Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Celluloid shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Celluloid offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Celluloid at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Celluloid? Wrong! If the Celluloid is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Celluloid then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Celluloid? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Celluloid and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Celluloid wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Celluloid then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Celluloid site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Celluloid, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Celluloid, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
Celluloid is the name of a class of Chemical compound created from
nitrocellulose and
camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic, it was first created as
Parkesine in 1856 and as
Xylonite in 1869 before being registered as
Celluloid in 1870. Celluloid is easily
Molding (process) and shaped, and it was first widely used as an ivory replacement. Celluloid is highly flammable and also easily decomposes, and is no longer widely used. Its most common uses today are the
table tennis ball and guitar pick.
Nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose-based plastics slightly predate celluloid: collodion, invented in 1848 and used as a wound dressing and emulsion for photographic plates, dried to a celluloid-like film.
Alexander Parkes
The first celluloid as a bulk material for forming objects was made in 1856 in Birmingham,
England, by Alexander Parkes, who was never able to see his invention reach full fruition. Parkes patented his discovery after realising that a solid residue remained after evaporation of the solvent from photographic collodion, he described it as a "hard, horny elastic and waterproof substance".
Parkes patented it as a clothing waterproof for woven fabrics in the same year.Later in 1862, Parkes showcased
Parkesine at the Great Exhibition in London where he was awarded a bronze medal for his efforts. Cellulose nitrate was dissolved in a small measure of solvent, this was then heated and rolled on a purpose built machine which extracted a proportion of the solvent. Finally, the use of pressure or dyes completed the manufacturing process. In 1866, Parkes tried again with his invention and he created a company to manufacture and market Parkesine but this failed in 1868 after trying to cut costs to enable further manufacture.
Daniel Spill
One year after Parkesine failed, Daniel Spill created the
Xylonite Company, to design and market a similar product to Parkesine. This failed and in 1874 Spill went bankrupt. Spill then reorganized and set up the Daniel Spill Company to continue production. He later pursued the Hyatt brothers over their patenting of celluloid.
John Wesley and Isaiah Hyatt
In the 1860s, an American by the name of John Wesley Hyatt began experimenting with cellulose nitrate, with the intention of manufacturing
billiard balls, which until that time were made from ivory. He used
cloth, ivory dust, and shellac and in
1869 patented a method of covering billiard balls with the important addition of
collodion, and formed the Albany Billiard Ball Company in Albany NY 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. Alexander Parkes and Spill listed camphor during their earlier experiments, but it was the Hyatt brothers who recognized the value of camphor and its use as a plasticizer for cellulose nitrate. Isaiah coined the commercially viable material “celluloid” in 1872 as a specifically Hyatt product.
English inventor
Daniel Spill took exception to the Hyatt's claim and pursued the brothers in a number of court cases between 1877 and 1884. The outcome was that Spill held no claim to the Hyatts' patents and that the true inventor of celluloid was in fact Alexander Parkes, due to his mentioning of camphor in his earlier experiments and patents. The judge ruled that all manufacturing of celluloid could continue, including the Hyatts' Celluloid Manufacturing Company. Celluloid was later used as the base for photographic film.
The name
Celluloid actually began as a trademark of the Celluloid Manufacturing Company of Newark, New Jersey, which manufactured the celluloids patented by
John Wesley Hyatt. Hyatt used heat and pressure to simplify the manufacture of these compounds. The name was registered in 1870 but after a long court battle between Spill and the Hyatt brothers a judge later ruled that the true inventor of celluloid (by process, not name) was Alexander Parkes.
==Photography==English photographer John Carbutt intended to sell gelatin dry plates when, in 1879, he founded the Keystone Dry Plate Works. The Celluloid Manufacturing Company was contracted for this work by means of thinly slicing layers out of celluloid blocks and then removing the slice marks with heated pressure plates. After this, the celluloid strips were coated with a photosensitive gelatin emulsion. It is not certain exactly how long it took for Carbutt to standardize his process, but it occurred no later than 1888. A 15 inch-wide sheet of Carbutt's film was used by
William Dickson (film pioneer) for the early Edison motion picture experiments on a cylinder drum Kinetograph. However, the celluloid
film base produced by this means was still considered too stiff for the needs of motion picture photography.
In the 1889, more flexible celluloids for
photographic film were developed.
Hannibal Goodwin and the Kodak both obtained patents for a film product; but Goodwin, and the interests he later sold his patents to, were eventually successful in a patent infringement suit against the
Kodak. Nevertheless, the groundwork in these products was set for a
photographic film, as opposed to a photographic plate, with all the implications that has for film.
Discontinuation
As thermoplastics, celluloids found a wide variety of uses in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Things like knife handles, fountain pen bodies, collars and cuffs, toys, etc were made of this material. However, it burned easily and suffered from spontaneous decomposition, and was largely replaced by cellulose acetate plastics and later
polyesters by the middle of the 20th century. The use of celluloid for early film however has caused large problems in film preservation because the nitrate film gradually turns brown then crumbles to powder.
In the 21st century, cured celluloid is used in luxury pens produced by Montegrappa,
OMAS, and other high-end pen manufacturers.
Formulation
A typical formulation of celluloid might contain 70 to 80 parts nitrocellulose, nitrated to 11%
nitrogen, 30 parts camphor, 0 to 14 parts
dye, 1 to 5 parts Ethanol, plus stabilizers and other agents to increase stability and reduce flammability.
Products still made from celluloid include the
table tennis ball, and some musical instrument accessories and parts: guitar picks and pickguards.
