History
of PET - Polyethylene Terephthalate
PRODUCTION OF POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE
(P.E.T)
Bellis,
Mary "Cracker Jack" Inventors at About. Retrieved
January 1, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcrackerjacks.htm
English chemists, John Rex Whinfield and James Tennant Dickson,
employees of the Calico Printer's Association of Manchester,
patented "polyethylene terephthalate" (also called
PET or PETE) in 1941, after advancing the early research of
Wallace Carothers. The saw that Carothers's research had not
investigated the polyester formed from ethylene glycol and
terephthalic acid. Polyethylene terephthalate is the basis
of synthetic fibers such as polyester, dacron, and terylene.
Whinfield and Dickson along with inventors W.K. Birtwhistle
and C.G. Ritchiethey also created the first polyester fiber
called Terylene in 1941 (first manufactured by Imperial Chemical
Industries or ICI). The second polyester fiber was Dupont's
Dacron.
According to Dupont, "In the late 1920s, DuPont was in
direct competition with Britain’s recently formed Imperial
Chemical Industries. DuPont and ICI agreed in October 1929
to share information about patents and research developments.
In 1952, the companies’ alliance was dissolved... The
polymer that became polyester has roots in the 1929 writings
of Wallace Carothers. However, DuPont chose to concentrate
on the more promising nylon research. When DuPont resumed
its polyester research, ICI had patented Terylene polyester,
to which DuPont purchased the U.S. rights in 1945 for further
development. In 1950, a pilot plant at the Seaford, Delaware,
facility produced Dacron [polyester] fiber with modified nylon
technology."
Dupont's polyester research lead to a whole range of trademarked
products, one example is Mylar (1952), an extraordinarily
strong polyester (PET) film that grew out of the development
of Dacron in the early 1950s.
Polyesters are made from chemical substances found mainly
in petroluem and are manufactured in fibers, films, and plastics.
According to Dupont Teijin Films, "Plain polyethylene
terephthalate (PET) or polyester is most commonly associated
with a material from which cloth and high-performance clothing
are produced (e.g., DuPont Dacron® polyester fiber). Increasingly
over the last ten years PET has gained acceptance as a material
of choice for beverage bottles... PETG, also known as glycolised
polyester, is used in the production of cards... Polyester
film (PETF) is a semi-crystalline film used in many applications
such as videotape, high quality packaging, professional photographic
printing, X-ray film, floppy disks, etc. " source Comparison
of PETF, PETG and PET
DuPont Teijin Films (founded January 1, 2000) is a leading
supplier of PET and PEN polyester films whose brand names
incude: Mylar ®, Melinex ®, and Teijin ® Tetoron
® PET polyester film, Teonex ® PEN polyester film,
and Cronar ® polyester photographic base film.
Naming an invention actually involves developing at least
two names. One name is the generic name. The other name is
the brand name or trademark. For example, Mylar ® and
Teijin ® are brand names; polyester film or polyethylene
terephthalate are the generic or product names.
HISTORY
OF PLASTIC
Bellis,
Mary "Cracker Jack" Inventors at About. Retrieved
January 1, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcrackerjacks.htm
The first man-made plastic was created by Alexander Parkes
who first publically demonstrated it at the 1862 Great International
Exhibition in London. The material called Parkesine was an
organic material derived from cellulose that once heated could
be molded and retained its shape when cooled.
Timeline
of Plastics
1868 Cellulose Nitrate (Celluloid)
1900 Viscose Rayon
1909 Phenol-Formaldehyde (Bakelite)
1927 Cellulose Acetate
1933 Polyethylene
1936 Acrylic or Polymethyl Methacrylate
1938 Polystyrene
1939 Nylon
1941 Polyethylene Terephthalate
1942 Low Density Polyethylene
1942 Unsaturated Polyester
1957 Polypropylene
1964 Polyimide
1970 Thermoplastic Polyester
1978 Linear Low Density Polyethylene
1985 Liquid Crystal Polymers
Different Types of Plastics
Celluloid
Celluloid was derived from from cellulose and alcoholized
camphor. John Wesley Hyatt invented celluloid as a substitute
for the ivory in billiard balls in 1868. He first tried using
collodion a natural substance, after spilling a bottle of
it and discovering that the material dried into a tough and
flexible film. However, the material was not strong enough
to be used as a billiard ball, until the addition of camphor,
a derivative of the laurel tree. The new celluloid could be
molded with heat and pressure into a durable shape. Besides
billard balls, celluloid became famous as the first flexible
photographic film used for still photography and motion pictures.
