fabricated. The report of an early rubber (vulcanized caoutchouc) dates it at around
1600 BC; it was used by the Olmecs in today’s Mexico to produce a range of
products [20]. A particularly well-documented example is the manufacture of a
plastic out of casein, which is obtained from low-fat cheeses [21]. The formula was
chronicled by the Benedictine clergyman and alchemist Wolfgang Seydel (also
Seidel) from Bavaria in 1530. The recipe explains how to first purify casein and
then transform it with lye into a transparent and colorless artificial resin –
“a transparent material, similar to sheep’s horn.” The product could be formed
according to one’s desire, dyed, and polished. The style of the recipe is so prosaic
that it seems evident that there must have been many such formulae at the time; it is
likely that the practice of manufacturing plastics has simply not been of interest to
historians.
After the onset of the industrial revolution, around 1800, the growing economies
led to the emergence of physics and chemistry as fields of study. Numerous new
macromolecular materials appeared. The early nineteenth century was the time of
passionate inventors and diligent entrepreneurs. In 1833, Friedrich Lu ¨dersdorff wrote
about the manufacture of a nanocomposite material made of colloidal gold and gum
Arabic [22]. In 1838 H. Victor Regnault accidentally obtained a white powder from
gaseous vinyl chloride after exposure to sunlight in his laboratory, today known as
polyvinyl chloride, PVC [23]. In 1839, Eduard Simon extracted styrene from storax, a
natural product already known to the Romans [24], and noticed that the “influence of
air, light and heat” converted styrene into a solid resin [25]. He thought he had styrene
oxide, but John Blyth and August Wilhelm von Hofmann discovered in 1845 that the
solid matter obtained through heating styrene had the same elemental composition as
styrene and therefore called it “metastyrene” – today’s polystyrene [26]. In the
middle of the nineteenth century, new plastics were invented at an increasing rate
and many industrial uses were found for them. First among them was the “European”
rubber (for the Mesoamerican rubber see [20]), invented by Charles N. Goodyear
through vulcanization of caoutchouc by sulfur in 1839 and patented in the USA in
1844 [27]. Goodyear was probably followed in invention, but overtaken in patenting,
by Thomas Hancock in England [28]. The plastics industry as we know it today
originated from the production of rubber. An idea of the impact of rubber on society
can be glimpsed from the architectural literature of the 1860s. For Gottfried Semper
[29], eminent architect, stylist, and art historian, it was evident that clothing, housing,
transportation, etc. would soon be dominated by objects made from rubber.
The outside walls of houses would be rubber-coated and hence made waterproof,
similarly waterproof wall paper, furniture, book coverings, and umbrellas would be
made from rubber, and many, many other things. Semper ended his article with the
enthusiastic exclamation: “A stylist faced with a material of this kind will be at a loss
for words!”
1 [30]
Macromolecular materials have contributed greatly to the elevated living
standard of the population at large, rendering articles inexpensive that before had
1 “Bei einer solchen Materie steht einem Stilisten der Verstand still!” [29]
Why Was the Macromolecular Hypothesis Such a Big Deal?
63
1600 BC; it was used by the Olmecs in today’s Mexico to produce a range of
products [20]. A particularly well-documented example is the manufacture of a
plastic out of casein, which is obtained from low-fat cheeses [21]. The formula was
chronicled by the Benedictine clergyman and alchemist Wolfgang Seydel (also
Seidel) from Bavaria in 1530. The recipe explains how to first purify casein and
then transform it with lye into a transparent and colorless artificial resin –
“a transparent material, similar to sheep’s horn.” The product could be formed
according to one’s desire, dyed, and polished. The style of the recipe is so prosaic
that it seems evident that there must have been many such formulae at the time; it is
likely that the practice of manufacturing plastics has simply not been of interest to
historians.
After the onset of the industrial revolution, around 1800, the growing economies
led to the emergence of physics and chemistry as fields of study. Numerous new
macromolecular materials appeared. The early nineteenth century was the time of
passionate inventors and diligent entrepreneurs. In 1833, Friedrich Lu ¨dersdorff wrote
about the manufacture of a nanocomposite material made of colloidal gold and gum
Arabic [22]. In 1838 H. Victor Regnault accidentally obtained a white powder from
gaseous vinyl chloride after exposure to sunlight in his laboratory, today known as
polyvinyl chloride, PVC [23]. In 1839, Eduard Simon extracted styrene from storax, a
natural product already known to the Romans [24], and noticed that the “influence of
air, light and heat” converted styrene into a solid resin [25]. He thought he had styrene
oxide, but John Blyth and August Wilhelm von Hofmann discovered in 1845 that the
solid matter obtained through heating styrene had the same elemental composition as
styrene and therefore called it “metastyrene” – today’s polystyrene [26]. In the
middle of the nineteenth century, new plastics were invented at an increasing rate
and many industrial uses were found for them. First among them was the “European”
rubber (for the Mesoamerican rubber see [20]), invented by Charles N. Goodyear
through vulcanization of caoutchouc by sulfur in 1839 and patented in the USA in
1844 [27]. Goodyear was probably followed in invention, but overtaken in patenting,
by Thomas Hancock in England [28]. The plastics industry as we know it today
originated from the production of rubber. An idea of the impact of rubber on society
can be glimpsed from the architectural literature of the 1860s. For Gottfried Semper
[29], eminent architect, stylist, and art historian, it was evident that clothing, housing,
transportation, etc. would soon be dominated by objects made from rubber.
The outside walls of houses would be rubber-coated and hence made waterproof,
similarly waterproof wall paper, furniture, book coverings, and umbrellas would be
made from rubber, and many, many other things. Semper ended his article with the
enthusiastic exclamation: “A stylist faced with a material of this kind will be at a loss
for words!”
1 [30]
Macromolecular materials have contributed greatly to the elevated living
standard of the population at large, rendering articles inexpensive that before had
1 “Bei einer solchen Materie steht einem Stilisten der Verstand still!” [29]
Why Was the Macromolecular Hypothesis Such a Big Deal?
63