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There’s no doubting that the human species is now the most dominant one on planet Earth. That said, it does not go without saying that we shoulder that dominance responsibly. In fact, there’s growing evidence to the contrary.
The debate as to whether it was humans or climate change that led to the extinction of many species – including large mammals, birds, and reptiles that have been wiped off the face of the Earth over the last 50,000 years – has been raging for decades now. Even though an increasing body of research has been pointing fingers at us humans, we don’t seem to have taken the lessons seriously as we continue to live recklessly.
There have, however, been a few occasions when an invention has spared a species. “Necessity is the mother of invention” is how the phrase goes, and it was certainly a necessity that led to the invention of celluloid.
Tusks as balls
Cue sports corresponds to a number of games of skill that revolve around the cue stick and the billiard balls. While the earliest billiard balls were simply made of wood, things changed by the 17th Century. The people belonging to the high society who played the sport back then preferred ivory balls carved from elephant tusks instead.
By the 19th Century, billiards grew in popularity in the U.S. While the rapid growth of the game saw improvements to different equipments, the ivory billiard ball remained unchanged.
Michael Phelan, one of the famous players of the time and a promoter, realised that the billiards craze was leading to an overhunting of elephants. As a businessman, he could see that the demand for the material might soon exceed the supply of elephants. The risk of their extinction was palpable and clear.
““if any inventive genius would discover a substitute for ivory, possessing those qualities which make it valuable to the billiard player, he would make a handsome fortune for himself, and earn our sincerest gratitude.” ”Michael Phelan
Even though ivory billiard balls had the perfect weight, roll, and rebound necessary for the game, Phelan stated that the material was “dreadfully dear.” He went on to say that “if any inventive genius would discover a substitute for ivory, possessing those qualities which make it valuable to the billiard player, he would make a handsome fortune for himself, and earn our sincerest gratitude.”
The big prize
By 1863, Phelan himself advertised a prize worth $10,000 to anyone who could come up with a suitable replacement for ivory through his company, Phelan & Collender. Among those who saw the announcement for this contest was John Wesley Hyatt, a young printer in his mid-twenties.
Hyatt had his first idea – a compound ball with a wood fibre core, covered by a mixture of shellac and ivory dust – patented on October 10, 1865. The ball, however, was a flop as the billiard players never really took to it as it lacked the hardness or feel that they were used to.
If you come to think of it, billiard balls have contributed to the cinema industry.
| Photo Credit:
The Hindu
Hyatt’s brainwave
His brainwave came in 1868 when he noticed a bottle of collodion tipped over in his printing office. Observing that this material – used by printers then to coat their fingertips and prevent burns – had hardened into a solid that was both tough and clear, Hyatt decided on using it for making his billiard balls.
Hyatt’s attempts at making collodion-covered balls, however, were met with repeated failures. Rather than being bogged down with disappointment, Hyatt instead chose to work with one of collodion’s primary components: cellulose nitrate.
Despite lacking any formal training in chemistry, Hyatt spent the next year experimenting with the material in a shed behind his house. This was no easy task as highly-nitrated cellulose is inflammable and explosive, and also has the name guncotton.
His perseverance paid off when, working with a preparation of guncotton and camphor oil, the resulting material was strong, lightweight and could be moulded into any desired shape and given any colour with dyes. He obtained a patent for this composition on April 6, 1869, stating that it is “a good substitute for ivory in the manufacture of billiard-balls, and balls or articles of various descriptions, wherein it is desired to obtain toughness, hardness, and elasticity.”
Also read: Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic
Soon after, John started working with his brother Isaiah Hyatt, and the duo kept tinkering with what they had. They had success in their experiments with pyroxylin, another form of nitrocellulose, and received a patent titled “Improvement in treating and molding pyroxyline” on July 12, 1870.
Trademark celluloid
In the years that followed, the brothers trademarked the synthetic plastic that they had invented as “celluloid” and launched the Albany Billiard Ball Company to sell their products. The billiard balls made of cellulose received mixed reviews – both positive and negative.
While there’s no recorded evidence of Hyatt receiving the prize for inventing an alternative for ivory billiard balls, it didn’t stop him going all out with his celluloid. “As petroleum came to the relief of the whale,” one of his company’s pamphlets stated, so “has celluloid given the elephant, the tortoise, and the coral insect a respite in their native haunts; and it will no longer be necessary to ransack the earth in pursuit of substances which are constantly growing scarcer.”
““As petroleum came to the relief of the whale,” a pamphlet stated, so “has celluloid given the elephant, the tortoise, and the coral insect a respite in their native haunts; and it will no longer be necessary to ransack the earth in pursuit of substances which are constantly growing scarcer.””
The fact that celluloid could be cast in any desired shape and dyed any colour meant that cheap imitations of expensive materials became a reality. Manufacturers used celluloid for all kinds of materials, be it piano keys, eyeglass frames, hair combs, or even buttons. Its greatest contribution, however, lay in the birth of another industry.
Eastman comes calling
Even though billiard balls moved to other plastics (modern day balls today are made using phenolic resin or polyester resin) and only briefly employed celluloid, Hyatt stuck with his celluloid. His next big break came in the 1880s when American innovator and entrepreneur George Eastman visited him with a request.
As a manufacturer of cameras, Eastman was looking to replace the glass photographic plates with a lighter material. Hyatt had his answer readymade as celluloid seemed an ideal material for this very purpose.
In the years that followed, celluloid was drawn into long, flexible rolls that formed the backbone of the first Kodak cameras that Eastman released. It wasn’t long now before celluloid film paved the way for the cinema industry.
Synonymous with cinema
The leap from still photography to projecting a succession of images on screen took place in the decades that followed. Cellulose remained instrumental for the nascent film industry, so much so that its name became synonymous with the cinema industry.
Also read: A first glimpse into motion pictures
Even though celluloid turned out to be the first commercially successful synthetic plastics, it wasn’t without its drawbacks. Chief among these was the fact that it was flammable, but there was also the danger of toxic gases being released over time.
When used to make billiard balls, there were instances when wild contact of the balls produced mild explosions. When it comes to cinema, most of the industry’s early heritage has been lost owing to the material’s instability. There were also occasions when fire broke out during the projection of a film, even ending in tragedy a few times.
With the passing of time, newer iterations of synthetic plastics replaced celluloid for more or less all its uses. Table tennis balls are one of the few celluloid products still available, though other plastics are finding their way there as well. The next time you smell camphor when you have a broken table tennis ball in hand, you now know the answer why…
