Plastics In Art and Industry

is 1868 a year in which the search for materials to replace some which Nature had once provided produced an important breakthrough a chemist named John Wesley highest made a billiard ball not a rare and costly ivory but of something he called cellulose nitrate it was almost explosively inflammable but it worked the new substance was a hit within a few years a factory in New Jersey was turning out a variety of cellulose nitrate products [Music] [Applause] soon at the Philadelphia Centennial exhibit a visitor might see a number of things made from what would one day be called plastic [Applause] mmm but plastics the ability to take on any form and perform almost any function perhaps showed best in items like these [Music] [Applause] [Music] today plastics are creating brilliant new worlds to any color you can imagine in almost any form [Applause] of course no one is suggesting yet that she got a plastic ring for her engagement or that you show up on Saturday night with plastic flowers although they would last indefinitely since John Hyatt billiard ball cellulose nitrate the first that was synthetic has led the way to dozens of new materials cheaper more versatile longer-lasting one reason plastics are so popular is that there's almost no color in which they can't be made and unlike most other substances the colors of plastic are part of the material they don't have to be painted on afterwards Plastics have other advantages in tests they often show more strength and traditional materials and other tests just how well some plastics behave under harsh weather conditions with plastic oscilloscopes and blending machines take over the job of mixing colors pigment and plastic start at separate materials in the heat and pressure of steam filled drums they fused into a single substance the cooled material is ground into a fine powder we melted and extruded through a row of holes like eight cubes of toothpaste being squeezed at once at the end of the bat a chopper cuts the rod down into small pallets easier to ship and easily melt it down again for molding the manufacturing of most plastic items begin with pellets melted down once again the material is usually first injected into a mold that creates chef chips which are used for testing the machine that accomplishes this will with a change of mode eventually produce the product itself because most plastics are translucent and permit the passage of a certain amount of light different thicknesses even of the same color may have a different look despite a ways injection molding step chips are small pieces of varying thickness which allow the manufacturer to predict the color quality of the product to come whenever a new color is made up step chips are made to check it and to see how the plastic will react the moulding the idea is to be sure that the color of the final product is exactly the color called for by the original design in production an injection machine never stops this one feeding at salt pellets through a vacuum hose create 16 screw type jar covers in a huge steel mold every 20 seconds the process of injection forcing the plastic into a steel mold it's only one technique this is an extruder it works like a meat grinder using a large worm gear to push liquid plastic along toward an opening in the front end which is designed to release just the right amount this time there is no load for the plastic product unlike injection molded item is something continuous by cubing making the tubing Hollow is a production problem in itself it calls for a special technique pipe extruding all right think what possibilities this process opens up it has enabled plastic to replace costlier materials and more and more industrial products but pipe extrusion is just the beginning of a technique that creates something quite different have you ever wondered how they make a plastic bottle a segment of hose drops into a steel mold the mold closes and air pumps up the hose like a balloon the mold is shaped like a bottle and that's what comes out the hose must be soft and pliable it's usually quite hot mobile mobile mobile mobile with the mould open you can see what's happening to that small segment of hose and get a look at the mold secret a tiny pin near the top which pops into the neck of the mold as it closes the process is called blow moulding the pin is hollow and the tip is a sharp of the hypodermic and here's the result you can see that when the mold closes it must squeeze the hose together at both ends before inflating it the piece with the needle puncture by the way is trimmed off later the plastic developed for the process is polyethylene one of the least expensive it has revolutionized the packaging of liquid squeezable virtually break-proof and for liquid dangerous to handle unbreakable plastic is a definite improvement over glass finally slow molding can produce a huge array of shapes and sizes it's easy for almost every plastic product to have its own individual outline and textures including many of the parts of some pretty expensive automobiles plastic the synthetic is taking over what what take a close look at the next bunch of plants you pass you may just be seeing another example of modern plastics in action just true that plastic flowers lack something they seldom move even in a heavy breeze and they don't have the delicate transparency of the real thing they might fool you but only if they were well made and not everything in the world of plastic is there's plenty of room for creative people in this field take packaging for instance one of the industries that have been completely revolutionized by plastic Coke's by vacuum and a little heat plastic sheeting will wrap itself snugly and harmlessly around almost any object cooled by an air hose the plastic pulls easily away from the mold this process called vacuum forming can be used to make dozens of plastic blisters at a time ensuring protection dirt and moisture for as many products [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] this machine completes the job by fusing each blister firmly to a card with the product of course safely sealed inside and fully visible sometimes the blister is made in the contours of the product itself forming a custom shaped pouch or the blister and they simply keep a number of pieces together visible and countable products enclosed in plastic sheeting today range from the smallest consumer items to delicate parts or industrial machinery you wouldn't normally package your matchbook but it's a good way of demonstrating how another packaging machine operates the pouch maker it might have been sealing up a lump of sugar and the plastic stirrer for your coffee or at home to be sold in a vending machine the pouch maker does all the sealing and trimming and though the finished packets out by the thousands and so it seems the list of things into which this interesting material can be converted is endless but plastic also may appear as simply themselves in the hands of an artist or a craftsman they become a distinctive new art media transmitting and reflecting life in ways unlike any other material [Applause] Plastics beauty and itself be turned into something very practical and made plastic jewelry can be very handsome [Applause] and to name just one more field where plastics are taking hold this is plastic furniture it doesn't try to imitate a wood or anything else is plainly and attractively itself it's the perfect material for an age in which clean strong lines and the absence of frills seems so important and finally electricity and plastic joined together in the kind of thing we will probably be seeing more of in museums and so it goes you come in the plastic new product the plastic new ideas as traditional materials of nature begin to exhaust themselves this versatile replacement is waiting and as long as it is possible to make a mold there is no telling what tomorrow may bring