Alexander Parkes

Alexander Parkes
Born	29 December 1813 Suffolk Street,Birmingham,England
Died	29 June 1890(1890-06-30)(aged 76)
Nationality	English
Occupation	Engineer
Engineering career
Projects	Parkesine

Alexander Parkes(29 December 1813 – 29 June 1890) was ametallurgistand inventor fromBirmingham,England. He createdParkesine,the first man-madeplastic.

Biography

The son of a manufacturer ofbrasslocks,Parkes was apprenticed to Messenger and Sons, brassfoundersof Birmingham, before going to work forGeorge and Henry Elkington,who patented theelectroplatingprocess.Parkes was put in charge of the casting department, and his attention soon began to focus on electroplating. Parkes took out his first patent (No. 8905) in 1841 on a process for electroplating delicate works of art. His improved method for electroplating fine and fragile objects, such as flowers, was granted a patent in 1843. The process involved electroplating an object previously dipped in a solution ofphosphoruscontained inbisulphide of carbon,and then innitrate of silver.A spider's web, silver-plated according to this method, was presented toPrince Albertwhen he visited the Elkington works in 1844.

In total Parkes held at least 66 patents on processes and products, mostly related to electroplating and to development of plastics.

• In 1846, he patented the cold cure process for vulcanizing rubber, called byThomas Hancock"one of the most valuable and extraordinary discoveries of the age".
• He pioneered the addition of small quantities of phosphorus to metals and alloys, and developed phosphor-bronze (patent 12325 of 1848, taken out jointly with his brotherHenry Parkes).
• In 1850, he developed and patented theParkes processfor economically desilveringlead,also patenting refinements to the process in 1851 and 1852.
• In 1856, he patentedParkesine– the firstthermoplastic– acelluloidbased onnitrocellulosetreated with a variety of solvents.This material, exhibited at the 1862 London International Exhibition, anticipated many of the modern aesthetic and utility uses of plastics.
• In 1866, he set up The Parkesine Company atHackney Wick,London, for bulk low-cost production. It was not commercially successful, however, for Parkesine was expensive to produce, prone to cracking and highly flammable. The business closed in 1868.
• Parkes' material was developed later in improved form asXyloniteby his associateDaniel Spill,who brought a patent infringement lawsuit – ultimately unsuccessful – againstJohn Wesley Hyatt,developer ofcelluloidin the US. In 1870, however, the judge ruled that Parkes was the true inventor, owing to his original experiments.

Personal and family details

Alexander Parkes was born at Suffolk Street, Birmingham, the fourth son of James Mears Parkes and his wife Kerenhappuch Childs.Samuel Harrison,described by SirJosiah Masonas the inventor of the split-ring (or key-ring) and widely credited with the invention of the steel pen, was his great-uncle.Parkes was twice married. By his first marriage, to Jane Henshall Moore (1817–50), he had four sons and two daughters (the cricketerHoward Parkeswas a grandson), and by his second marriage, to Mary Ann Roderick (1835–1919), four sons and seven daughters. The elder surviving son of his second marriage, Alexander Parkes junior, sometime President of theAssociation of Certified and Corporate Accountants,presented many original specimens of Parkesine to theScience Museumin 1937, the core of the museum's Parkesine collection.

Parkes' younger brother Henry (1824–1909), a trained chemist, who was married to Fanny Roderick (1837–97), a sister of Alexander's second wife, assisted him in many of his experiments during a collaboration lasting more than fifty years.

It is believed that the Parkes family descends from the Rev. Michael Parkes, Vicar ofPenkridge,Staffordshire (died 1617), and had close connections with the metal-working towns ofWednesburyandWolverhamptonin the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

Legacy

Blue plaque on the old Birmingham Science Museum

Parkes is remembered in several locations:

• ThePlastics Historical Societyplaced ablue plaqueon his home inDulwich,London, in 2002;
• The Birmingham Civic Societyerected a blue plaque commemorating him in 2004 on the original Elkington Silver Electroplating Works (the oldScience Museum),Newhall Street,Birmingham;
• There is also a plaque on the wall of the site of the Parkesine Works.

In September 2005, Parkes was posthumously inducted into the AmericanPlastics Academy's Hall of Fame.He is buried inWest Norwood Cemetery,London, although his memorial was removed in the 1970s.

External links

• Plastics Historical Society
• New materials: Plastics–Making the Modern Worldonline exhibit,Science Museum, London.
• Friends of West Norwood Cemetery– Newsletter, May 2002,A Plastic Plaque for Parkes.