In 1907, American chemist Phelan Leo Baekeland invented a new plastic-like substance called Bakelite. 2. Leo Baekeland didn't intend on inventing Bakelite. The invention was an accident. Bakelite was the first thermosetting plastic. Bakelite was the major form of “art plastic” from the 1930s through to the 1950s. ... Leo Baekeland was a millionaire before he invented Bakelite. A Brief History. By the mid-1920s, the majority of pool balls were being made out of Bakelite. Digging deeper, we find the Belgian-born Baekeland trying to invent a replacement for … 1908 - Cellophane - Invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger 1909 - First true plastic Phenol-Formaldehyde (trade name Bakelite) - Invented by Leo Hendrik Baekeland 1926 - Vinyl or PVC - Walter Semon invented a plasticized PVC In 1892, Scottish scientist Sir James Dewar invented the vacuum flask. Although some pieces in muted colors without carving were made earlier, jewelry cleverly crafted from phenolic plastics became really popular in the 1930s. He took out a patent on the idea in 1907. Bakeland discovered that the material would cool quickly and wouldn’t melt, regardless of the temperatures. It was patented by Belgian born Leo Hendrik Baekeland in New York, in 1907, and was the first truly synthetic and thermosetting plastic. In 1907 Leo Baekeland invented Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, meaning it contained no molecules found in nature. On February 5, 1909, New Yorker Leo Baekeland presented his invention of Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic, to the American Chemical Society.. Digging Deeper. Bakelite is a trade name taken from its inventor, Leo Baekeland, who invented Bakelite in 1907. The material was heated to a melting point and then poured into … Through his work in cryogenics, he identified a need to keep a chemical placed in a flask at a stable temperature. A hard, infusible, and chemically resistant plastic, Bakelite was based on a chemical combination of phenol and formaldehyde (phenol-formaldehyde resin), two compounds that were derived Bakelite is made from carbolic acid (phenol) and formaldehyde and is referred to as a phenolic resin. Dr. Leo Bakeland invented Bakelite in the early 1900s. That means once a Bakelite product is formed, it … Unlike Hyatt's pool balls, balls made of Bakelite were durable, easy to produce, and didn't carry the risk of blowing up the game. Bakelite was invented in the early 1900s by Dr. Leo Baekeland and his team of chemists. To do this, Dewar placed a glass bottle in another larger glass bottle, and evacuated the air between the two bottle walls. 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