It's cheap, it's safe, it’s versatile and it lasts forever. What is there not to like about plastic? In the nearly 150 years since its invention, it’s made all our lives better and enabled some of the most remarkable technological innovations that have changed the world. For the better… right?
Strangely, perhaps, we have billiards to thank for the ubiquity of plastic… and environmentalists. Back in the late 19th century, one or two people were concerned with the plight of elephants, whose tusks were being used to make billiard balls, piano keys, and other products vital to the survival of a species, such as knife and fork handles.
Clearly this had nothing to do with the fact that ivory was expensive to source and procure (not to mention dangerous) and that the manufacturers of balls and keys were looking for cheaper alternatives. Regardless of motivation, it had the effect of stimulating the imagination of one bright spark – John Wesley Hyatt (no relation to the hotel group, although he was accommodating) – who responded to an advert placed in a US newspaper in the 1860s by a man named Michael Phelan – aka, the ‘father of American billiards’.
Phelan had gone into the manufacturing of balls, tables and ancillary equipment and needed to produce his bits and pieces faster than people in far-flung places were capable of massacring elephants, so he offered a prize of US$10,000 (roughly US$3 million today) to anyone who could come up with a less expensive – I’m sorry; a ‘more environmentally conscious’ – material for use.
Denne historien er fra September 2019-utgaven av Robb Report Singapore.
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Denne historien er fra September 2019-utgaven av Robb Report Singapore.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
BREAKING DOWN WALLS
Georgina Atkinson, managing partner of Origin Private Office, on the evolving landscape of high-end real estate.
Aged Gracefully
The Benromach 50 Years Old by Gordon & MacPhail is a delicious single malt, touched by love, passion and the human hand.
This Month's Feed
Only the best dining and drinking spots in Singapore.
Small-scale Thinking
Architect Todd Saunders wants to change the way we approach hospitality design from the ground up.
Todd Snyder Is Exactly Where He Wants To Be
\"Our whole goal is to present product in a way that guys get it and understand it, versus 'Here's some crazy aspirational brand-you go figure it out on your own'.\"
Depp Dive Into Sauvage
Johnny Depp on music, scents and the mystique of creativity.
Time For Poetry
Pascal Raffy on his love affair with the 202-year-old house of Bovet.
One of a Kind
The incomparable Lange 1 turns 30 this year and A. Lange & Söhne marks the occasion with its trademark understatement.
P For Personality
Enhance your swing, and inject your personal style while you're at it, with TaylorMade's new P-770 and P-7CB irons.
The Short-hop-adventure-craft Category Takes Off
Inside the flight deck of Pivotal's Blackfly eVTOL, an ultra-smart ultra-light with eight propellers, electric propulsion and no pilot's licence required.