The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered : To Robert Hayes: It costs him time & money to research & upload these videos.It takes money to make money !!!!!
@ History Guy: I'm a retired mechanical engineer and I have worked a lot with polymers (plastics). I just want to thank you for fitting polymers into your series, and congratulate you on getting the technical points correct. Even among engineers polymers typically are not well understood. Well done!
Best of all, while I have a basic scientific understanding of polymers, the explanations are clear and concise, fit for many levels of understanding. And while we rightfully laud his work for it's informational content, let us not forget the historian and his weaving of life events into the narrative. History gives us the facts. The storyteller breathes life anew into the tombs of our past, and raises the dead, even if only for a few precious moments. Thanks for a job well done.
I collect antique pocket knives and straight razors. For whoever may not know, be very careful about storing steel or iron with early celluloid. Especially in air tight containers. In fact DON'T DO IT! The outgassing of the early celluloid will attack the metal and oxidize and rust your knife and razor blades into dust. If the razor or knife has a celluloid handle store it in open air, with the blade open preferably. I ruined some of my most collectable razors by storing them in air tight bins. Expensive lesson to learn.
Not anything I'm into collecting at this point but very interesting to know. THG apparently is not the only instructor in the room. Thank you for that tid bit
You could use some ZERUST blocks and store them in sealed containers. ZERUST makes a rust stopping vapor and works really well for tools and fishing gear.
@@bigpop762 thanks l appreciate the input.Im familiar with the product and it is very goid. But just keeping them in either paper or cloth works just fine. I'll just stay away from airtight containers like Tupperware and sweater boxes that trap in the nitric acid vapors. It was a lesson learned. Ive got razors from as for back as the 1580's. I don't want to apply anything to them. Even rust protectant will effect their collector's value.
One aspect of celluloid is the risks it introduced to cinema film projector machinists; not only had they to cope with making the machines work, often using electric arcs with graphite but also the extremely volatile nature of celluloid in combination. The machinist's booth, in light of the risks to the large audience, was designed like a concrete and steel box with guillotine like steel shutters hung by thin threads from the ceiling. The idea was if the celluloid film would catch fire, the fire would cut the threads and the steel shutters would come down like visors blocking the projection opening and the door and enclose the flammable materials, to protect the hundreds in the audience, thereby enclosing the projector machinist in his own personal incinerator. The machinist's of old days always had one foot through the door, just in case... I've seen those old cinemas with that design, a little macabre.
The first is cellulose nitrate, (fire Risk) the later cellulose acetate, problem solved! Glue together with ethylacetate. Fuji came with polyester film.
Some very few fountain pens are still made of celluloid (now, the pen development wars, there is an idea for an episode!). As with old knives and razors with celluloid handles, as mentioned below, these should be stored where they can get air. Outgassing goes on for who knows how long. Thank you so much for your videos. So much deserves to be remembered. We have no idea where we are or where we are going if we don't know and remember how we got here in the first place...
As a PhD in chemistry, I commend you on your working through the science. You even generally got the pronunciations right, which can be tricky. Very well done!
@Dale Leisenring Why not? Chess pieces can be made from anything that can be carved, I guess. There is a video for that (rule 34 y ;-) ) .. Check out /watch?v=SPqU6K_GaqA
So much of the history that we learn in school is only about the big events that have taken place, usually either major conflicts or major achievements. Your channel is wonderful proof that there was - and still is - history being made everyday somewhere in the world. Unfortunately, most of these daily events get forgotten over time. But you, like some sleuthy grave digger that you are, manage to dig up the past and, through the modern miracle of multimedia, bring this long-buried history back to life. To tell the truth, this "trivial" history is actually quite refreshing to learn. It's like reading a newspaper article about some event from a long time ago as though it just happened yesterday. But more importantly, a lot of the subjects you talk about had a very important impact on our lives, and we never knew why - until now. Thank you again for your wonderful elocution on all things history. We appreciate it more than you will ever know.
I find the history of "ordinary" things more fascinating than the "big" events, for 2 reasons, We largely "know" the "big" stuff, and Often it's the "little" stuff that's had the greatest impact on our daily life. You mentioned newspapers, One of my favorite things to do is to read our local newspapers from Google Newspaper archives from 60,80,100,120 etc, years ago. The ads, classifieds,editorials, EVERYTHING. Really a great way to see what my city was REALLY like and how those events,decisions,projects,hopes are still evident and shape what it is now. (I.E. a real-estate development proposition in a cow pasture of 1905 is a now well known suburb of importance today.) Told in "real time". The "small" stuff is EVERY bit as important as the "big" stuff.
I am a big fan of this “channel”, being a history buff. As a retired professor of chemistry, I particularly appreciated the chemistry and science in this episode. Well done!
So happy to have found this channel. So many fun topics that I'd have never heard of outside of your content. Thank you kindly for your hard work and for helping us all remember a little more of our history each day :)
If I was teaching history I think I would include episodes of your posts. They both inform and entertain. But they also take those nuggets of history that get overlooked and pique the average viewer's interest.
I just made a couple of comments on this and other History Guy episodes like that. I think we are teaching history in completely the wrong way. Historians have always gotten hung up on politics, who the dictator was and how they got to be dictator and how they got deposed, etc. History is taught as being all about who has political power, whether as individuals or classes or regions of people. Everything that has happened in history has been driven by the technology available and history has changed as technology advances. For example, the history of the middle ages has more to do with what the printing press did, which made advancements in philosophy possible that led to the deposing of monarchs, and now the internet is changing politics in ways we don't understand yet, yet every county on earth is trying to control it because it could depose them, even the US. A lot of history is due to changes in metalurgy, for example, or other materials sciences, including plastics, and most history professors don't understand that. I don't know how to put all that together, but I think that is what needs to be taught, not the orations of Cicero or the despotism of King George or the effects of Reconstruction, etc. Slavery, for example, may have been made obsolete by advancements in agriculture and manufacturing probably more than the moral imperative. If slavery was abolished purely because of the morals of it, why was it not abolished a hundred years earlier.
Dawson City in the Yukon, was the last distribution point for celluloid films. It was deemed to be too costly to ship the films back to the USA. So huge stockpiles of silent movies were stored in Dawson. As years went by, archivist collected and salvaged these thousands of lost movies and saved recorded history. A video has been shown on the TCM ( Turner Classic Movies) channel and I think you and others would enjoy seeing these Hollywood and Dawson silent movies . TCM has a website if you have an interest . :)
My ex-boss’s grandfather invented the celluloid guitar picks in 1922 because the little hearts they stamped out to put on top of wooden boxes looked like the tortoise shell guitar picks his brother used. Celluloid is still used to make them today, and also drum shells, pickguards and accordion casings and other accoutrements for musical instruments and accessories. Someone once called me and wanted to make collar stays out of celluloid and I strongly dissuaded him from doing so, due to the flammability factor if people who used it smoked. Celluloid has a tolerance for high atmospheric temperatures when new, but that decreases as the product ages, a little bit every year. It can spontaneously explode. In the very early part of the 20th century, they actually made ash trays out of celluloid-but not for long! Next? How about the history of Bakelite?
