Write a short or a long story on nylon
Answers
Answer:
The Story of Nylon
The creation of a class of materials known as super polymers in the 1930s was one of
the greatest scientific discoveries in history. In 1928 the management of E.I du Pont
de Nemours & Company assembled several teams of leading chemists with the initial goal of
engaging in pure scientific research. This effort was the beginning of large scale industrial
research in the field of modern chemical science. The team led by Dr. Wallace H. Carothers was
eventually credited with the invention of Nylon.
The first true synthetic fiber was drawn from a test tube in 1930 by Dr. Julian Hill, who
was working as part of Dr. Carothers' research team. After years of trying many different
combinations to achieve the desired properties, the search finally came to rest in February of
1935 on a material known as polyhexamethyleneadipamide; fiber 66. This specific material was
selected by Dr. Elmer Bolton as the most promising candidate for commercial success, due to
the fact that the raw materials necessary to create it were relatively inexpensive and readily
available in large quantities.
In April of 1937, laboratory samples of Nylon were used to successfully knit the first pair
of experimental stockings. On September 21, 1938, the national press reported the issue of a
DuPont patent covering a new textile fiber. 36 days later, on October 27, 1938, "Nylon" was
officially announced to the world at the New York Herald Tribune's eighth annual forum on
current problems. Less than 50,000 pounds had been produced to this point for development
purposes. The first public sale of Nylon hosiery was held in Wilmington, DE. on October 24th,
1939.
Nearly 45 million people had their first glimpse of hosiery made from Nylon at the 1939
World's Fair in New York. This demonstration created an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response
and DuPont began full scale production in December of 1939. Nylons were made available for
sale nationwide on May 15th, 1940. DuPont's experience in the manufacturing of Rayon and
other materials, in conjunction with exceptional determination and a clear long term vision for
the future, had enabled them to ramp up to full scale production in record time. By 1944
approximately 25 million pounds of Nylon had been produced in the United States. This
number would later rise to an astounding 600 million pounds by the end of 1963.
Although the manufacture of ladies stockings was the largest single use for Nylon, it was
by no means the only use. Nylon shares some of the credit for the allied victory in World War
II. America entered the war on December 7th, 1941. On February 10th, 1942 the flow of Nylon
to hosiery mills abruptly stopped and all production from the newly completed and expanding
plant in Seaford, Delaware was allocated for defense priorities. The new material had arrived
just in time to have a significant impact on the war. It was used in lieu of silk to make
Answer :
This year marks the 85th anniversary of the invention of nylon. As ubiquitous a material it may be nowadays, you may be unaware of how revolutionary nylon was when it first hit the market, or the tragic story behind its creator.
Science and Discovery
In the mid 1930s, several DuPont Chemicals scientists led by Wallace Carothers were secretly slipping their names into the history books through a prototype polymer known then as "fiber 6-6."
His team originally set out to research commercial applications for polymers, which are large “building block” molecules that are now used in everything from tennis shoes to CDs.
Carothers and company made the polymer by combining hexamethylenediamine, a crystalline substance that easily bonds with acids, and adipic acid. They then pulled strands from the concoction and spun them into plastic thread using a process called cold drawing.
Three years later, DuPont’s production facilities were capable of spinning up to 12 billion pounds of the stuff annually. The company initially tested nylon in toothbrushes, but eventually focused on tapping the women’s hosiery market
Nylon Hits the Market
Though nylon was first synthesized in a DuPont Chemicals laboratory on Feb. 28, 1935, it didn’t become available to the public until 1940. When it did, it was in the form of stockings, and women across the U.S. flocked to department stores to get their hands on a pair.
Women’s stockings were all the rage in the late 1930’s, but in post-Depression America, the high price of the silk they were often made from was not. So when the relatively cheap nylon stockings hit the shelves, demand shot through the roof. “Nylons,” as we now know them, brought in $9 million for DuPont in 1940—$150 million in today’s dollars.
Despite its wildly successful first year, DuPont shifted nearly all of its nylon production from the consumer market to the military in 1941 as the United States entered WWII. Allied forces used the material for everything from parachutes to mosquito nets.
But by then, fashion trends had already spurred such high demand for the stockings that when consumers couldn’t get their hands on them, a black market emerged. Some women even resorted to painting their legs in an effort to capture the look.
When the war ended and production returned to pre-war levels, consumers rushed to department stores. They waited in lines that dwarfed Black Friday queues and sometimes even resulted in violent kerfuffles. The phenomenon came to be known as the nylon riots.
One of the most notable examples occurred in Pittsburgh in 1945, where 40,000 women lined up to try to snag a pair.
The Man Behind the String
The father of nylon was a Harvard-educated, world-renowned organic chemist born in Burlington, IA in 1896.
Wallace Carothers had nearly 50 patents to his name by 1937, but his depression prevented him from witnessing the success of his inventions firsthand. Carothers often doubted his own competence as a chemist, and was forlorn when his early superpolymer prototypes failed.
Carother’s illness continued even after he and his team successfully synthesized nylon. Two years after the discovery, he took his own life by drinking a cocktail of lemon juice and potassium cyanide in a Philadelphia hotel.
A biography of Carothers published by the National Academy of Sciences in 1939 lauded the scientist, saying, “His contributions to organic chemistry were recognized as outstanding and, in spite of the relatively short span of time for his productive accomplishments, he became a leader in his field with an enviable international reputation.”
Nylon Today
Nylon stockings no longer inspire riots. But nylon as a material is arguably more pervasive than ever.
Toothbrushes. Umbrellas. Toilet brushes. Fishing line. Windbreakers. Camping tents. Winter gloves. Kites. Dog leashes. Dog collars. Guitar strings. Guitar picks. Children’s toys. Racket strings. Medical implants. These are a mere sampling the nearly innumerable things made from nylon—and consumers have Wallace Carothers and his team at DuPont to thank for it.
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