@article{5a5e57fcb01e42678eb53e2cd5eeb628,
title = "Best billiard ball in the 19th century: Composite materials made of celluloid and bone as substitutes for ivory",
abstract = "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{\textquoteright}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.",
keywords = "celluloid, cultural heritage, ivory substitution, material culture, polymer composites",
author = "Artur Neves and Robert Friedel and Melo, {Maria J.} and Callapez, {Maria Elvira} and Vicenzi, {Edward P.} and Thomas Lam",
note = "Funding Information: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/OE/PD%2FBD%2F136678%2F2018/PT# info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/3599-PPCDT/2022.05086.PTDC/PT# info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/3599-PPCDT/2022.05086.PTDC/PT# info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UID%2FQUI%2F50006%2F2019/PT# info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/FCT/6817 - DCRRNI ID/UIDB%2F50006%2F2020/PT# Funding Information: The authors thank the National Museum of American History (NMAH), Smithsonian Institution, especially the curators of the Division of Medicine and Science, Dr Kristen Frederick-Frost and Deborah Warner, for making the analysis of the billiard balls possible; also the NMAH{\textquoteright}s Conservation Department staff for the permission to use the laboratory stereomicroscope and other resources, especially conservator Dawn Wallace for the Hirox mi-crographs; and the NMAH{\textquoteright}s National Numismatic Collection staff for allowing the use of the portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. The authors thank Dr Daniel Kirby for the Peptide Mass Fingerprint analysis. Artur Neves thanks his Fulbright host institution, the Department of History of the University of Maryland (UMD), and Professor Ray Phaneuf, Department of Materials Science and Engineering of UMD, for all the support, working space, resources, and research tools. This research was supported by the Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation (Funda{\c c}{\~a}o para a Ci{\^e}ncia e Tecnologia, Minist{\'e}rio da Educa{\c c}{\~a}o e da Ci{\^e}ncia, FCT/MCTS) and by Fulbright Portugal through two grants awarded to Artur Neves, an FCT/ MCTS doctoral grant (PD/BD/136678/2018) and a Fulbright research grant PS00326022. This work was also funded by the project {"}The Plastics Metamorphoses - the reality and the multiple approaches to a material{"} (2022.05086.PTDC), by Associate Laboratory to Green Chemistry - LAQV (UID/QUI/50006/2019 and UIDB/50006/2020) co-financed by the ERDF under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007265), and by the NEMOSINE project (202-NMBP-35-2017, grant agreement nº76081). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of National Academy of Sciences.",
year = "2023",
month = nov,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1093/pnasnexus/pgad360",
language = "English",
volume = "2",
journal = "PNAS nexus",
issn = "2752-6542",
publisher = "Oxford University Press",
number = "11",
}