Plastic injection toolmaking moulding is a manufacturing process that was invented over one hundred and forty years ago. An American engineer by the name of John Wesley Hyatt got the ball rolling in 1868 when he invented a new type of plastic he called celluloid.
Because he knew that this new plastic had potential, he worked with his bother Isaiah to develop new applications. The two brothers completed work and applied for a patent on the injection moulding machine in 1872. The key to the machine was the revolutionary new plastic, because the design was something any amateur inventor could have come up with.
The brothers created metal moulds of simple plastic devices and accessories like buttons and plastic combs. Then they placed these moulds over a heat source, often a miniature stove. Celluloid was then injected into the heated mould from a large plunger.
Once the mould was smoothed out and made uniform, it was removed from the heat and left to cool. After an hour or two, the celluloid would harden and the button or plastic comb could be safely removed from the mould and sold.
Because plastic products were not particularly popular at the time, the injection moulding machine didn't become a top industrial machine until the Second World War. Since millions of soldiers needed disposable plastic items like pocket combs and collar stays, injection modeling became a profitable technology.