Until you casually mentioned it in this video I (somehow) never knew that shellac came from a bug. Had to look that tidbit up: 'Shellac is an insect resin secreted by the Lac bug, a very small red parasitic bug that attaches itself to a small variety of trees in India and Southeast Asia. The insect feeds on the sap of the tree and secretes the Lac as a protective shell in which the female lay their eggs.' That's one of the things I enjoy about your channel, I click for the subject at hand and usually receive alot of other interesting things to go and explore as well.
I heard about this in a junior high school wood shop class. I knew the tools and uses but never managed to use them to produce anything remotely like what the teacher said was acceptable. He disapproved even more after my query about whether lac bug were always used wild or if they were farmed. He didn't know.
Big fan of THG! One area where celluloid is still used is in fountain pens. Cellulose nitrate was used in fountain pens early on, but for the same reasons you delineated, was replaced by cellulose acetate. It is still highly prized as a material in fountain pens today. Keep up the fantastic content!!!
Horacio Alger Award Winner Harold Warp invented Plastic Wrap & 20 other products. He lived to be 93. He collected everything from 1850 to 1950 & built an Amazing Museum in his home town, Minden, Nebraska. “Pioneer Village”.
I absolutely LOVE these episodes that combine science and history. You explain them so well. It's rare for a non-science channel to be so accurate in reporting on scientific topics. It's clear that you have as much a passion for science as you do for history. I really look forward to seeing more videos like this. I'd be interested to see your take on the history of chemistry that focuses on dangerous chemistry, like the isolation of fluorine and accidents in chemistry labs from such pursuits. Thanks for taking the time to make these and for sharing your passion for history with all of us on RUclips. Your enthusiasm is truly contagious and makes for videos all the more enjoyable. Cheers.
Really feel like I have just attended a University Lecture Hall. What an amazing video, what an amazing product, what an amazing presentation. Thank you
Amazing how far back in history our use of plastic goes and how much of an impact it's had and does have on the global economy and the environment. And of course it takes the History Guy to bring to light the kind history that deserves to be remembered. Thanks H.G.! 👍😉
Engineering Technology professor here - this is a nice overview of plastics and their properties. You got the technical details right while making the history interesting. Well done :-)
I remember watching a television programme some years ago and it mention the use of gun cotton in the manufacture of billiard balls. It occurred in a saloon out west. What triggered the event is not know. Whether it was something to do with the hot weather or the balls being poorly made is unsure. But what they are sure about is that when one player took his shot and the cue ball hit on of the other balls it caused a loud explosion. Similar to a gun shot. But that was not the end of it. On hearing the explosion, and this being in a saloon, it was supposed by some that someone had 'commenced a-shooting' as they say, and many of those inside the saloon decided to join in on the basis that the person being shot at was them. The fight was brief, and I believe there were some casualties, but once everyone realised there was no drunken shooter the firing stopped. Who know a game like billiards could be so dangerous.
Fountain pen collector and repairer here, love to see this video on celluloid! Vintage pens are commonly made out of this material, and the quality and beauty of celluloid outdoes many modern pens.
My dad was a toolmaker and began his career machining plastic molds in Leominster Ma. This was known as the Pioneer Plastic City. He later started his own business, Union Products. One of the products they made was the iconic pink flamingo. The company was also the world's largest plastic flower pot manufacturer.
Hey History Guy! Big fan of the channel. If I may suggest a topic for a future episode of forgotten history, how about the only commissioned US naval vessel still held captive by enemy hands, the USS Pueblo?
@@jmullentech Could also link it to an incident of congress-members smashing a Toshiba radio, after it became known that Toshiba and Kongsberg had sold CNC-machines to the Soviet-Union. Using these machines, the soviets were able to reduce the noise from submarine propellers, which the americans had used to monitor soviet subs, a fact the soviets became aware of through Walker and the Pueblo
@uncletigger You're incorrect. At various points during the Cold War, the west, and particularly the US, had such overwhelming tactical and strategic superiority, coupled with the ability to achieve first-strike surprise that the Soviet Union would have ceased functioning as a organized society; notably, the early parts of the Cold War, and the period 1977 to (at least) 1987. Clearly the US never wanted to push the Soviet Union into war, because we didn't. This was largely unnecessary, though understandable from the Soviet point of view given their history of invasions. The Soviet obsession with secrecy, espionage, their closed society, and hypersensitivity to criticism caused them to mis-allocate resources in ways we're all still paying for today.
I’m a Plastics Engineer by training and profession. You did a wonderful job covering the history of my industry. Then again I wouldn’t expect anything less.
This episode has been greatly researched.......thank you. As a little extra, the elasticity of proteins (especially enzymes) can be very intricate with folding and unfolding to do the job they're designed for. Their functions however are best under exacting conditions of pH etc. Take the normal human temperature of 98.6°F. If we run a high temperature of 104°F many enzymes malfunction. As a comparison dogs run a normal temperature of 104°F but if dropped to human levels their enzymes would malfunction. Just goes to show how evolution has created such specific conditions for how different species function internally.
I miss your previous introduction as it makes an understanding of your passion for history. My high school history teacher taught history with respect and addressed his students with the respectful Miss and Mister. Your degree in history was only the genus of your dignified and accurate love for history, foundational. So many channels are just magpies and repeat what someone else has previously spewed. In our times you represent stability and a glimmer of hope that what we have survived will take us through what lies ahead.
"Millions of feet of film...burned up in vault fires, it even caused some fires in hospitals because the film was used for X-rays". Maybe THG is foreshadowing an episode on The Great Cleveland Hospital Xray Fire of 1929. Now THAT's history, that deserves to be remembered! (horrifying, tho it is)
Has been awesome watching channel grow, but i do miss hearing "short snippets" from time to time. Love the vids, glad you've decided to share with the world, its truly appreciated. Thanks History Guy!
History Guy, yours is one of the best, however I wish you would include more railroad topics. After all railroads have been with the USA from close to the beginning. Fred Harvey, and the Harvey Girls is interesting because it tells about how this system was basically the first fast food industry that also brought women to the wild west. Or another would be the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Extension, the very last transcontinental railroad built using modern techniques and the only one to be abandoned because it was built too late. It was also an electric railroad that tells the tell why electric transcontinental is impossible. Or the collapse of Penn Central the largest bankruptcy in the US before Enron. Just some ideas into the interesting train world. Keep the stories coming! ! !
