- John Wesley Hyatt
Infobox Engineer
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caption = PAGENAME
name = PAGENAME
nationality = American
birth_date =November 28 ,1837
birth_place =Starkey, New York
death_date =May 10 ,1920
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significant_projects = production ofcelluloid
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significant_awards =John Wesley Hyatt (
November 28 ,1837 –May 10 ,1920 ) was an American inventor. He is mainly known for simplifying the production ofcelluloid , arguably the first industrialplastic . Hyatt, aPerkin Medal recipient, is an inductee into theNational Inventors Hall of Fame .Hyatt was born in
Starkey, New York , and began working as a printer when he was 16. Later, he became an inventor, receiving several hundredpatent s. While researching a substitute forivory to producebilliard ball s, he experimented withParkesine , a material first created byAlexander Parkes . The result was a commercially viable way of producing Celluloid which he patented in the USA in 1869.Hyatt formed the Celluloid Manufacturing Company (originally the Albany Dental Plate Company) in 1870.In parallel, English inventor
Daniel Spill developed the same product which he patented in England as "Xylonite", and later pursued Hyatt in a number of costly court cases between 1877 and 1884. The eventual outcome found that the true inventor of celluloid wasAlexander Parkes , and that all manufacturing of celluloid could continue, including Hyatt's.Hyatt's other patented inventions include
roller bearing s and a multiple-stitchsewing machine .External links
* [http://www.plastiquarian.com/hyatt.htm Biography on plastiquarian.com]
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