Alexander Parkes

Chemist and inventor, born in Birmingham, West Midlands, C England, UK. He was noted for his inventions in connection with electroplating, in the course of which he even electroplated a spider's web. He invented xylonite (a form of celluloid), first patented in 1855.

Alexander Parkes (December 29, 1813 - June 29, 1890) was a metallurgist and inventor from Birmingham, England.

The son of a brass lock manufacturer, Parkes was apprenticed to a brass founder at Messenger and Sons before going to work for George and Henry Elkington, who patented the electroplating process. In total he held 66 patents on processes and products related to electroplating and plastic development.

In 1856 he developed Parkesine - the first thermoplastic - a celluloid based on nitrocellulose with ethanol solvent.

In 1866 he set up The Parkesine Company at Hackney Wick, London, for bulk low-cost production.

Parkes' material was developed later in improved form as Xylonite by his associate Daniel Spill, who brought a patent infringement lawsuit — ultimately unsuccessful — against John Wesley Hyatt, developer of celluloid in the U.S. In 1870, however, the judge ruled that it was in fact Parkes who was the true inventor due to his original experiments.

The Birmingham Civic Society erected a Blue Plaque commemorating him in 2004 on the original Elkington Silver Electroplating Works (The old Science Museum), Newhall Street, Birmingham.