Cesar Abeid year ur grandfather remembers when everything became a thing. My grandfather was born in 1900 and was a storyteller. He told. The time he saw his first car, first time he saw a dirigible balloon in the sky, an airplane, men landing on the moon. I was a young boy around the mid1960’s and we took him to the big city to shop in a large Sears. He was in awe of moving stairs (an escalator) he never saw one before and was truly amazed. So your grandfather saw it all before his eyes in his life time.
@@pjkentucky How cool, thanks for sharing! Yes, we talk about our generation experiencing new things (Internet, smartphones, etc), but can you imagine the first time you saw a horseless carriage?
I have often wondered the history of Bakelite plastic. It was widely used in electronics from radio cases to insulators of electrical components . Even household items were made from it.
Yes--the old telephones where made wtih it, and had lovely heft and seriousness. When I was a kid, making or getting a long distance call was an Event for ordinary people,reserved for special occasions--announcements of birth, death and disasters as well as birthday greetings.
Some vehicles use phenolic pistons in their brake calipers. It's a major component of Bakelite. Essentially it could withstand the rapid changes in temperature and extreme heat.
The fanciest form of Bskelite is called Catalin and resembles polished stone or marble, comes in a variety of colors. VERY collectible, especially brightly colored Catalin radios, some of which are worth thousands of dollars. The story of the fsmily that held the patent on Bakelite is one of tragedy, madness, and murder.
I wish to offer a heartfelt thank you and wishes for continued success Mr. History Guy. Not only for bringing history to life in an entertaining way but for also creating a bastion of thoughtful and non politicized narrative in a time of historical rewriting and retconning. Just the facts, sir. This is invaluable. I believe when I get home this evening I shall do something I have never done for any other youtube channel and become a patreon. You have earned it. Again thank you
I'm a fountain pen collector, and very familiar with celluloid - and that other classic material, "ebonite", or hard rubber. I have several Sheaffer Triumph pens from the 1940s which are made from beautiful celluloid with alternating transparent and colored stripes. That was high quality material. Despite their advancing age, the pens are well-preserved and still look almost new. Rubbing the surface vigorously and sniffing still produces a faint whiff of camphor. You can do the same with ebonite pens and pick up a rubber scent. Fountain pens are still produced today, and modern acrylic plastics have largely - but not entirely - taken over. Celluloid and ebonite are now looked upon as luxury materials for high priced pens, custom pens and limited editions.
Is pen sniffing a recognized paraphilia? I hope it is practiced widely. Fountain pens are wonderful in so many ways. I like to use them, though the quality of my penmanship is poor. And the quality of too much writing paper (itself a phrase that sounds quainter every year)
Ebonite is also the material used to make some of the most desired saxophone and clarinet etc mouthpieces (not brass instruments, those are made of ... brass .... lol) but ebonite is even used to make whole clarinets or was, anyway.
I am impressed with your ability to discuss scientific subjects as fluently as political history. Very well done. I remember reading a late 19th century book that referred to celluloid windows and the "age of plastic," in the 1890's. I had no idea.
I absolutely hated history when I was young. Had you been my teacher, I would've got straight A's. I'm glad we have RUclips here in Afghanistan on satellite! Thank you!
Hey History Guy! Your narration has made leaps and bounds in improving. The transitions are far more fluidly made and naturally recited. You are definitely putting in some time to get things right. Keep up the good work!
I heard that too. Very very wrong. Wool is mainly 'made' from keratin, a completely different natural polymer. (I think he meant to say 'cotton' there.)
@@markholm7050 Agreed. I've noticed several errors in his videos now and it makes me wonder... If I'm noticing that many things wrong that I know about already am I actually reliably learning anything from these vids?
When you consider the volume of information compacted into a video like this, factual errors are bound to occur. He probably meant 'cotton wool'. It seems like a trivial thing to achieve 100% accuracy in a video because the average viewer (that does not make videos) is thinking about production of a single video where fact checking and script editing can be done to the nth degree. In reality, the production of many videos over time creates these sorts of mistakes. It is incredibly work-intensive. The good news is nobody's going to die because there's a single goof in this video.
I appreciate and anticipate your videos. As a lover of history I find your videos informative and entertaining. My interest in history is eclectic and your are diverse in your subject matter. Thank you from an old country boy from Texas. Keep them coming Sir. Ec
Every time I watch one of your videos I can't help thinking how my life might have been different if I had a teacher like you in school! Please keep up the great work you do!
Celluloid's reactivity made it, at worst, a danger and, at best, a major pain in the butt. However, it was probably the most environmentally friendly plastic simply because it did degrade.
Other plastics degrade even more quickly. I had a 1985 Volvo with French wiring. The insulation looked like PVC but was designed to decompose in mere decades. Unfortunately for owners, the process started much sooner than that in exposed areas of the car, like under the hood. The insulation would crumble away if touched before the car's life was otherwise half over. In 1988 Volvo went back to sane wire.
Happy Christmas and may 2020 be a good year for you and your family. Miles from anywhere in an old Victorian building stood a large old diesel generator. It was started by using a small roll of celluloid film in a presure cannister where it was ignited. Nobody knew how much film to use. It might seem an antiquated method but I'm glad safety factors were rather high in the old days. It took 3 attempts to get the injectors fully primed but it was awsome. After many, many years all the lights came on, nobody had bothered to switch them off. We did, the old rubber and cloth wiring was rotten.
I'll never look at plastic the same again! btw...George Eastman was my G Grandmother's cousin. When I was researching my family tree (10 yrs.), I read part of a huge biography on him describing what you said about film. It was very interesting...but I was in a huge hurry to put together my findings for my father's 75th Birthday. Thanks for the video...One cane never, NEVER get enough History!!
It will be a sad day when THG fails to enrich or pull back the curtains. My candidate for a synthetic was polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride commonly known as bakelite. Thank you, Sir
@@timeflysintheshop The product that was initially used for automotive batteries was invented in the 1850s. It was rubber that had processes and additives .to make it a soild. Was it a thermoset I do not know.
@@timeflysintheshop yes, it was. It also was used in the (late) early audio industry by Thomas Edison. Edison's Diamond Disks (almost 1/2 inch thick records had their playing surfaces made of Bakelite or what Edison called Condensite.
It's quite strange that I just pondered the question of who came up with the first plastics and when while I was at work yesterday. I came home and here you answered my question the same day. Thank you for the very interesting content you do sir. All the best to you and Mrs. History Gal.
