Plastics in pop culture

Beloved dolls rooted in vinyl
 
The first large vinyl doll made in the United States was produced by the Ideal Novelty and Toy Co. in the 1950s and marketed as Ms. Revlon. In the decades following that, other dolls would be developed, including Barbie and G.I. Joe -- though Joe was marketed as an "action figure," to appeal to boys.

Tupperware nears 70 years of plastics, parties
 
Plastic food storage containers really got their boost post-World War II, when the likes of Earl Tupper started examining new applications for plastics. For Tupper’s part, he found a method to convert polyethylene into molded, frosted pastel shades for tumblers and seals that were patentable for containers and their lids.

Frisbee flies across five decades
 
The Frisbee turns 50 this year, and its design and processing have been adapted over the years to reflect its widespread popularity. For example, discs now are designed that won’t cut the mouths of dogs. And for disc golf, a player carries around different types of discs that perform in certain ways.

Apple II booted up revolution for plastics
 
The iMac may get most of the design buzz, but when it comes to the real revolution for plastics in the computer age, Bruce Damer said that honor belongs to one of iMac’s ancestors — the Apple II.

Alluring Bubble Wrap keeps pop in plastics
 
As with many plastic products, Bubble Wrap started out as something very different. In 1957, engineers Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes created a product from a barrier plastic that they thought would be used behind wallpaper to give it a third dimension.

Plastic cards evolving to meet needs
 
The plastic in the average person’s wallet and on his or her keychain is the result of a decades-long process that began with Farrington Manufacturing Co. in Boston, which in the 1920s developed small metal Charga-Plates for retail store shoppers. The technology for credit cards is ever-evolving.

Stylish phones keep ringing up success
 
Telephones beat plastics into the marketplace by 31 years, but plastics have been making up for lost time ever since.

Vinyl keeps spinning – crackle, pops and all
 
For nearly 60 years, plastics and music have gone hand-in-hand, with musicians providing the songs and plastics the medium to capture their recordings and spread the music.

Bic pen´s background begins in France
 
You may have a piece of modern art on your desk, or in your bag, or lying forgotten on a table somewhere. It is the simple Bic Cristal ink pen, first introduced in 1950 and in continuous production since then.

Mr. Potato Head: a man of style for the ages
 
A plastic toy icon has proved the spud is not a dud. Now age 55 and going strong, Mr. Potato Head has morphed from a real potato in his birth year of 1952 to a mature spud with many faces, courtesy of plastic.

Pez-tacular legacy has gone to its head
 
Created in Vienna, Austria, by Oscar Uxa in 1948 to replace a plain tin container, the Pez dispenser first resembled a lighter, then was revamped in the early 1950s when Uxa began putting cartoon heads on the top. But the product has always been made of plastic.

Legos, nearing 50, show their serious side
 
Take one plastic Lego brick and click it into place on top of another. Then do it again and again and again. Now imagine doing that 100,000 times, making complex, three-dimensional sculptures out of what most people consider nothing more than a child’s toy.

Corvette origin: some coincidence, lot of persistence
 
Nearly everything familiar about the Corvette sports car — its iconic swooping lines, its shapely curves, its light weight — may never have come to pass if Robert Morrison had taken the stairs.

Two ‘magical’ toys keeping kids happy
 
Plastics can’t celebrate a century without including two iconic toys that have delighted kids and adults for decades: the Etch A Sketch and the View-Master.

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