Rayon
Bakelite
Leo Hendrik Baekeland patented a "Method of Making Insoluble
Products of Phenol and Formaldehyde." Setting out to
make an insulator, he invented the first true plastic and
transformed the world. It was used to manufacture telephone
handsets or costume jewelry for example as well as engine
parts and electronics.
Cellophane
Cellophane was invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger in 1908,
a Swiss textile engineer who came upon the idea for a clear,
protective, packaging film.
Marlex
Marlex ® is the tradename for crystalline polypropylene
and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) plastics invented by
research chemists Paul Hogan and Robert Banks of Phillips
Petroleum.
Nylon and Neoprene
A brillant and tragic mind, Carothers was the brains behind
Dupont and the birth of synthetic fibers.
Plastic Garbage Bags
The green plastic garbage/trash bag was invented by Harry
Wasyluk of Winnipeg, and by Larry Hanson at the Union Carbide
plant in Lindsay, Ontario, in the 1950s.
Polystyrene
Polystyrene is a strong plastic created from erethylene and
benzine that can be injected, extruded or blow molded, making
it a very useful and versatile manufacturing material.
Polyurethane
Polyurethane is an organic polymer used in lycra.
Polyester or PET
This includes Dacron®, Mylar®, Melinex®, Teijin®,
and Tetoron®.
Polypropylene
Marlex® is the tradename for crystalline polypropylene.
Rubber
The invention of plastics followed the vulcanisation of natural
rubber by Charles Goodyear in the mid-1840s.
Saran Wrap (PVDC)
The origins of Saran Wrap ® film and Dow Chemical Company
history.
SILLY PUTTY
A plastic that has attracted many youngsters over the years
is plastic putty, better known as SILLY PUTTY®.
Styrofoam
What we commonly call styrofoam, is actually the most recognizable
form of foam polystyrene packaging.
Teflon
Roy J. Plunkett, invented tetrafluoroethylene polymers or
Teflon.
VELCRO
The birth of Velcro ®, yet another unique plastic product
which has impacted nearly all of our lives occurred in 1957.
Vinyl (PVC)
Waldo L. Semon, invented a way to make polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) useful - History of Vinyl.
HISTORY
OF NYLON AND NEOPRENE
Bellis,
Mary "Cracker Jack" Inventors at About. Retrieved
January 1, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcrackerjacks.htm
Wallace Hume Carothers (b. April 27, 1896, d. April 29, 1937)
can be considered the father of the science of man-made polymers
and the man responsible for the invention of nylon and neoprene.
The man was a brilliant chemist, inventor and scholar and
a troubled soul. Despite an amazing career, Carothers held
more than fifty patents; the inventor ended his own life.
Carothers was born in Iowa and first studied accounting and
later studied science (while teaching accounting) at Tarkio
College in Missouri. While still an undergraduate student,
Carothers became the head of the chemistry department. Carothers
was talented in chemistry but the real reason for the appointment
was a personnel shortage due to the war effort (WWI). He received
both a Master's degree and PhD from the University of Illinois
and then became a professor at Harvard, where he started his
research into chemical structures of polymers in 1924.
HISTORY
OF POLYSTYRENE
Bellis,
Mary "Cracker Jack" Inventors at About. Retrieved
January 1, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcrackerjacks.htm
Polystyrene is a strong plastic created from erethylene and
benzine that can be injected, extruded or blow molded, making
it a very useful and versatile manufacturing material. Most
of us recognize styrofoam a form of foam polystyrene packaging.
Polystyrene is also used as a building material, with electrical
appliances (light switches and plates), and in other household
items.
Polystyrene has a long history of evolution behind it. In
1839, a German apothecary called Simon discovered polystyrene.
Simon isolated a substance from natural resin, however, he
did not know what he had discovered. It took another German,
organic chemist, Hermann Staudinger, to realize that Simon's
discovery, comprised of long chains of styrene molecules,
was a plastic polymer.
In 1922, Staudinger published his theories on polymers, stating
that natural rubbers were made up of long repetitive chains
of monomers that gave rubber its elasticity. He went on to
write that the materials manufactured by the thermal processing
of styrene were similar to rubber. They were the high polymers
including polystyrene. In 1953, Hermann Staudinger won the
Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his research.
In 1930, the scientists at BASF developed a way to commercially
manufacture polystyrene. Badische Anilin & Soda-Fabrik
(BASF) was founded in 1861. BASF has invented synthetic coal
tar dyes, ammonia, and nitrogenous fertilizers and developed
polystyrene, PVC, magnetic tape, and synthetic rubber. (note:
A company called I. G. Farben is often listed as the developer
of polystyrene because BASF was under trust to I. G. Farben
in 1930.) In 1937, Dow Chemical introduced polystyrene to
the U.S. market.