90% of plastic in the ocean comes from 9 rivers. 5 in China, two in India and 2 from the continent of Africa. The rest of the world makes up most of the remainder, except that recently it's been discovered that China is intentionally dumping enormous amounts of plastic waste in the Atlantic (and potentially all oceans) from their container ships at sea. It was discovered because of China made plastics with date codes far too recent to ever have floated around to the atlantic were washing up on the western shores of Africa.
Mr scythe, 90% ocean polution is from giant luxury ocean liners of us, uk, australia. And u forgot america,s massive naval fleets around the world, Where do u think all their biohazard filth is going,
Lance, you teach very naturally and succinctly. You have covered a wide variety of subjects in easily digestible chunks. Have you ever considered marketing tranches of your videos in sets specifically structured for and made available to schools? History classes of course come to mind immediately and I'm sure there are others within your scope.
WOW!!! Great episode. Usually you do little known facts/points of history. But this was a fundamental building block of modern life. Really enjoyed this, and learned quit a bit I did not know. For instance - what gun cotton is/was and how it was/is made.
THANK YOU! Your stuff is always hyper-interesting, well-researched and expertly presented. I'm most grateful to find a treatise on plastic which is not preachy about the waste and environmental issues. All good wishes!
Great episode, thank you very much. Celluloid was also very big and transformed the fountain pen industry in the 20'es and 30'es. Celluloid is today very sought after in modern fountain pen community
In a former life, I taught Tech Ed (Industrial Arts) to middle schoolers. I did a unit on plastics, and had a destructive test the kids carried out to learn about the different resins. The kids really liked the exercise and asked for it each year, as they aged through the program.
I'm certain this history isn't forgotten, and probably widely available to a person willing and able to do the research. But such things have always been true. Your concise presentation, made in an accessible medium to a new audience, with with great charisma and wit; that, friend is where you have really done something. Well done. Foster Grant indeed, I had no idea. 👊👊👊
Bravo! Probably one of your more important releases. We know plastic is hurting us now, but people need to know the good side too, especially those who have no other path to such info.
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
This episode is sponsored by Dashlane
@john mac He did 3 weeks ago! Check his uploads. Good episode.
I am literally the only fan of celluloid products. I guess i am old-fashioned.
@john mac You're welcome!
The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered : To Robert Hayes: It costs him time & money to research & upload these videos.It takes money to make money !!!!!
Because all good sponsorships involve piracy ;)
@ History Guy: I'm a retired mechanical engineer and I have worked a lot with polymers (plastics). I just want to thank you for fitting polymers into your series, and congratulate you on getting the technical points correct. Even among engineers polymers typically are not well understood. Well done!
Yes - indeed...I worked in plastics industry most my life - had become extremely complex. I worked with some superb engineers in this field...🇺🇸
I want to comment this exact same comment. Great Job on this from a former polymer scientist.
It was very informative.
Best of all, while I have a basic scientific understanding of polymers, the explanations are clear and concise, fit for many levels of understanding.
And while we rightfully laud his work for it's informational content, let us not forget the historian and his weaving of life events into the narrative.
History gives us the facts. The storyteller breathes life anew into the tombs of our past, and raises the dead, even if only for a few precious moments.
Thanks for a job well done.
We dont wanna hear about your days in a plastic spoon factory.😅 just kidding. What was the kind of products you worked with?
I collect antique pocket knives and straight razors. For whoever may not know, be very careful about storing steel or iron with early celluloid. Especially in air tight containers. In fact DON'T DO IT! The outgassing of the early celluloid will attack the metal and oxidize and rust your knife and razor blades into dust. If the razor or knife has a celluloid handle store it in open air, with the blade open preferably. I ruined some of my most collectable razors by storing them in air tight bins. Expensive lesson to learn.
Not anything I'm into collecting at this point but very interesting to know. THG apparently is not the only instructor in the room. Thank you for that tid bit
thanks alzo here.
I was thinking about getting into that. Now that I know I have an excuse to keep them all semi-open to show them off.
You could use some ZERUST blocks and store them in sealed containers. ZERUST makes a rust stopping vapor and works really well for tools and fishing gear.
@@bigpop762 thanks l appreciate the input.Im familiar with the product and it is very goid. But just keeping them in either paper or cloth works just fine. I'll just stay away from airtight containers like Tupperware and sweater boxes that trap in the nitric acid vapors. It was a lesson learned. Ive got razors from as for back as the 1580's. I don't want to apply anything to them. Even rust protectant will effect their collector's value.
One aspect of celluloid is the risks it introduced to cinema film projector machinists; not only had they to cope with making the machines work, often using electric arcs with graphite but also the extremely volatile nature of celluloid in combination.
The machinist's booth, in light of the risks to the large audience, was designed like a concrete and steel box with guillotine like steel shutters hung by thin threads from the ceiling. The idea was if the celluloid film would catch fire, the fire would cut the threads and the steel shutters would come down like visors blocking the projection opening and the door and enclose the flammable materials, to protect the hundreds in the audience, thereby enclosing the projector machinist in his own personal incinerator. The machinist's of old days always had one foot through the door, just in case...
I've seen those old cinemas with that design, a little macabre.
That is a major theme of the plot of the film Cinema Paradisio. A movie well worth watching.
@@rogersheddy6414 I haven't seen that film, but I have put it on my list. Thanks.
@MrPitjoey you're welcome!
@@rogersheddy6414 recommend the Director's Cut version . . ( longer version )...
The first is cellulose nitrate, (fire Risk) the later cellulose acetate, problem solved! Glue together with ethylacetate. Fuji came with polyester film.
Some very few fountain pens are still made of celluloid (now, the pen development wars, there is an idea for an episode!). As with old knives and razors with celluloid handles, as mentioned below, these should be stored where they can get air. Outgassing goes on for who knows how long. Thank you so much for your videos. So much deserves to be remembered. We have no idea where we are or where we are going if we don't know and remember how we got here in the first place...
As a PhD in chemistry, I commend you on your working through the science. You even generally got the pronunciations right, which can be tricky. Very well done!
Who cares about the history of plastic? *It turns out that **_I do,_** although 20 minutes ago, I had no idea that I had an interest in it.*
That's one of the great things about what THG does--shines lights in corners we would always overlook with his guidance.
mee too
@Dale Leisenring Good point
@Dale Leisenring Chess pieces were made from wood.
@Dale Leisenring Why not? Chess pieces can be made from anything that can be carved, I guess.
There is a video for that (rule 34 y ;-) ) .. Check out /watch?v=SPqU6K_GaqA
So much of the history that we learn in school is only about the big events that have taken place, usually either major conflicts or major achievements.
Your channel is wonderful proof that there was - and still is - history being made everyday somewhere in the world. Unfortunately, most of these daily events get forgotten over time. But you, like some sleuthy grave digger that you are, manage to dig up the past and, through the modern miracle of multimedia, bring this long-buried history back to life.
