Best billiard ball in the 19th century: Composite materials made of celluloid and bone as substitutes for ivory.

Autor:	Neves A; REQUIMTE-Laboratório Associado para a Química Verde and Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus Caparica, Monte de Caparica 2829-516, Portugal., Friedel R; Department of History, University of Maryland, 2115 Francis Scott Key Hall, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA., Melo MJ; REQUIMTE-Laboratório Associado para a Química Verde and Department of Conservation and Restoration, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Campus Caparica, Monte de Caparica 2829-516, Portugal., Callapez ME; Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Lisbon 1749-016, Portugal., Vicenzi EP; Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution, 4120 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, Maryland 20746, USA., Lam T; Museum Conservation Institute, Smithsonian Institution, 4120 Silver Hill Road, Suitland, Maryland 20746, USA.
Jazyk:	angličtina
Zdroj:	PNAS nexus [PNAS Nexus] 2023 Nov 03; Vol. 2 (11), pp. pgad360. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 Nov 03 (Print Publication: 2023).
DOI:	10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad360
Abstrakt:	The demystification of how 19th-century novelly designed materials became significant elements of modern technological, economic, and cultural life requires a complete understanding of the material dimensions of historical artifacts. The objects frequently described as the earliest manufactured plastic products-the billiard balls made by John Wesley Hyatt and his associates from the late 1860s-are examined closely for the first time and are found to be more complex and functionally more successful than has been described. Modern analytical techniques such as optical microscopy, scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence, micro-Fourier transformed infrared, and handheld/micro-Raman spectroscopies were used to reveal the complex composition of the Smithsonian Institution's "original" 1868 celluloid billiard ball. Comparisons with billiard and pool balls commercialized from the 1880s to the 1960s showed an unexpected consistency in material formulations. All specimens were made of an unprecedented composite material prepared with a mixture of cellulose nitrate, camphor, and ground bone; the source of the bone was identified as cattle by peptide mass fingerprint (ZooMS). Patent specifications and contemporary journal descriptions explained how and when these formulations emerged. Combining the technical analyses of compositions with a careful reading of the historical record and contemporary descriptions reveals the key elements of the first successful efforts to substitute materials to assist the survival of endangered animals. (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of National Academy of Sciences.)
Databáze:	MEDLINE
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