Plastic did NOT take 50 years from development to commercialization.
The first plastic, Bakelite, was invented in 1907. “Bakelite, named [for the inventor] and patented in 1909, was originally used for electrical and mechanical parts; it came into widespread use in general goods and jewelry in the 1920s.”
See Wikipedia, plastic.
Du Pont started development of Nylon, another form of plastic, in 1927 and commercialized it in 1939. In 1940, 64 million pairs of nylons were sold.
See Wikipedia, plastic.
From 1907 through today, different forms of plastics have been invented (e.g., biodegradable plastic is relatively new), but it only took 13 years for Bakelite, which has been replaced by newer different plastics, to be widely commercialized, and 13 years for nylon to be widely commercialized.
If you have a better source than Wikipedia substantiating the claim of 50 years, please share.
TIA.
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