To tell the truth, this "trivial" history is actually quite refreshing to learn. It's like reading a newspaper article about some event from a long time ago as though it just happened yesterday. But more importantly, a lot of the subjects you talk about had a very important impact on our lives, and we never knew why - until now.
Thank you again for your wonderful elocution on all things history. We appreciate it more than you will ever know.
Indeed, history is lots and lots of small steps and folks few people have heard of.
I find the history of "ordinary" things more fascinating than the "big" events, for 2 reasons, We largely "know" the "big" stuff, and Often it's the "little" stuff that's had the greatest impact on our daily life. You mentioned newspapers, One of my favorite things to do is to read our local newspapers from Google Newspaper archives from 60,80,100,120 etc, years ago. The ads, classifieds,editorials, EVERYTHING. Really a great way to see what my city was REALLY like and how those events,decisions,projects,hopes are still evident and shape what it is now. (I.E. a real-estate development proposition in a cow pasture of 1905 is a now well known suburb of importance today.) Told in "real time". The "small" stuff is EVERY bit as important as the "big" stuff.
I am a big fan of this “channel”, being a history buff. As a retired professor of chemistry, I particularly appreciated the chemistry and science in this episode. Well done!
So happy to have found this channel. So many fun topics that I'd have never heard of outside of your content. Thank you kindly for your hard work and for helping us all remember a little more of our history each day :)
sOMEdude64 the algorithm knows all
If I was teaching history I think I would include episodes of your posts. They both inform and entertain. But they also take those nuggets of history that get overlooked and pique the average viewer's interest.
Jesse Oaks I do teach history. I have used several History Guy videos in my classes.
I just made a couple of comments on this and other History Guy episodes like that. I think we are teaching history in completely the wrong way. Historians have always gotten hung up on politics, who the dictator was and how they got to be dictator and how they got deposed, etc. History is taught as being all about who has political power, whether as individuals or classes or regions of people. Everything that has happened in history has been driven by the technology available and history has changed as technology advances. For example, the history of the middle ages has more to do with what the printing press did, which made advancements in philosophy possible that led to the deposing of monarchs, and now the internet is changing politics in ways we don't understand yet, yet every county on earth is trying to control it because it could depose them, even the US. A lot of history is due to changes in metalurgy, for example, or other materials sciences, including plastics, and most history professors don't understand that. I don't know how to put all that together, but I think that is what needs to be taught, not the orations of Cicero or the despotism of King George or the effects of Reconstruction, etc. Slavery, for example, may have been made obsolete by advancements in agriculture and manufacturing probably more than the moral imperative. If slavery was abolished purely because of the morals of it, why was it not abolished a hundred years earlier.
I was thinking the same thing. How he explains it AND I can understand and retain it is pretty awesome. Not mindless tv, what a treat!!
Dawson City in the Yukon, was the last distribution point for celluloid films. It was deemed to be too costly to ship the films back to the USA. So huge stockpiles of silent movies were stored in Dawson. As years went by, archivist collected and salvaged these thousands of lost movies and saved recorded history. A video has been shown on the TCM ( Turner Classic Movies) channel and I think you and others would enjoy seeing these Hollywood and Dawson silent movies . TCM has a website if you have an interest . :)
I saw it. Very interesting show.
@Peter Rogan - Look up the Fox Vault Fire of 1937 for more reasons why.
Thomas Brown I’ve been to Dawson city! How fascinating
I rented this via Netflix. It was interesting for sure. I enjoyed it. A direct Trump zinger early on but pretty much a documentary.
@Peter Rogan I fear some of my family movies are on 8mm celluloid, at least the oldest B&W ones.
My ex-boss’s grandfather invented the celluloid guitar picks in 1922 because the little hearts they stamped out to put on top of wooden boxes looked like the tortoise shell guitar picks his brother used. Celluloid is still used to make them today, and also drum shells, pickguards and accordion casings and other accoutrements for musical instruments and accessories. Someone once called me and wanted to make collar stays out of celluloid and I strongly dissuaded him from doing so, due to the flammability factor if people who used it smoked. Celluloid has a tolerance for high atmospheric temperatures when new, but that decreases as the product ages, a little bit every year. It can spontaneously explode. In the very early part of the 20th century, they actually made ash trays out of celluloid-but not for long! Next? How about the history of Bakelite?
Until you casually mentioned it in this video I (somehow) never knew that shellac came from a bug. Had to look that tidbit up: 'Shellac is an insect resin secreted by the Lac bug, a very small red parasitic bug that attaches itself to a small variety of trees in India and Southeast Asia. The insect feeds on the sap of the tree and secretes the Lac as a protective shell in which the female lay their eggs.'
That's one of the things I enjoy about your channel, I click for the subject at hand and usually receive alot of other interesting things to go and explore as well.
I heard about this in a junior high school wood shop class. I knew the tools and uses but never managed to use them to produce anything remotely like what the teacher said was acceptable. He disapproved even more after my query about whether lac bug were always used wild or if they were farmed. He didn't know.
We like bug juices! Carmine is beautiful.
@@flagmichael Cochineal too.
I work with old celluloid on acoustic guitars, really appreciate this one! No idea how I missed it years ago!
Big fan of THG! One area where celluloid is still used is in fountain pens. Cellulose nitrate was used in fountain pens early on, but for the same reasons you delineated, was replaced by cellulose acetate. It is still highly prized as a material in fountain pens today. Keep up the fantastic content!!!
Horacio Alger Award Winner Harold Warp invented Plastic Wrap & 20 other products. He lived to be 93. He collected everything from 1850 to 1950 & built an Amazing Museum in his home town, Minden, Nebraska. “Pioneer Village”.
I’m so glad I accidentally stumbled upon this channel. Thank you sir for another great video.
That ad insert was so flawless it actually made me want dashlane... his voice and mannerisms is dangerously powerful.
I absolutely LOVE these episodes that combine science and history. You explain them so well. It's rare for a non-science channel to be so accurate in reporting on scientific topics. It's clear that you have as much a passion for science as you do for history. I really look forward to seeing more videos like this.
I'd be interested to see your take on the history of chemistry that focuses on dangerous chemistry, like the isolation of fluorine and accidents in chemistry labs from such pursuits.
Thanks for taking the time to make these and for sharing your passion for history with all of us on RUclips. Your enthusiasm is truly contagious and makes for videos all the more enjoyable. Cheers.
I’m an engineer that works in the plastics industry…. And I learned a ton in this video. Thanks THG!
