Plastic, beautiful training

What were some of the earliest products made from plastic?

The materials that we refer to as "plastic" came into use around 1870. The first real plastic was called celluloid and it was developed by an American, John Wesley Hyatt. He was looking for a new material to make billiard balls out of, because he thought ivory was going to become scarce. Celluloid could be used to imitate ivory, tortoise shell, all kinds of materials. It was a cheap, versatile substitute.

The first plastic that we really recognize as plastic, as we think of it today, is Bakelite, invented in 1907. Leo Baekeland was looking for an inexpensive form of shellac, which was getting increasingly expensive. It was used in the electrical industry, for insulation. Baekeland wanted something harder, that wouldn't melt at a low temperature. What he came up with seemed almost indestructible. It appeared quickly in automobile parts, radio tubes -- and eventually made its way out into consumer goods. It was used for pipe stems in the beginning, then, as it became less expensive, for things like costume jewelry. By the late 1920s, plastic dishes were made of Bakelite. And of course there were still lots of industrial uses for it.