
A Brief History Of Plastics
Before the history of plastics began, materials were not developed in the laboratory. Products were essentially natural materials like wood, glass, clay and, later, rubber and metals. We can trace the origins of plastic back to 1862 at the Great International Exhibition in London when Alexander Parkes presented his patented Parkesine, a man-made plastic derived from nitrocellulose. This material could be heated and molded into goods that could keep their…