John wesley hyatt biography of william

John Wesley Hyatt

American inventor of plastic

John Wesley Hyatt (November 28, – May 10, ) was an American inventor. He is mainly known for simplifying the production of celluloid.

Hyatt, a Perkin Medal recipient, is included in the National Inventors Hall of Fame. He had nearly patents to his credit, including improvements to sugar cane mills and water filtration devices.

Biography

Hyatt was born in Starkey, New York, and began working as a printer when he was Later, he invented a simpler celluloid production process, receiving several hundred patents. Among the most well-known of his inventions was that of a substitute for ivory to produce billiard balls. An award of $10, had been instituted by Michael Phelan in due to the cost of ivory and concerns on its shortage.[1]

Aided by his brother Isaiah,[2] Hyatt experimented with Parkesine, a hardened form of nitrocellulose.[3] Parkesine had been invented by the EnglishmanAlexander Parkes in , and is considered the first true plastic, although it was not a success as a commercial or industrial product.

Liquid nitrocellulose, or collodion, had been used as early as by another English inventor, Frederick Scott Archer, in photographic applications; it had also been used extensively as a quick-drying film to protect the fingertips of printers.[2] Hyatt's eventual result was a commercially viable way of producing solid, stable nitrocellulose, which he patented in the United States in as "Celluloid" (US patent ; now a genericized trademark).[4]

In , Hyatt formed the Albany Dental Plate Company to produce, among other things, billiard balls, false teeth, and piano keys.[2] Hyatt’s Celluloid Manufacturing Company was established in Albany, New York in and moved to Newark, New Jersey, in [5]

Hyatt's celluloid discovery went into court in a patent dispute with English inventor, Daniel Spill, who had patented essentially the same compound in the UK as "Xylonite". Spill and Hyatt clashed in court between and The eventual decision was that the true inventor of celluloid was Parkes, but that all manufacturing of celluloid could continue, including Hyatt's.[6][7]

Hyatt's other patented inventions include the first injection moulding machine, sugarcane milling, juice extraction, roller bearings, and a multiple-stitch sewing machine. Hyatt was inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame[8] in

John Wesley Hyatt founded the Hyatt Roller Bearing Company in in Harrison, New Jersey. The company's customers included General Motors and the Ford Motor Company.[9] In he hired Alfred P. Sloan, son of a major investor in the company, as a draftsman. In he made Sloan president. The company was sold to General Motors in , and Sloan went on to become president of GM.[10]

References

  1. ^"A gooey way to 3D print plastics". The Economist. ISSN&#; Retrieved
  2. ^ abcEverton, Clive (). The History of Billiards and Snooker (rev. ver. of The Story of Billiards and Snooker, &#;ed.). Haywards Heath, UK: Partridge Pr. p.&#;
  3. ^Hyatt, John Wesley (). "Address of Acceptance". Journal of Industrial & Engineering Chemistry. 6 (2): – doi/iea ISSN&#;
  4. ^Center, Smithsonian Lemelson (). "Imitation Ivory and the Power of Play". Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation. Retrieved
  5. ^Ranganathan, S. R. (). "Hyatt (John Wesley) (–)"(PDF). Current Science. 6 (5): ISSN&#; Archived from the original(PDF) on Retrieved
  6. ^Baker, Ian (), "Celluloid", Fifty Materials That Make the World, Springer International Publishing, pp.&#;23–27, doi/_6, ISBN&#;
  7. ^Seymour, Raymond B.; Kauffman, George B. (). "The rise and fall of celluloid". Journal of Chemical Education. 69 (4): BibcodeJChEdS. doi/edp ISSN&#;
  8. ^Hyatt, John (). "John Wesley Hyatt".
  9. ^Kiska, Tim. "Free Press Flashback: How GM went from small player to largest automaker in the world". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved
  10. ^Bowman, Bill (). "Hyatt Roller Bearing Company". Archived from the original on Retrieved

External links