CELLULOID

a plastic substance resembling ivory, composed e entially of soluble gun cotton and camphor, and the basis of a growing modern industry. It obtains its name from its original “source, which is cellulose, from which gun cotton pulp is derived through -collodion. Cellulose is an inert substance ‘constituting the chief part of the solid framework of plants and contained in the mantle of tunicates. Celluloid was first made in England by an inventor named Parkes of Birmingham, in 1856, but its present day applications in the ‘United States are due to a new Jersey ter, John Wesley Hyatt, who in 1869 chanced upon celluloid for making eer balls as a substitute for ivory, ephants’ tusks having become scarce. @ discovered that a mixture of nitro- “cellulose, camphor and a small amount f alcohol became thermo-plastic, that Ss, soft when heated, could be moulded in a hydraulic pre , and after cooling 60 ordinary atmospheric pre ure, again -became hard and strong. The wide use Of celluloid since as a substitute for natal products was le due to com pet i with the raw materials it displaced to a desire to demonstrate how universally applicable it could be made. It has become firmly established in many industries which formerly depended on the employment of substances whose supply was decreasing or not always available, such as ivory, horn, bone, hoof, parchment, whalebone, tortoise shell, coral and pearl, as well as ebony and other precious woods, gutta perch a, rubber, amber, onyx, jet, malachite, lapis lazuli, jade, agate and rare marbles. It is an effective substitute for all these products. As ordinarily manufactured celluloid is highly inflammable, but various modifications of the original proce es of manufacture have largely removed this disadvantage. It is applied to countle uses. The multitude of articles made of celluloid, wholly or in part, embrace all personal ornaments, such as brooches, bracelets, etc., hairpins and combs, buttons, knife handles, tooth brushes, and other toilet articles, book covers, cigarette cases and holders, traveling cases, rulers, drumsticks, serviette rings, dolls’ heads and bodies, picture frames, stick, umbrella and whip handles, fans, che man, artificial teeth, etc. It is of service in the machinery and building trades, coach building, railroad work and ship construction, and in the production of motion picture films. It is also used for screens instead of gla , for table tops, and lately it has been applied to the manufacture of type.