ELECTRONIC NEWSLETTER

Abelman, Frayne, &Schwab

On February 16, 1937, the United States Patent Office issued Patent No. 2,071,250 entitled "Linear Condensation Polymers" which disclosed a product and process for a revolutionary synthetic fiber to Dr. Wallace Hume Carothers, a research chemist for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. The patent for "Nylon," as the product resulting from the process was called was assigned to DuPont.

The '250 Patent covered synthetic linear condensation polymers capable of being drawn into strong pliable fibers, as well as the process for making them. One of the first consumer uses of this new wonder plastic was replacing hog bristles in tooth brushes. Du Pont began production of such bristle filament on February 24, 1938, at their Arlington, N.J. factory.

Commercial production of yarn for nylon hosiery followed at their Seaford, Delaware factory on December 15, 1939 and women's fashion would never be the same again.

Dr. Carothers' work in polymerization set in motion the modern materials revolution that continues to this day in the development of products that replicate nature yet add specific characteristics such as fire resistance, insulation, and light weight plus strength. When Du Pont decided to develop nylon into a commercial fiber, the company specifically intended to use it to compete with silk in the women's hosiery market. The choice was deliberate, strategic, and significant. Years of research devoted to targeting this particular market proved enormously successful.

"Nylons," as they were soon called, eventually replaced silk stockings. Neither resembled the "panty hose" many women wear today. Covering only about two-thirds of a woman's leg, from the feet to mid-thigh, stockings were fastened with garters and a belt. They were knitted on highly complex machines. Women could buy them in either "full-fashioned" form with seams at the back or "seamless." One-piece sheer "panty hose" were not developed until the 1960s. However, in the 1940's and '50's, film and theater productions were having stockings sewn to the briefs of actresses and dancers.

1940's Pin Up Girl Betty Grable in a pair of barely noticeable (to some) nylon stockings

Cultural adjustment to the hosiery made of the new fiber took time. Available to consumers nationwide by 1940, nylon stockings did not become a part of everyday life immediately or automatically. Many forces and events contributed to creating the social meaning of this new product--the 1939 New York World’s Fair, World War II, an enthusiastic press response, consumer tests and surveys, retail and marketing programs, and technical issues of manufacture and testing.

When America entered World War II, first silk and then nylon were commandeered by the federal government (specifically the War Production Board) to supply defense needs. Overnight, stockings made of any materials became hard to find. Nylon became important to the war effort because it was used, for example, in parachutes and tires. On the home front, the popular press presented nylon as a miracle of technology that Americans could again enjoy when the war ended.

Tragically, Wallace Carothers did not enjoy his success. Despite being considered the father of the science of man-made polymers and the man responsible for the invention of nylon and neoprene, the man was a brilliant chemist, inventor, scholar but also a troubled soul. Despite an amazing career during which more than 50 patents were issued in his name, the inventor ended his own life in April 1937.