Styrofoam
What we commonly call styrofoam, is actually the most recognizable
form of foam polystyrene packaging. Styrofoam® is a Dow
Chemical Co. trademarked form of polystyrene foam insulation,
introduced in the U.S. in 1954. Styrofoam® is a trademarked
name, the real name of the product is foamed polystyrene.
Ray McIntire invented Styrofoam for the Dow Chemical Co..
McIntire said his invention of foamed polystyrene was accidental.
His invention came as he was trying to find a flexible electrical
insulator around the time of World War II. Polystyrene, which
already had been invented, was a good insulator but too brittle.
McIntire tried to make a new rubber-like polymer by combining
styrene with isobutylene, a volatile liquid, under pressure.
The result was a foam polystyrene with bubble, 30 times lighter
than regular polystyrene. source The Detroit News
Polystyrene.org
Related Information
Plastic
Leo Hendrik Baekeland patented a "Method of Making Insoluble
Products of Phenol and Formaldehyde" - plastic history,
uses for and making plastic, plastic in the fifties, online
plastic museum.
HISTORY
OF PVC
Bellis,
Mary "Cracker Jack" Inventors at About. Retrieved
January 1, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcrackerjacks.htm
PVC was first created by the German chemist Eugen Baumann
in 1872. However it was never patented until 1913. Inventor,
Friedrich Heinrich August Klatte initiated the polymerization
of vinyl chloride with sunlight. Klatte was the first person
to receive a patent for PVC.
Waldo Lonsbury Semon worked for the B.F. Goodrich Company
in the United States as a researcher. In 1926, Semon invented
plasticized PVC or vinyl. He was trying to dehydrohalogenate
PVC in a high boiling solvent in order to obtain an unsaturated
polymer that might bond rubber to metal or for any other useful
purpose.
Semon received United States patents numbers 1,929,453 and
2,188,396 for the "Synthetic Rubber-like Composition
and Method of Making Same; Method of Preparing Polyvinyl Halide
Products."
Waldo L. Semon
Waldo L. Semon invented a way to make polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
useful, he invented vinyl. - National Inventors Hall of Fame.
Related Innovations
Plastic
Saran Wrap® (PVDC)
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HISTORY
OF CELLOPHANE
Bellis,
Mary "Cracker Jack" Inventors at About. Retrieved
January 1, 2001 from the World Wide Web: http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcrackerjacks.htm
Cellophane
was invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger in 1908, a Swiss
textile engineer who first thought of the idea for a clear,
protective, packaging layer in 1900. Brandenberger was seated
at a restaurant when a customer spilt wine onto the tablecloth.
As the waiter replaced the cloth, Brandenberger decided that
he would invent a clear flexible film that could be applyed
to cloth, making it waterproof.
He experimented with different materials and in tried applying
liquid viscose (a cellulose product known as rayon) to cloth,
but the viscose made the cloth too stiff. His idea failed
but he noted that the coating peeled off in a transparent
film. Like so many inventions, the original use was abandoned
and new and better uses were found. By 1908, he developed
the first machine for the manufacture of transparent sheets
of regenerated cellulose. By 1912, Brandenberger was making
a saleable thin flexible film used in gas masks. He obtained
patents to cover the machinery and the essential ideas of
his process. In 1917 Brandenberger assigned his patents to
La Cellophane Societe Anonyme and joined that organization.
On December 26, 1923, an agreement was executed between du
Pont Cellophane Company and La Cellophane by which La Cellophane
licensed du Pont Cellophane Company exclusively under its
United States cellophane patents, and granted du Pont Cellophane
Company the exclusive right to make and sell in North and
Central America under La Cellophane's secret processes for
cellophane manufacture. Du Pont Cellophane Company granted
to La Cellophane exclusive rights for the rest of the world
under any cellophane patents or processes du Pont Cellophane
Company might develop.
An important factor in the growth of cellophane production
and sales was the perfection of moistureproof cellophane,
a superior product of du Pont research and patented by that
company through a 1927 application.
Making Cellophane
In the manufacturing process, an alkaline solution of cellulose
fibres (usually wood or cotton) known as viscose is extruded
through a narrow slit into an acid bath. The acid regenerates
the cellulose, forming a film. Further treatment, such as
washing and bleaching, yields cellophane.
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