![]() Celluloid rattles and bath toys soon followed, first appearing around 1890. The first celluloid dolls were made in Germany around 1878, and continued to be commonly produced in the US, Germany, France and Japan for many decades. Man-made plastics began to be used in the production of toys quite soon after they emerged in the nineteenth century. Over the following decades, it gradually came to replace celluloid for a number of applications, particularly for photographic film, but also for toys. Despite its volatile nature, the material was also used to make toys and dolls for children.Ĭellulose acetate was developed in the early 20th century to address the need for a safer plastic. ![]() It was also used for photographic film but was banned in 1951 due to its high inflammability. The versatile material could imitate the look of ivory, amber, and tortoiseshell, and soon came to be used for combs and other toiletries, jewelry, pens, cutlery and much more. The initial purpose for Hyatt’s Celluloid was actually to replace ivory as the main material for billiard balls. ![]() They trademarked it under the name many collectors are familiar with today: Celluloid.Ĭelluloid (now the generic term for all cellulose nitrate + camphor plastics) became the first commercially successful plastic. In 1870, American businessmen John and Isaiah Hyatt acquired Parkes’ formula and patented it in the US. Unfortunately, Parkes went bankrupt soon after he started producing his plastic. Although it was man-made, it was based in organic materials: cellulose is a naturally occurring polymer found in plants. It was made from a combination of cellulose nitrate (discovered earlier that century and initially used as an explosive) and camphor. The first man-made plastic was developed by British inventor Alexander Parkes, and patented in 1855. ![]()
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