The Pre-Plastic Era - Not So Long Ago
Kirt's Cogitations™ #136

RF Cafe University "Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my ranting on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

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The Pre-Plastic Era - Not So Long Ago

The next time you watch an old B&W movie, notice the absence of plastic items. Metal, wood, fabric and glass were the materials of the era. It wasn't until after WWII, in "The Synthetic 50s," that plastics began assuming what would become a ubiquitous presence in everyday life. The first man-made plastic -- called Parkesine -- was created by Alexander Parkes who first publicly demonstrated it at the 1862 Great International Exhibition in London. Cellophane was invented 1908, PVC was patented in 1913, Teflon in 1938 (kept secret by the military until the early 60s), nylon in 1939, and Styrofoam® in 1954.

Johanson Technology Prototyping Kit - RF Cafe

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...