Franz Kolb (Apotheker), Münchner Künstler-Plastilin

Franz Kolb ( fl. 1880s) was a German pharmacist and the inventor of the modeling paste Plastilin. In English-speaking countries this material is also known as "

plasticine Plasticine is a putty-like modelling material made from calcium salts, petroleum jelly and aliphatic acids. Though originally a brand name for the British version of the product, it is now applied generically in English as a product category ...

." Because of different

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A ...

rights in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

there are different views about who actually invented plasticine. In England,

William Harbutt William Harbutt (13 February 1844 – 1 June 1921) was a British artist and the inventor of Plasticine. Early life Born in North Shields, England, the son of Thomas Harbutt (5 August 1803 – 1880) and Elizabeth Whitehouse Jefcoate (27 June 1804 ...

is seen as the inventor, while in Germany it is Franz Kolb. Kolb's German patent is from 1880 while Harbutt's English one is from 1897. The exact formulation of the two products is different.

References

Kolb Technology
19th-century German inventors Year of death missing Year of birth missing German pharmacists {{Germany-engineer-stub