Hyatt, John W. (John Wesley), 1837-1920

John Wesley Hyatt (1837-1920) was an American manufacturer in the plastics field, and the inventor of celluloid.

Born in Starkey, New York in 1837, at the age of 16 Hyatt began work as a printer in Illinois and later in Albany, New York, where he eventually set up his own manufacturing company which became the Albany Billiard Ball Company. In his experiments, Hyatt discovered the solvent action of camphor on cellulose nitrate under moderate heat and pressure, creating celluloid. This was the basis of his 1870 patent. He also developed the necessary machinery for working his new material.

One of the first uses of the new plastics material was for making denture plates and Hyatt formed the Albany Dental Plate Company in 1870. In 1872, its name was changed to the Celluloid Manufacturing Company and in 1873 the company moved to in Newark, New Jersey.

Hyatt was awarded the Perkin Gold Medal in 1914, given by the Society of the Chemical Industry, and was posthumously inducted into the Plastics Hall of Fame in 1974.

From the guide to the John Wesley Hyatt Collection, circa 1869-1945, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)