subject: The History Of Tools And Molds [print this page] From the moment you brushed your teeth up to the time you drove home, every day, you touch, use, or cant live without the products of plastic moldings many years of development. Its in the handle of your toothbrush, the dashboard of your car, the buttons on your shirt, or the cap of your favorite bottled drink. Life could have been so different if plastic molding was not invented.
It started in 1851 with Alexander Parkes who invented the first man-made plastic, Parkesine, named after him. However, Parkesine was vulnerable to crack and highly flammable. So in 1868, Celluloid was invented by John Wesley Hyatt. Celluloid was an improved version of the Parkesine. It was made of the very first injection molding machine that Hyatt, together with his brother, patented in 1872.
It was during the World War II when demand for plastics soared that James Watson Hendry invented the screw injection machine. Though it required expensive investments and high running costs, it has high production rates and can be used in a wide range of materials. It can also be produced using low labor costs and with very minimal scrap going to waste. The industry evolved slowly over the years.
Nowadays, injection molding is massively used for a large variety of applications. You see its products everyday toys, packaging of consumer products and medicines, in automobiles, and even in the aerospace industry. Some companies would not live without tooling and molding design to meet their packaging needs.
Companies, especially those that are engaged in consumer products, seal a contract with a third party who will find a plant that would produce the exact color and shape of plastic that they need. Nowadays, because of its high cost, tooling and molding design is outsourced. Today, companies would prefer a facility that can mold plastics at low costs, close porosity, superior final density, and intricate geometric design.
Outsourcing companies create the most simple and cost effective solution to a client companys molding concerns. A client company just gives his idea for a totooling and molding design, then its up to the outsourcing company to find out how to bring it to life. It is also their job to present clients with options they never knew existed.
