For his fifth grade class, my 10-year-old son, Brett, recently had to interview his oldest relative about the changes life has brought in the 20th century.

His 90-year-old great-grandmother talked about growing up in a house in which 11 children shared three bedrooms. They were not a wealthy family. There was no indoor bathroom, no electricity, no running water and no car. Her first office job earned her the princely sum of 16 cents per hour.

As she succinctly put it, "The good old days weren't so good."

But when you think about it, they weren't all bad either.

The early and mid 1900s were a time of constant change and innovation. Electricity and the telephone came into widespread use. Cars went into full production. And although wood and metal were the choice material of much of the inventions, a product called "plastic" started making its mark in the world.

Everyone's familiar with plastics' impact on the computer and CD markets. But I'd like to take a moment to recognize some other, often overlooked, but in my mind very important plastic innovations of the century. In no specific order, they include:

• Phonograph records. Although practically obsolete, (I am probably one of the few people to still own records and a record player) this vinyl product brought music and words to millions of people across the world.

• Ballpoint pens. One of the most widely-known brands was, and is, the BIC pen. This pen was named after Marcel Bich, who, along with Edourd Buffard in 1945, began manufacturing fountain pen parts and mechanical lead pencils in a factory near Paris.) By 1949 Bich introduced his ballpoint pen in Europe and in 1959 the Bic ballpoint pen was officially introduced to the U.S. market.

• Plastic silverware and cups, for those of us who consider a car to be the alternate dining room and "fast food" the fifth food group.

• Recyclable bottles: first milk and pop, and just this past year, beer.

• Plastic external car parts that will never rust.

• Small acrylic display cases for home use. While this may seem trivial to some, anyone who collects sports memorabilia knows their value. In our home alone, we currently have 10 combination ball/puck and card holders for displaying the boys' autographed baseballs and hockey pucks, seven single autographed baseball holders and four single autographed puck holders, plus one autographed baseball bat holder. Knowing my children's propensity for collecting autographed memorabilia, I'm sure I'll be investing in many more of these items in the near future.

These are just a few of the items which come immediately to mind; I know there are many more examples in which plastics has made its mark in the 20th century. I look forward to seeing what new developments and markets there will be for plastics in the 21st century.

As I look forward to the new millennium, I'd like to take the opportunity to wish you and your families a happy, safe and healthy new year.

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Plastics Machining & Fabricating
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