History of Plastic Injection Moulding

The plastic injection molding has seen steady growth since its beginnings in the late 1800’s.Today, plastic injection moulding is responsible for the creation of products for all industries,Such as Electronic industry,Automotive industry,Home Appliance Parts,Housewares Parts,Medical industry and so on,varied from buttons to parts for aerospace products. A versatile and incredibly useful process, plastic injection molding has paved the way for modern invention and design, and is something the world today could not function without. But Who invented it?Where did it originate?How did it catch on? You’re in luck, because all of those burning questions are about to be answered as we delve into its interesting history.

Origins

In 1868, perhaps in response to a request by billiard ball maker Phelan and Collander, John Wesley Hyatt invented a way to make billiard balls by injecting celluloid into a mould. By 1872, John and his brother Isaiah Hyatt patented the injection moulding machine. The machine was primitive yet it was quite suitable for their purposes. It contained a basic plunger to inject the plastic into a mould through a heated cylinder.

Evolution

Revolutionizing the plastics industry in 1946, James Hendry built the first screw injection moulding machine with an auger design to replace Hyatt’s plunger. The auger is placed inside the cylinder and mixes the injection material before pushing forward and injecting the material into the mould. Today, almost all injection moulding machines use this same technique.

 

Modern Incarnations

Today, the product design of injection moulding machines is much sleeker, although the technology itself has not changed very much. With computer technology we are able to achieve more specificity through injection moulding, which is why it accounts for such a large range of products on the market today. In almost any shop or home in the world, you would be hard pressed not to find at least something that was created through the process of plastic injection moulding. It forms an integral part of today’s design and manufacturing industry.

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