Cellophane

Cellophane, originally a trade name and now a common name for a flexible, transparent film made of regenerated cellulose and used principally as a wrapping material. Cellophane is produced by dissolving wood pulp or other cellulose material in an alkali with carbon disulfide, neutralizing the alkaline solvent with an acid, extruding the precipitate into a sheet, impregnating it with glycerine, and then drying and cutting the sheets to the desired size. Cellophane was invented about 1910 by the Swiss chemist Jacques Brandenberger, who in 1912 invented the first machines for large-scale production and established a factory near Paris.