Celluloid, the first plastic, was developed from cellulose in 1855 by an English inventor named Alexander Parkes. When Parkes dissolved pyroxylin, a partially nitrated cellulose, in alcohol and ether-containing camphor it yielded a hard solid which could be heated and molded. Subsequently, Parkes tried to market his product, which he called parkesine, but was unsuccessful because the substance was so revolutionary that no one knew how to use it. Furthermore, it required such large amounts of solvent to make that it was extremely expensive.

Celluloid resurfaced in 1869 with help from a contest sponsored by Phelanand Collender to find a substitute for ivory used in billiard balls. At the time depletion of the herds of elephants in Africa was leading to a shortage in natural ivory. Inventor John Wesley Hyatt and his brother sought to win the $10,000 prize by improving on Parkes' process. They dissolved cotton in nitric acid, and...