See also
External links
- Celluloid
- Collodion
- history of plastics
Celluloid is the name of a class of
Chemical compound created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents. Generally regarded to be the first
thermoplastic, it was first created as Parkesine in 1856 and as
Xylonite in 1869 before being registered as
Celluloid in 1870. Celluloid is easily Molding (process) and shaped, and it was first widely used as an ivory replacement. Celluloid is highly flammable and also easily decomposes, and is no longer widely used. Its most common uses today are the table tennis ball and
guitar pick.
Nitrocellulose
Nitrocellulose-based plastics slightly predate celluloid:
collodion, invented in 1848 and used as a wound dressing and emulsion for photographic plates, dried to a celluloid-like film.
Alexander Parkes
The first celluloid as a bulk material for forming objects was made in 1856 in
Birmingham, England, by
Alexander Parkes, who was never able to see his invention reach full fruition. Parkes patented his discovery after realising that a solid residue remained after evaporation of the solvent from photographic collodion, he described it as a "hard, horny elastic and waterproof substance".
Parkes patented it as a clothing waterproof for woven fabrics in the same year.Later in
1862, Parkes showcased Parkesine at the Great Exhibition in London where he was awarded a bronze medal for his efforts. Cellulose nitrate was dissolved in a small measure of solvent, this was then heated and rolled on a purpose built machine which extracted a proportion of the solvent. Finally, the use of pressure or dyes completed the manufacturing process. In
1866, Parkes tried again with his invention and he created a company to manufacture and market Parkesine but this failed in 1868 after trying to cut costs to enable further manufacture.
Daniel Spill
One year after Parkesine failed,
Daniel Spill created the
Xylonite Company, to design and market a similar product to Parkesine. This failed and in 1874 Spill went bankrupt. Spill then reorganized and set up the Daniel Spill Company to continue production. He later pursued the Hyatt brothers over their patenting of celluloid.
John Wesley and Isaiah Hyatt
In the 1860s, an American by the name of
John Wesley Hyatt began experimenting with cellulose nitrate, with the intention of manufacturing
billiard balls, which until that time were made from ivory. He used cloth, ivory dust, and shellac and in
1869 patented a method of covering billiard balls with the important addition of collodion, and formed the Albany Billiard Ball Company in Albany NY 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. Alexander Parkes and Spill listed camphor during their earlier experiments, but it was the Hyatt brothers who recognized the value of camphor and its use as a plasticizer for cellulose nitrate. Isaiah coined the commercially viable material “celluloid” in 1872 as a specifically Hyatt product.
English inventor
Daniel Spill took exception to the Hyatt's claim and pursued the brothers in a number of court cases between 1877 and 1884. The outcome was that Spill held no claim to the Hyatts' patents and that the true inventor of celluloid was in fact Alexander Parkes, due to his mentioning of camphor in his earlier experiments and patents. The judge ruled that all manufacturing of celluloid could continue, including the Hyatts' Celluloid Manufacturing Company. Celluloid was later used as the base for photographic film.
The name
Celluloid actually began as a trademark of the Celluloid Manufacturing Company of
Newark, New Jersey, which manufactured the celluloids patented by
John Wesley Hyatt. Hyatt used heat and pressure to simplify the manufacture of these compounds. The name was registered in 1870 but after a long court battle between Spill and the Hyatt brothers a judge later ruled that the true inventor of celluloid (by process, not name) was Alexander Parkes.
==Photography==English photographer John Carbutt intended to sell gelatin dry plates when, in 1879, he founded the Keystone Dry Plate Works. The Celluloid Manufacturing Company was contracted for this work by means of thinly slicing layers out of celluloid blocks and then removing the slice marks with heated pressure plates. After this, the celluloid strips were coated with a photosensitive gelatin emulsion. It is not certain exactly how long it took for Carbutt to standardize his process, but it occurred no later than 1888. A 15 inch-wide sheet of Carbutt's film was used by William Dickson (film pioneer) for the early Edison
motion picture experiments on a cylinder drum Kinetograph. However, the celluloid
film base produced by this means was still considered too stiff for the needs of motion picture photography.
In the 1889, more flexible celluloids for
photographic film were developed.
Hannibal Goodwin and the Kodak both obtained patents for a film product; but Goodwin, and the interests he later sold his patents to, were eventually successful in a patent infringement suit against the
Kodak. Nevertheless, the groundwork in these products was set for a photographic film, as opposed to a photographic plate, with all the implications that has for film.
Discontinuation
As thermoplastics, celluloids found a wide variety of uses in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century. Things like knife handles, fountain pen bodies, collars and cuffs, toys, etc were made of this material. However, it burned easily and suffered from spontaneous decomposition, and was largely replaced by
cellulose acetate plastics and later
polyesters by the middle of the 20th century. The use of celluloid for early film however has caused large problems in
film preservation because the nitrate film gradually turns brown then crumbles to powder.
In the 21st century, cured celluloid is used in luxury pens produced by
Montegrappa,
OMAS, and other high-end pen manufacturers.
Formulation
A typical formulation of celluloid might contain 70 to 80 parts
nitrocellulose, nitrated to 11%
nitrogen, 30 parts
camphor, 0 to 14 parts
dye, 1 to 5 parts Ethanol, plus stabilizers and other agents to increase stability and reduce flammability.
Products still made from celluloid include the
table tennis ball, and some musical instrument accessories and parts:
guitar picks and pickguards.
See also
External links
- Celluloid
- Collodion
- history of plastics