Really feel like I have just attended a University Lecture Hall. What an amazing video, what an amazing product, what an amazing presentation. Thank you
I really enjoy how you write and deliver you're scripts. " the compound that led us into the future, has now been relegated to the past" that's art
Amazing how far back in history our use of plastic goes and how much of an impact it's had and does have on the global economy and the environment. And of course it takes the History Guy to bring to light the kind history that deserves to be remembered. Thanks H.G.! 👍😉
Engineering Technology professor here - this is a nice overview of plastics and their properties. You got the technical details right while making the history interesting. Well done :-)
I remember watching a television programme some years ago and it mention the use of gun cotton in the manufacture of billiard balls. It occurred in a saloon out west. What triggered the event is not know. Whether it was something to do with the hot weather or the balls being poorly made is unsure. But what they are sure about is that when one player took his shot and the cue ball hit on of the other balls it caused a loud explosion. Similar to a gun shot.
But that was not the end of it. On hearing the explosion, and this being in a saloon, it was supposed by some that someone had 'commenced a-shooting' as they say, and many of those inside the saloon decided to join in on the basis that the person being shot at was them. The fight was brief, and I believe there were some casualties, but once everyone realised there was no drunken shooter the firing stopped.
Who know a game like billiards could be so dangerous.
Fountain pen collector and repairer here, love to see this video on celluloid! Vintage pens are commonly made out of this material, and the quality and beauty of celluloid outdoes many modern pens.
That's cool. I am now going to look and see if there is a video on BAKELITE.
Theres not, but if I remember correctly nile red did a good video on making it.
@@nikolausluhrs What do you mean there's not? There's lots.
Bakelite is a thermoset rather than a thermoplast. In simpler terms it means the polymer chains crosslink in processing and it cannot be remelted.
@@rogerscottcathey oh i meant by the history guy
@@nikolausluhrs : Ah, I see. Cheers.
You're not only a superb history teacher; you just gave us a great lesson in biochemistry. As good as any I ever got from my old chemistry instructor.
Another gem from TheHistoryGuy.
Thank you for this. Very interesting 🤔 I
Thank you to Mr and Mrs history guy for keeping history alive for all of us. Thoroughly enjoy your channel.
"The substance that led us to the future has been relegated to the past " there is a poetry to that description of progress that is haunting
My dad was a toolmaker and began his career machining plastic molds in Leominster Ma.
This was known as the Pioneer Plastic City. He later started his own business, Union Products. One of the products they made was the iconic pink flamingo. The company was also the world's largest plastic flower pot manufacturer.
Hey History Guy! Big fan of the channel. If I may suggest a topic for a future episode of forgotten history, how about the only commissioned US naval vessel still held captive by enemy hands, the USS Pueblo?
That is an especially interesting story when considering why it was captured, the connection to John Anthony Walker
@@sundhaug92 Having never heard of neither the incident nor Walker, holy shit. This is absolutely mind boggling!
@@jmullentech Could also link it to an incident of congress-members smashing a Toshiba radio, after it became known that Toshiba and Kongsberg had sold CNC-machines to the Soviet-Union. Using these machines, the soviets were able to reduce the noise from submarine propellers, which the americans had used to monitor soviet subs, a fact the soviets became aware of through Walker and the Pueblo
@uncletigger You're incorrect. At various points during the Cold War, the west, and particularly the US, had such overwhelming tactical and strategic superiority, coupled with the ability to achieve first-strike surprise that the Soviet Union would have ceased functioning as a organized society; notably, the early parts of the Cold War, and the period 1977 to (at least) 1987. Clearly the US never wanted to push the Soviet Union into war, because we didn't.
This was largely unnecessary, though understandable from the Soviet point of view given their history of invasions. The Soviet obsession with secrecy, espionage, their closed society, and hypersensitivity to criticism caused them to mis-allocate resources in ways we're all still paying for today.
@uncletigger There are many decaffeinated brands on the market just as tasty as the real thing.
I’m a Plastics Engineer by training and profession. You did a wonderful job covering the history of my industry. Then again I wouldn’t expect anything less.
This episode has been greatly researched.......thank you. As a little extra, the elasticity of proteins (especially enzymes) can be very intricate with folding and unfolding to do the job they're designed for. Their functions however are best under exacting conditions of pH etc. Take the normal human temperature of 98.6°F. If we run a high temperature of 104°F many enzymes malfunction. As a comparison dogs run a normal temperature of 104°F but if dropped to human levels their enzymes would malfunction. Just goes to show how evolution has created such specific conditions for how different species function internally.
I miss your previous introduction as it makes an understanding of your passion for history. My high school history teacher taught history with respect and addressed his students with the respectful Miss and Mister. Your degree in history was only the genus of your dignified and accurate love for history, foundational. So many channels are just magpies and repeat what someone else has previously spewed. In our times you represent stability and a glimmer of hope that what we have survived will take us through what lies ahead.
"Millions of feet of film...burned up in vault fires, it even caused some fires in hospitals because the film was used for X-rays". Maybe THG is foreshadowing an episode on The Great Cleveland Hospital Xray Fire of 1929. Now THAT's history, that deserves to be remembered! (horrifying, tho it is)
Fascinating Horror did an episode on that. It was a horrifying piece of history.
Has been awesome watching channel grow, but i do miss hearing "short snippets" from time to time. Love the vids, glad you've decided to share with the world, its truly appreciated. Thanks History Guy!
Another awesome story to improve my morning.
History Guy, yours is one of the best, however I wish you would include more railroad topics. After all railroads have been with the USA from close to the beginning. Fred Harvey, and the Harvey Girls is interesting because it tells about how this system was basically the first fast food industry that also brought women to the wild west. Or another would be the Milwaukee Road's Pacific Extension, the very last transcontinental railroad built using modern techniques and the only one to be abandoned because it was built too late. It was also an electric railroad that tells the tell why electric transcontinental is impossible. Or the collapse of Penn Central the largest bankruptcy in the US before Enron. Just some ideas into the interesting train world. Keep the stories coming! ! !
My grandpa (born in 1906) remembered when plastic became “a thing.”
Cesar Abeid :One of my grandpas was also born in 1906. Died in Dec. 1986.
Cesar Abeid year ur grandfather remembers when everything became a thing. My grandfather was born in 1900 and was a storyteller. He told. The time he saw his first car, first time he saw a dirigible balloon in the sky, an airplane, men landing on the moon. I was a young boy around the mid1960’s and we took him to the big city to shop in a large Sears. He was in awe of moving stairs (an escalator) he never saw one before and was truly amazed. So your grandfather saw it all before his eyes in his life time.
@@dennishayes65 Hey Dennis! Mine passed away in 1992. He was awesome.
@@pjkentucky How cool, thanks for sharing! Yes, we talk about our generation experiencing new things (Internet, smartphones, etc), but can you imagine the first time you saw a horseless carriage?
