Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1914-01-24

lished as q result OF Mr.. dyatt el-
forts is that of the Hyatt Roller Bear
ing Company, of Harrison. HIS PROF.
csc of tempering steel so that 1t can
offset great friction has been used TO
The utmost advantage by automobile
manufacturing concerns of this ana
other countries. Many hundreds of
thousands of roller bearings are
turned out at the Harrison plant
annually.
II is said that Mr.. Hyatt is not con-
neeted with either of these great cor
porations at the present time. lie Is
now president of the Hyatt Burroughs
Billiard Ball Company, of l4l COM
MERGE street.
In the course Of his address last
night Mr.. Hyatt remarked;
a have received considerable nquld
money. most of it having been of
volatile and inflammable nature Age
ought to bring wisdom
Discovery of Celluloid.
Mr. HYATT described how he in
vented celluloid. He said
"From my earliest experiments In
nitrocellulose, melted by accidentally
finding a dried bit of collodion the
size and thickness of my thumb nan,
and bv my very earnest efforts to md
y substitute for ivory billiard balls,
il was apparent that a semi-hquld
solution of nitrocellulose, three
fourths Of the bulk of which was
volatile liquid. and the final SOLID OF
which was less than one-fourth the
mass of the original mixture, was
far from being adapated to the man
ufasture of solid articles, and that l
must initially produce solid solu-
ton by mechanical means. The only
useful solvent known to ME at that
time was a mixture of alcohol and
sulphuric ether; with the old formula
(about equal parts of ether and al
cohoD | mixed in a closed mil q
thick paste of soluble cotton, maze
by the old firm of Charles Cooper o.
Co. After mixing. the cover OF the
mill YVES removed and the mass evap-
GRATED down to a thick dough, which
was then forced accurately around
the ball Cmade of another substance),
and allowed to dry
This, found. resulted in rather
brittle coating, owing as l found, TO
the unequal evaporation. leaving only
the alcohol q poor solvent by itself,
at the final shrinkage. This was rem
edied by using only the least amount
of alcohol Give parts ether to one al
cohoD necessary as a solvent. Even
this coating shrunk to less than nan
of its original thickness and required
to be dried immersed in water under
several hundred pounds pressure per
square inch to insure its Solldity ana
freedom from bubbles. 1t became
necessary to strain the mass by fore
ing IL through a very fine sieve to ex-
clude the unnitrated fibres. All these
difficulties stood in the way of sue
cess. except in high-priced articles
like billiard balls. Other seriously
objectionable features became APP
parent. In order to secure strength
and beauty only coloring pigments
were added. and in the least quantity:
consequently a lighted cigar applied
would at once result in serious
flame, and occasionally the violent
contact of the balls would produce
mild explosion like percussion gum
cap. ,,,
1--WE had a letter from a billiard sa-
loon proprietor in Colorado, mention
ing this fact and saying he did no.
care so much about 1t, but that in
stantly every man in the room pulled
a gun. ,s s,oau boating engine
made. TO pulp the nitrocellulose. In
one experiment / placed small guam
tity of this dried pulp IN strons
cylinder and forced quickly mini
mum quantity of liquid solvent INTO
! Il with this high pressure. the re-
suit was a solid substance, as hard
as sole-leather. which soon dried,
leaving a fine hard disc about three
fourths of an inch in diameter and
lone-half an inch thick. While no eX-
ulosion ever resulted from this there
was real danger to be feared, and
the matter was dropped.
MY brother. /. S. Hyatt, Joined with
me at that time, and finding 1t stated
in some patents to which l was re-
ferred that a little camphor added to
the LIQUID solvent was beneficial, we
conceived the idea that it might be
possible to mechanically mix solvents
with the pulp and coloring matter
while wet, then absorbing the moist
IRE by blotting papers under pres
sure, and finally submitting the mass
to heat and pressure.
FIRST Slab Produced.
"ro our surprise we noticed a
slightly solvent action of the preclpl-
tailed and washed camphor upon the
pulp. even before the heat and pres
sure, and without other solvent we
succeeded in producing a transpar-
emf slab one-fourth of an inch thick,
| fine, and as hard as a piece of wood.
| NV brother took some samples to the
| American Hard Rubber Company,
with the view of interesting them.
They employed the late Professor
Charles A. Seeley, who had made
collodion for the government during
the Civil War, u investigate the
matter. He came to our place in AL
bany, N. Y, and we conducted the
whole process for his inspection, very
successfully. He remarked that he
had come prepared to detect some
chicanery, but could see no decep-
ton, and expressed himself as salts
fed. He kindly advised us that if,
accidentally or otherwise we were to
apply a little too high temperature
1.-The quantity we Were dealing with
would inevitably destroy us with the
building and adjacent property.
1.-THE following day between II and
l. when all were out, | rugged up a
four-inch plank used as a vise-bench,
braced it between the floor and cell
ing, between the hydraulic press and
the hand pump, intending it to shield
me from possible harm. ! then pre-
pared the mould, heating it to about
500 degrees Fahrenheit knowing it
would certainly ignite the nitrocel-
lulose and camphor, and would abide
by the result The gasses Kissed
sharply out through the joints Of the
mould, filling the room with the pun
gent smoke. The mould, press, build
ing and contents were there, includ-
ing myself, very glad that I did not
know as much as the professor.
my brother interested some New
| York neutrality-suspicious. COM
posed of General Marshall Lefferts
Joseph Larocque and Tracey r. Ed
son-and we removed to Newark in
the winter of 1928. Early in 1875
my brother went to Paris and started
the French Celluloid Company.
Before we left Albany we began
Of tisa.1la II In 81