Highlights
In 1933, he was issued the first American patent (USP 1897977) for an unsaturated polyester, followed by a patent for polyester co-polymers in the year before his death (USP 2195362). Ellis died of influenza at the age of 64, while vacationing at Miami Beach. A merchant marine tanker, the Liberty vessel S.S. Carleton Ellis, was later named in his honor during World War II. TIME Magazine eulogized him by writing, "Chemist Ellis' inventions gave birth to more than 100,000 compounds. He developed Standard Oil's tube-&-tank process of cracking oil, found the formula for cheap acetone to fireproof airplane wings in World War I, and made plastics an exact and lucrative science.".
He was awarded the Edward Longstreth Medal in 1916.
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