Amazing how entwined our lives are with celluloid
I have often wondered the history of Bakelite plastic. It was widely used in electronics from radio cases to insulators of electrical components . Even household items were made from it.
Yes--the old telephones where made wtih it, and had lovely heft and seriousness. When I was a kid, making or getting a long distance call was an Event for ordinary people,reserved for special occasions--announcements of birth, death and disasters as well as birthday greetings.
Jewelry and purses that are made of Bakelite are highly sought after by collectors.
What about electrical boxes? I see them every once in a while but they are super fragile and I thought they were pressed wood for the longest time!
Some vehicles use phenolic pistons in their brake calipers. It's a major component of Bakelite. Essentially it could withstand the rapid changes in temperature and extreme heat.
The fanciest form of Bskelite is called Catalin and resembles polished stone or marble, comes in a variety of colors. VERY collectible, especially brightly colored Catalin radios, some of which are worth thousands of dollars.
The story of the fsmily that held the patent on Bakelite is one of tragedy, madness, and murder.
I wish to offer a heartfelt thank you and wishes for continued success Mr. History Guy. Not only for bringing history to life in an entertaining way but for also creating a bastion of thoughtful and non politicized narrative in a time of historical rewriting and retconning. Just the facts, sir. This is invaluable. I believe when I get home this evening I shall do something I have never done for any other youtube channel and become a patreon. You have earned it. Again thank you
I'm a fountain pen collector, and very familiar with celluloid - and that other classic material, "ebonite", or hard rubber. I have several Sheaffer Triumph pens from the 1940s which are made from beautiful celluloid with alternating transparent and colored stripes. That was high quality material. Despite their advancing age, the pens are well-preserved and still look almost new. Rubbing the surface vigorously and sniffing still produces a faint whiff of camphor. You can do the same with ebonite pens and pick up a rubber scent.
Fountain pens are still produced today, and modern acrylic plastics have largely - but not entirely - taken over. Celluloid and ebonite are now looked upon as luxury materials for high priced pens, custom pens and limited editions.
Is pen sniffing a recognized paraphilia? I hope it is practiced widely. Fountain pens are wonderful in so many ways. I like to use them, though the quality of my penmanship is poor. And the quality of too much writing paper (itself a phrase that sounds quainter every year)
is bad so actual pen ink doesn't work with it. We live in depraved times.
Bakelite also has a distinct smell after rubbing it.
Ebonite is also the material used to make some of the most desired saxophone and clarinet etc mouthpieces (not brass instruments, those are made of ... brass .... lol) but ebonite is even used to make whole clarinets or was, anyway.
A great way to take a break from work 10 to 15 minutes is just right and I always come away with a better understanding of history.
I really think that the people trying to eliminate the use of plastic have no idea how ubiquitous and vital it is to modern life.
I think the focus is on phasing out the use of single use plastics, rather than plastics generally.
@@heronimousbrapson863 like facemasks
@@resmarted Facemasks are not made of plastic
@@KRWoodworks they have plastic parts sweaty
Bit like the ones who want to create zero carbon emissions, they just don't want to know all the facts.
I've worked in the plastic industry for the last 20 years. Very cool to learn its history. Very cool. Thanks History Guy.
Awesome episode.
I am impressed with your ability to discuss scientific subjects as fluently as political history. Very well done. I remember reading a late 19th century book that referred to celluloid windows and the "age of plastic," in the 1890's. I had no idea.
I absolutely hated history when I was young. Had you been my teacher, I would've got straight A's. I'm glad we have RUclips here in Afghanistan on satellite! Thank you!
Hey History Guy! Your narration has made leaps and bounds in improving. The transitions are far more fluidly made and naturally recited. You are definitely putting in some time to get things right. Keep up the good work!
4:37 - Did you say that wool is made of cellulose?
I heard that too. Very very wrong. Wool is mainly 'made' from keratin, a completely different natural polymer. (I think he meant to say 'cotton' there.)
It’s a simple error, but could lead to significant misunderstanding, since it pertains to a major difference between the plant and animal kingdoms.
@@markholm7050 Agreed. I've noticed several errors in his videos now and it makes me wonder... If I'm noticing that many things wrong that I know about already am I actually reliably learning anything from these vids?
When you consider the volume of information compacted into a video like this, factual errors are bound to occur. He probably meant 'cotton wool'. It seems like a trivial thing to achieve 100% accuracy in a video because the average viewer (that does not make videos) is thinking about production of a single video where fact checking and script editing can be done to the nth degree. In reality, the production of many videos over time creates these sorts of mistakes. It is incredibly work-intensive. The good news is nobody's going to die because there's a single goof in this video.
I appreciate and anticipate your videos. As a lover of history I find your videos informative and entertaining. My interest in history is eclectic and your are diverse in your subject matter. Thank you from an old country boy from Texas. Keep them coming Sir.
Ec
Was expecting a video clip to be inserted; from "The Graduate," "One word: Plastics!"
You and your subjects are delightful. There is a connection between technology and history that should be understood by all students, young and old,
There are still guitar picks and guitar adornments made from celluloid.
Willie Nelson's guitar was probably made of celluloid.
@@robertrabinoff6181 just watched a vid-j-o on trigger from stew-mac. Shellac is the main ingredient.
Lucky for tortoises that celluloid was invented!
I can’t tell you how much I truly enjoy your content. You Sir, are someone who deserves to also be remembered.
Does anyone else think that The History Guy picks his sponsors on how easy it will be to slip in a "pirate" reference?😇
Every good story involves pirates
The first part of the video is the most clearly explained introduction to organic chemistry. You never cease to amaze me, Mr History Guy!
Mr. Maguire: "Ben, I want to say just one word to you" Ben: "Yes sir"
Mr. Maguire: "Just one word" Ben: "Yes sir"
Mr. Maguire: "Plastics"
Is that quote from the graduate with Dustin Hoffman
@@dougbohning Yep
Weird and funny how Mr. Maguire turned out to be right.....
@@brianmorrow5350 Yep
We never found out if Ben followed up by investigating a career in plastics after he and Elaine ran off together from her wedding.
my favourite episode so far. I love your channel, please don't ever stop!
Every time I watch one of your videos I can't help thinking how my life might have been different if I had a teacher like you in school! Please keep up the great work you do!
I had a great teacher in the 6th grade - Marguerite Swafford - and she was life changing.
28 dislikes.. who on earth could actually dislike your work. You are a gem of RUclips. Take care
If it weren't for chemicals,
Life would be impossible....
@Jack Russell everything is made up of chemical compounds. Water, wood, and yes humans.
Plastics have always fascinated me. So this episode was well worth watching. Thanks for making it.
Celluloid's reactivity made it, at worst, a danger and, at best, a major pain in the butt. However, it was probably the most environmentally friendly plastic simply because it did degrade.
