---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment I found this great article at the following address: http://www.cuecare.com/history.htm Billiard balls have also undergone many changes. Most notably, in their composition. Most of the earliest billiard balls were made of wood. It was easily shaped, inexpensive and readily available. Ivory balls came into use in the 1600's. While far more playable than wood, they were relatively scarce. Only the wealthy could afford the material. While beautiful to look at, ivory balls were never very dependable. They were also time consuming to make—properly seasoning a tusk was a preparatory process that often took as long as two years. The gelatin in tusks provided a rich, glossy finish. Unfortunately, it was also a source of moisture. Unless properly dried, temperature changes could cause the ivory to fracture or split. New balls had to be broken in gently, struck softly for the first couple months. Even then, they tended to lose their shape quickly, when subjected to a high-impact game. Still, ivory all but entirely replaced wooden balls by the early 1800's. As the demand for the balls increased, so did the number of slaughtered elephants. (Curiously, the concern at the time was not the treatment of the elephants, but the safety of those who tracked them to their deaths.) One elephant tusk generally yielded only four or five balls. (Balls had to be cut from the dead center of the tusk in order to roll properly.) As the demand grew greater and the herds dwindled, the price of ivory skyrocketed. With games and equipment becoming standardized, another problem developed: producing balls of the exact same size, weight and density was nearly impossible when working with ivory. In 1869, an Albany chemist mixed nitrocellulose with camphor under high pressure. The result was a hard, shiny, moldable substance he called celluloid. Though John Wesley Hyatt didn't know it at the time, he'd just invented the world's first plastic. Though its application to billiard balls would continue for years, it was Hyatt's discovery and subsequent improvements that would lead to the balls of today. His discovery resulted, in part, from an ongoing quest. Six years earlier, the New York firm of Phelan and Collender had offered a $10,000 prize for the patent rights to anyone who could develop a suitable substitute for ivory in the manufacture of billiard balls. In the next five years, Hyatt was granted two patents—for improved methods of "constructing a composition billiard ball." The first utilized shellac, alcohol and ivory dust; the second, paper pulp and gum-shellac. Though neither was deemed worthy of the $10,000, he continued in his search for the perfect product. (It is interesting to note, that Hyatt's discovery of the world's first plastic may well have resulted from a billiard-related quest: the search for the perfect billiard ball.) In April of 1869, Hyatt discovered "collodion," a forerunner to celluloid. The addition of collodion to the surface of the balls resulted in a hard and perfectly smooth surface. Though Phelan and Collender weren't quite ready to award him the prize, they did offer to distribute the balls, under an exclusive contract. The results were ... well, calamitous, at best. Shortly after the first shipments, reports of exploding billiard balls surfaced all over the country. Rumors spread that the new materials were highly explosive and dangerous. And they were, but only during the manufacturing process. In truth, the balls weren't explosive at all. The problem was merely a design flaw. The inner weight of the ball was simply too great, causing the collodion casing to shatter, upon heavy impact. The discovery of celluloid ended the "explosions." (At least as they applied to the actual balls; in the next 36 years, Hyatt's celluloid factory was the scene of 39 fires and explosions, resulting in nine deaths.) Hyatt's balls—whether comprised entirely of celluloid, or only coated with the material—gained only luke-warm acceptance. It was his process, however, that led to the discovery of Bakelite and cast-phenolic resins, in the early 1900's. These "artificial plastics" proved cheaper, less flammable and far more playable, and remain the main component in billiard balls today. Ryan Sowers, RPT Puget Sound Chapter Pianova Piano Service Olympia, WA --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? New and Improved Yahoo! Mail - Send 10MB messages! ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: https://www.moypiano.com/ptg/pianotech.php/attachments/f1/76/8f/6b/attachment.htm ---------------------- multipart/alternative attachment--
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