Editing Arthur Eichengrün (section)

=== Plastics ===
In 1903, Eichengrün co-developed the first soluble form of cellulose acetate with Theodore Becker. He developed processes for the manufacture of cellulose acetate materials and devoted the rest of his life to the technical and economic development of plastics, lacquers, enamels, and artificial fibers based on cellulose acetate. During World War I his relatively non-inflammable synthetic cellulose acetate lacquers were important in the aircraft industry. He also pioneered the influential technique of [[injection moulding]]. In 1904, he created and patented the first [[safety film]] with Becker, ([[cellulose diacetate]]) from a process they devised in 1901 for the direct acetylation of cellulose at a low temperature to prevent its degradation, which permitted the degree of acetylation to be controlled, thereby avoiding total conversion to its triacetate. Cellit was a stable, non-brittle cellulose acetate polymer that could be dissolved in acetone for further processing. It was used to manufacture cellulose diacetate cinematographic film, which Eastman Kodak and the Pathé Frères began to use in 1909. Cellulose acetate film became the standard in the 1950s, preferred over the highly flammable and unstable [[film stock]] produced from [[Nitrocellulose]].