Other plastics degrade even more quickly. I had a 1985 Volvo with French wiring. The insulation looked like PVC but was designed to decompose in mere decades. Unfortunately for owners, the process started much sooner than that in exposed areas of the car, like under the hood. The insulation would crumble away if touched before the car's life was otherwise half over. In 1988 Volvo went back to sane wire.
From An Aussie Fan, I would like to wish you and your Family a Very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New year and God Bless, Cheers Mate.
Celluloid nasty stuff when (not "if") it starts outgassing.
Destroys everything around it.
Happy Christmas and may 2020 be a good year for you and your family.
Miles from anywhere in an old Victorian building stood a large old diesel generator. It was started by using a small roll of celluloid film in a presure cannister where it was ignited. Nobody knew how much film to use. It might seem an antiquated method but I'm glad safety factors were rather high in the old days. It took 3 attempts to get the injectors fully primed but it was awsome. After many, many years all the lights came on, nobody had bothered to switch them off. We did, the old rubber and cloth wiring was rotten.
Now the anticipation of the Gun Cotton Episode.
How about the Gutta Percha episode?
Guncotton: flaming kitchen aprons, no ash!
I'll never look at plastic the same again! btw...George Eastman was my G Grandmother's cousin. When I was researching my family tree (10 yrs.), I read part of a huge biography on him describing what you said about film. It was very interesting...but I was in a huge hurry to put together my findings for my father's 75th Birthday. Thanks for the video...One cane never, NEVER get enough History!!
As George Carlin said, "Why are we here? ...Plastic."
Its a new paradigm, the Earth+Plastic. The earth isn't going anywhere, WE are! 😂😂
Why are we here?
Because the plastic broke 🤣
Unsurprisingly, another truly excellent episode! Thank you.
I love finding HG before RUclips alerts me :)
4:37
Correction: Wool (IE sheep's wool) is not made of cellulose, but instead keratin, the same as much other animal hairs/claws/horns/etc.
It will be a sad day when THG fails to enrich or pull back the curtains. My candidate for a synthetic was polyoxybenzylmethylenglycolanhydride commonly known as bakelite. Thank you, Sir
Yes. I hope t see an ep about the multi uses of that.
If celluloid was the first thermoplastic, was Bakelite the first thermoset?
@@timeflysintheshop The product that was initially used for automotive batteries was invented in the 1850s. It was rubber that had processes and additives .to make it a soild. Was it a thermoset I do not know.
@@timeflysintheshop yes, it was. It also was used in the (late) early audio industry by Thomas Edison. Edison's Diamond Disks (almost 1/2 inch thick records had their playing surfaces made of Bakelite or what Edison called Condensite.
@@timeflysintheshop See the below comment by me.
It's quite strange that I just pondered the question of who came up with the first plastics and when while I was at work yesterday. I came home and here you answered my question the same day. Thank you for the very interesting content you do sir. All the best to you and Mrs. History Gal.
90% of plastic in the ocean comes from 9 rivers. 5 in China, two in India and 2 from the continent of Africa. The rest of the world makes up most of the remainder, except that recently it's been discovered that China is intentionally dumping enormous amounts of plastic waste in the Atlantic (and potentially all oceans) from their container ships at sea. It was discovered because of China made plastics with date codes far too recent to ever have floated around to the atlantic were washing up on the western shores of Africa.
The Democrat party and the media is protecting China at all costs, that is the real reason for the Trump hatred and anti-Russian propaganda.
@Darth Wiffy Big fan of McCarthy?
@@berrytharp1334 and Trump can't tell the truth as he does not know what it is, and you want Jeroboam to run the US Government, i pray God not.
@@Delgen1951
Mr scythe, 90% ocean polution is from giant luxury ocean liners of us, uk, australia. And u forgot america,s massive naval fleets around the world,
Where do u think all their biohazard filth is going,
Lance, you teach very naturally and succinctly. You have covered a wide variety of subjects in easily digestible chunks. Have you ever considered marketing tranches of your videos in sets specifically structured for and made available to schools? History classes of course come to mind immediately and I'm sure there are others within your scope.
Dang, celuloid pingpong balls are great. Also fun to light on fire
Is there truth to the rumor that those balls might combust spontaneously, from friction or impact?
@@greggi47 That's what my wife says!
WOW!!! Great episode. Usually you do little known facts/points of history. But this was a fundamental building block of modern life. Really enjoyed this, and learned quit a bit I did not know. For instance - what gun cotton is/was and how it was/is made.
I'm old enough to remember when humans had plasticity.
We still do! We have neuroplasticity!
THANK YOU! Your stuff is always hyper-interesting, well-researched and expertly presented. I'm most grateful to find a treatise on plastic which is not preachy about the waste and environmental issues. All good wishes!
You should have ended this episode with a film burn through.
My Dad was a chemical engineer who completed much research on petrochemicals - primarily polyethylene. Thanks!!
If it wasn't for plastic, General Motors would have went out of business 40 years ago.
😂😂😂😂😂
One might argume they did because they did.
Hollywood actresses and actors too...
Great episode, thank you very much. Celluloid was also very big and transformed the fountain pen industry in the 20'es and 30'es. Celluloid is today very sought after in modern fountain pen community
Good stuff. Thumbs up (before watching) to crush a troll.
In a former life, I taught Tech Ed (Industrial Arts) to middle schoolers. I did a unit on plastics, and had a destructive test the kids carried out to learn about the different resins. The kids really liked the exercise and asked for it each year, as they aged through the program.
I'm certain this history isn't forgotten, and probably widely available to a person willing and able to do the research. But such things have always been true. Your concise presentation, made in an accessible medium to a new audience, with with great charisma and wit; that, friend is where you have really done something. Well done. Foster Grant indeed, I had no idea. 👊👊👊
"Celluloid heroes never really die" Kinks
Bravo! Probably one of your more important releases. We know plastic is hurting us now, but people need to know the good side too, especially those who have no other path to such info.
There's no cellulose in wool.
I have a request. Can you please do a sequel to this with more about the modern plastic. Thank you. Enjoyed this episode very much.
Where does Bakelite plastic fit in here. Have a good day.
It doesnt
Bakelite came after celluloid. It is uses a synthetic polymer.
I loved the mention of guitar picks at the end... Thanks for the videos!
Who's behind those Foster Grants?
@marquee6 A comment completely lost on the younger generations! You sir, have indeed dated yourself...and now me, as well! 😉
I think it was two guys named Foster and Grant
If you search, foster grant nndb, it will give you a list of 21 celebrities who endorsed them, like Raquel Welch.
Nitrocellulose is the basis for single base smokeless powder, which is why old movie film is so dangerous.