1868: John Wesley Hyatt mixes proxylin and nitric acid with camphor to create cellulose nitrate. He names his creation celluloid. It was recognized as the first commercial plastic in the U.S. and was used as a substitute material for ivory in billiard balls.

1907: Chemist Leo Baekeland creates a liquid resin that hardened into a transparent, amber solid that wouldn't boil, melt, or dissolve. Dubbed "Bakelite," the material was used in electrical insulation, jewelry, ashtrays, and telephones.

1929: Chemist Waldo Semon creates a polymer called polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which was later used in such products as garden hoses and long-playing records.

1937: The Hudson Car Company of Ohio uses plastics in its radiator ornaments, electrical parts, and in the first fiber-impregnated gear.

1938: Du Pont announces Wallace H. Carothers' invention of nylon

1940: Bomber noses of Plexiglas acrylic are used for war planes.c

1941: Cardinal Hinsley, the archbishop of Westminster, announced the distribution of two and a half million plastic crucifixes to all members of the British fighting forces, upon request.

1946: H.D. Justi Co. introduces a line of acrylic dentures.

1950: Wheaton Glass Company initiates developmental efforts in injection blowmolding (the heating and shaping of plastic sheets) for containers smaller than 1 quart. 1957: The hula-hoop boom taxes the capacity of the extrusion industry and the capacity for high-density polyethylene at a peak usage of 1 million pounds per week.

1958: The Monsanto Corporation researchers developed the first plastic carbonated-beverage bottle for Coca-Cola.

1959: Mattel Inc. introduces the plastic Barbie doll.

1966: The first Uniloy machine for the production of HDPE blowmolded milk bottles is installed at the Heatherwood Dairy.

1968: Human beings - and several plastic components - land on the moon, launching the latter into an entirely new sphere of applications.

1973: A patent is issued to Nathaniel Wyeth for the PET beverage bottle; it is assigned to Du Pont. PET was the first plastic strong enough to hold highly pressurized carbonated beverages without bursting, and safe enough to pass muster with the FDA.

1979: Volume production of plastics surpasses that of steel in the U.S.

1982: The Jarvik-7 artificial heart sustains Barney Clark for 112 days. Plastics were used for the ventricles and for the fittings by which they were attached to the body's blood vessels. This was the first successful implantation of a plastic heart.

1983: American Can Packaging Inc. produces a twenty-eight ounce squeezable plastic bottle for Heinz ketchup.

Source:
 •The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc.