard balls with the addition of collodion. With assistance from Peter Kinnear and other investors,<ref name="NYSPL">{{cite web |url=http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc22082.htm |title=Albany Billiard Ball Company Records, 1894-1944; Bulk 1915-1944 |year=2009 |editor-first=Fred |editor-last=Bassett |work=NYSL.NYSED.gov |at="Manuscripts and Special Collections" section |publisher=New York State Library, NYS Education Dept |location=Albany, NY, US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130105050050/http://www.nysl.nysed.gov/msscfa/sc22082.htm |archive-date=January 5, 2013 |access-date=January 5, 2013 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Hyatt formed the [[Albany Billiard Ball Company]] (1868–1986) in [[Albany, New York]], to manufacture the product. In 1870, John and his brother Isaiah patented a process of making a "horn-like material" with the inclusion of cellulose nitrate and camphor.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US105338 |title=US patent #105,338 issued July 12, 1870 |access-date=2014-05-07}}</ref> Alexander Parkes and Daniel Spill ''(see below)'' listed camphor during their earlier experiments, calling the resultant mix "xylonite", but it was the Hyatt brothers who recognized the value of camphor and its use as a plasticizer for cellulose nitrate. They used heat and pressure to simplify the manufacture of these compounds. Isaiah Hyatt dubbed the material "celluloid" in 1872. The Hyatts later moved their company, now called the Celluloid Manufacturing Company, to [[Newark, New Jersey]]. 

[[File:US-NJ(1891) p568 NEWARK, THE CELLULOID COMPANY.jpg|thumbnail|Newark, New Jersey, industrial production complex of the Celluloid Company ({{Circa|1890}})]]
Over the years, celluloid became the common use term used for this type of plastic. In 1878 Hyatt was able to patent a process for injection moulding thermoplastics, although it took another fifty years before it could be realized commercially, and in later years celluloid was used as the base for [[photographic film]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.plastiquarian.com/index.php?id=13&subid=135&osCsid=fc41f33a8e541b152ad79a59d00b3d19 |title=Plastics Historical Society |publisher=Plastiquarian.com |access-date=2014-05-07}}</ref>

=== Imitating ivory ===
The development of celluloid was partially spurred by the desire to reduce reliance on ivory, with its shortages caused by overhunting.{{sfn|Beaujot|2012|p=147}} An 1883 invention allowed celluloid manufacturers to imitate the distinctive graining of ivory, and by the end of 19th century celluloid was marketed as a lighter (and three times cheaper{{sfn|Beaujot|2012|p=149}}) ivory substitute under the names "Ivarine", "Ivaleur", "French Ivory", "Parisian Ivory", "Grained Ivory", and "Ivory Pyralin".{{sfn|Beaujot|2012|p=148}}

===Daniel Spill and legal disputes===
English inventor [[Daniel Spill]] had worked with Parkes and formed the Xylonite Co. to take over Parkes' patents, describing the new plastic products as ''Xylonite''. He took exception to the Hyatts' claims and pursued the brothers in a number of court cases between 1877 and 1884. Initially the judge found in Spill's favor, but ultimately it was judged that neither party held an exclusive claim and the true inventor of celluloid/xylonite was Alexander Parkes, due to his mention of camphor in his earlier experiments and patents.<ref name="THG">Daniel Spill, Celluloid Manufacturing Company, United States. Circuit Court (New York : Southern District) ''Spill vs. Celluloid Manufacturing Company litigation documents''</ref> The judge ruled all manufacturing of celluloid could continue both in Spill's British Xylonite Company and Hyatt's' Celluloid Manufacturing Company.

[[File:Old celluloid film rolls (5201105455).jpg|alt=|thumb|Old celluloid film rolls]]
The main use was in movie and photography film industries, which used only celluloid film stock prior to the adoption of [[Cellulose acetate|acetate]] safety film in the 1950s. Celluloid is highly flammable, difficult and expensive to produce and no longer widely used.