 Over the years, celluloid became the common use term used for this type of plastic.In 1878 Hyatt was able to patent a process for injection moulding thermoplastics, although it took another fifty years before it could be realised commercially, and in later years celluloid was used as the base for photographic film.English photographer John Carbutt founded the Keystone Dry Plate Works in 1879 with the intention of producing gelatin dry plates.