The history of plastic injection moulding

The injection moulding has seen steady growth since its beginnings in the late 1800's. The technique has evolved from the production of combs and buttons to major consumer, industrial, medical, and aerospace products.
In 1868, perhaps in response to a request by billiard ball maker Phelan and Collander, John Wesley Hyatt invented a way to make billiard balls by injecting celluloid into a mould. By 1872, John and his brother Isaiah Hyatt patented the injection moulding machine. The machine was primitive yet it was quite suitable for their purposes. It contained a basic plunger to inject the plastic into a mould through a heated cylinder.
Revolutionizing the plastics industry in 1946, James Hendry built the first screw injection moulding machine with an auger design to replace Hyatt's plunger. The auger is placed inside the cylinder and mixes the injection material before pushing forward and injecting the material into the mould. Today, almost all injection moulding machines use this same technique.