sugardeath

All you ever wanted to know about polymers, and then some freakin’ more

History stuff for Polymers... whee...

(This isn't complete, just what I felt was important and needed to be remembered.  Even so, there is still a lot of stuff that may not be needed in here)

(sorry for unleashing scroll-zilla upon your unsuspecting browsers..)

1284-First mention of Horners Company
1820-Thomas Hancock (Britain) discovers that, if strongly masticated, rubber becomes plastic and can flow, develops method of milling rubber.
1835-Regnault reports first production of vinyl chloride monomer.
1839-Charles Goodyear (USA) discovers process of mixing natural rubber with sulphur to make stronger and more resilient product --Vulcanization
1843-Hancock (Britain) patents vulcanization
1844-Charles Goodyear (USA) patents vulcanization
1845-Thompson invents rubber tyre.
1851-Ebonite patented by Nelson Goodyear (not Charles)
1856-First patent for nitrocellulose products granted to Alexander Parkes
1859-Butlerov describes formaldehyde products
1861-First of Parkes' patents for Parkesine
1865-Cellulose acetate discovered
1869-John Wesley Hyatt (USA) develops Celluloid, replaces Parkesine
1870- Hyatt brothers patent use of cellulose nitrate and camphor to form horn-like material
1872-Celluloid registered as trademark by Hyatt
          -Adolph Bayer (Germany) reports reactions of phenols and aldehydes to give resinous substance
          -Hyatt brothers patent first injection mouldling machine
1876-77-Seeds of Brazilian rubber trees smuggled out of Brazil by Sir Henry Wickham, later sent to Asia where they form the basis of world's rubber industry.
1977-84-Legal cases between Hyatt and Spill over invention of Celluloid -result: no restriction on use of processes
1879-Carbon fibers first used by Edison in lights
          -Gray obtains patent for first screw extruder
1880-Shellac used by Berliner label to produce phonograph records because of ability to reproduce fine detail-used until 1952, PVC then used
1884-Louis Bernigaud produces artificial silk fibers from cellulose, Rayon
1885-George Eastman Kodak patents machine for producing continuous photographic film
1887-Goodwin invents celluloid photo film and production process
1894-Cross and Bevan develop industrial process for cellulose acetate after research into cellulose esters to avoid flammability concerns with celluloid (cellulose nitrate)
1899-Kritsche and Spitteler (Bavaria) discover and patent casein plastics- become available as "Galalith"
1903-Stern and Charles Topham develop method for producing artificial silk
1905-Brandenburger invents "Cellophane"
1907-Baekeland (USA) mixes Phenol and Formaldehyde to produce phenol formaldehyde resins
1908-Cross invents "cellophane" (cellulose acetate and viscose rayon)
1909-Baekeland patents Bakelite, first widely used thermo-set to replace traditional materials like wood, ivory, Ebonite
1910-Rayon stocking first manufactured in Germany
1912-Ostromislensky (Russia) patents polymerization of vinyl chloride to give PVC.  Decomposition during processing prevents commercial development
1915-first production of synthetic methyl rubber at Leverkusen
1920-Longhair fashion leads to cellulose replacing horn as material of choice for combs
1922-Staudinger (Germany) synthesizes rubber
1924-Rossiter (Britain) develops urea thiourea formaldehyde for British Cyanides Company- first water-white, transparent, thermosetting moulding powder
1926-Staudinger starts work on "macromolecules," shows polymers are long chains of monomers joined together.  It was previously thought that polymers were rings of linked molecules.
1927-Otto Rohm (Germany) develops poly(methyl methacrylate) and limited production begins at Darmstadt
1928-Carothers starts work on polymers and polymerization
1929-Dunlop Rubber Co. (Britain) produces first foam rubber
1930-I.G. Farben (Germany) develops PS (polystyrene) and Dow Chemicals Co. (USA) starts to develop PS- commercial production takes another 7 years
1931-Carothers develops Neoprene
1932-Improvements to urea thiourea formaldehyde products at British Cyanides Co. give urea formaldehyde resins
1933-ICI workers start to develop commercial synthesis of poly(methyl methacrylate), PMMA- also known as Perspex, Lucite, Plexiglas
1934-Wallace Hume Carothers at Du Pont (USA) develops nylon, originally as a fiber
          -First commercial production of Perspex (PMMA)
1935-Carothers and Du Point patent Nylon
          -Henkel patents production of resins based on melamine
1936-ICI patents polymerization of ehylene to give polyethylene and develops large volume compressor to commercially produce polyethylene
1937-Carothers dies (suicide) before nylon is released to the public in 1938-9 as Exton
1938-Plunkett (Du Pont) accidentally discovers PTFE
          -Schlack develops "perlon"
1939-ICI patents chlorination of polyethylene to give PE-C
          -ICI (Britain) commercializes production of polyethylene
1940-PMMA becomes widely used for aircraft glazing
          -First production of PVC in UK
1941-I.G. Farbenindustrie (Germany) starts to produce polyurethanes
          -PTFE patented by Kinetic Chemical Ltd.
          -First commercial PET polymer announced
1943-First pilot plant for PTFE, later called "Teflon"
1947-Formica first introduced to British market
1948-George de Mestral (Switzerland) invents Velcro, patented in 1950
1949-Silly Putty invented by James Wright (GE Engineer), found by mixing with silicone oil with boric acid
         -Lycra invented by Joe Shivers (Chemist) working for Du Pont
1950-High impact PS (polystyrene) introduced as commercial plastic
1952-First long playing records and singles manufactured from PVC
1953-HDPE first produced
          -Staudinger wins Nobel Prize for Chemistry for study of polymers
          -Schnell at Bayer first synthesizes PC (polycarbonate) at Bayer Uerdingen Plant
1955-HDPE produced and marketed
1957-PP (polypropylene) commercially produced and marketed by Montecatini as "Moplen"
1958-Commercial production of PC resins produced in Germany (Bayer) and USA (GE)
1962-Polymides introduced by Du Pont (USA)
1963-Zeighart and Notta share Nobel Prize for Chemistry for the synthesis of polymers
1976-Du Pont releases Zytel ST (PA 6,6)
1977-PEEK first prepared by ICI (Britain)
1990-Warner Lambert develops Novon- starch that is also injection mouldable plastic
2000-Emphasis now on compounding existing polymers to create composites, instead of making new polymers
          -PP described as "the new mild steel" by Alan Griffiths
2002-Formica company seeks Chapter 11