First Plastic
City of Albany, Albany County, New York
Marker Inscription
Celluloid - invented 1868 by John Wesley Hyatt First Use - Billiard Balls Albany Billiard Ball Co.
The Story
In 1868, Albany inventor John Wesley Hyatt was chasing a $10,000 prize offered for a substitute for increasingly scarce ivory billiard balls. His answer was celluloid — a moldable material made from nitrocellulose and camphor that is widely regarded as the first commercially successful synthetic plastic. Produced here by the Albany Billiard Ball Company, it turned a parlor-game shortage into the opening chapter of the modern plastics age.
Why it matters
The humble billiard ball made in Albany launched an entire material revolution, seeding the synthetic-plastics industry that would reshape American manufacturing, consumer goods, and everyday life in the century to follow.
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Related people
- · John Wesley Hyatt
Related events
- · Invention of celluloid (1868)
Themes & tags
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