Celluloid - the first synthetic plastic

Celluloid, the first entirely synthetic plastic, was invented by American John W. Hyatt in 1869 (the name was coined by his brother). Hyatt was looking for something to replace ivory; billiards had become a very popular game, but the balls were made of valuable ivory — and thus were getting more and more expensive as more and more elephants were killed for their tusks. He began manufacturing celluloid in 1872, but his billiard balls didn't do well — they had the unfortunate tendency to explode on contact due to the volatile, flammable nature of celluloid!

The plastic did live on as a substitute for other expensive materials like amber and tortoiseshell; like Parkesine, celluloid could also be transparent. Later, it was used for film in photography and movies.

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