Search Results | Hagley Digital Archives

Title: Julian Hill recreating synthesis of first completely synthetic fiber
Date(s): 1941
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Description: Probably the most dramatic moment in DuPont research history is re-enacted above-the birth of the first completely synthetic fiber, impractical for commercial use but true forerunner of nylon itself. Here chemist Julian Hill shows how he pulled molten sample of material from a laboratory test tube at the company's Experimental Station near Wilmington, Delaware. The molasses-like mass stuck to the glass stirring rod and was drawn out into a thin fiber.
Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1154
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs

Title: DuPont Nylon Plant at Seaford, Delaware
Date(s): 1941
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1153
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs

Title: Early experimental nylon spinning machine
Date(s): 1920/1929, 1920, 1929
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1152
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs

Title: Carothers Research Laboratory at the DuPont Company's Experimental Station near Wilmington, Delaware
Date(s): 1945
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Description: One of the Textile Fibers Departments four research laboratories in this area, it is here where work is done on nylon and Dacron polyester fiber. The first unit of the present laboratory was opened in 1938. It has been increased in size on several occasions. The laboratory was dedicated on September 17, 1946 in honor of the late Dr. Wallace Hume Carothers, who researchers led to nylon and Dacron.
Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1151
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs

Title: Nylon casting wheel at the DuPont Experimental Station
Date(s): 1945
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Description: Still busily rolling out nylon is this casting wheel, part of the original equipment constructed in 1937 to make some of the first nylon. Although two large yarn plants have since gone into operation, this original wheel (made over from an engine flywheel) is still producing nylon at the DuPont Experimental Station at Wilmington, Delaware. Extruded in molten form onto the wheel, a segment of which is seen at the left, the nylon solidifies into a plastic ribbon and is then carried up over the...
Show moreStill busily rolling out nylon is this casting wheel, part of the original equipment constructed in 1937 to make some of the first nylon. Although two large yarn plants have since gone into operation, this original wheel (made over from an engine flywheel) is still producing nylon at the DuPont Experimental Station at Wilmington, Delaware. Extruded in molten form onto the wheel, a segment of which is seen at the left, the nylon solidifies into a plastic ribbon and is then carried up over the small take-off wheel and between air jets in the blower offer, which dry it. The ribbon is then chopped into flake, which is in turn spun into yarn.
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Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1158
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs

Title: Semi-works unit in a modern industrial research laboratory
Date(s): 1945
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Description: Modern research takes time, manpower and money. Tools take a large share of the investment. The Semi-works unit shown here illustrates the complex, costly equipment needed in a modern industrial research laboratory. This reactor was a vital tool in the development of a successful nylon salt process. It cost $25,000. An eight man construction gang and a six man operating crew spent two and a half months setting it up. Its operation for a month supplied information used to build a full scale...
Show moreModern research takes time, manpower and money. Tools take a large share of the investment. The Semi-works unit shown here illustrates the complex, costly equipment needed in a modern industrial research laboratory. This reactor was a vital tool in the development of a successful nylon salt process. It cost $25,000. An eight man construction gang and a six man operating crew spent two and a half months setting it up. Its operation for a month supplied information used to build a full scale plant. Then the reactor was dismantled. This unit turned out 20 pounds of nylon intermediate per hour. To develop nylon took ten years of laboratory study, the expenditure of millions of dollars, and the intensive work of 250 chemists and their many assistants.
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Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1155
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs

Title: Sizing or putting a protective coating on nylon yarn in DuPont plant at Seaford, Delaware
Date(s): 1945
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Description: The yarn is wound from one package to another; passing over a substance which gives it added protection during textile manufacturing operations. The size is subsequently removed from the finished products.
Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1179
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs

Title: Nylon pilot plant in which the nylon process was proved out before commercialization
Date(s): 1945
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1159
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs

Title: Elementary form of nylon in test tube
Date(s): 1945
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Description: Here, in its most elementary form, is the birth of a man-made fiber in a research chemist's test tube.
Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1157
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs

Title: Nylon 66 polymer produced in laboratory
Date(s): 1945
Contributor(s): E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (originator)
Description: Nylon 66 polymer, the type which was later commercialized, was first synthesized in February, 1935. In one year, more than 50 other nylon polymers were made with a simple glass apparatus like that pictured here. This phase of the work was one step from laboratory to commercial production. Nylon grew out of a fundamental research program started by DuPont in 1927, the object of which was to learn how tiny molecules link together to form chemical polymers like wool and silk- one of natures best...
Show moreNylon 66 polymer, the type which was later commercialized, was first synthesized in February, 1935. In one year, more than 50 other nylon polymers were made with a simple glass apparatus like that pictured here. This phase of the work was one step from laboratory to commercial production. Nylon grew out of a fundamental research program started by DuPont in 1927, the object of which was to learn how tiny molecules link together to form chemical polymers like wool and silk- one of natures best held secrets. After long and painstaking research, a series of tough, horny-like materials were created. After working with these, a new textile fiber seemed possible but these early fibers were impractical. It was years before one that was satisfactory was spun. By 1940, research and development on nylon has cost $6,000,000.
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Collection ID: DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341)
Hagley ID: 1972341_1156
Collection: DuPont Product Information photographs