The Development of Nylon
Production of the world's first totally synthetic textile fiber, nylon, began in 1939 when the first nylon plant began operations.
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In the early 1930′s, Stine was promoted to DuPont’s management committee and Elmer K. Bolton succeeded him as chemical research director. Bolton’s top research priority was the creation of a new synthetic fiber. Thus began the interplay of science and commerce that marks the development process – the “D” of R&D.
New technology was needed to make the raw materials and to form them into a fiber. The market had to be decided upon, an important choice for a material that could compete with cotton, silk, wool, and rayon. The decision to focus on hosiery was crucial. It was a limited, premium market. “When you want to develop a new fiber for fabrics you need thousands of pounds,” said Crawford Greenewalt, a research supervisor during nylon development who later became company president and CEO. “All we needed to make was a few grams at a time, enough to knit one stocking.” In addition, the technology had to be scaled up and a plant built that required materials of construction that were new at the time. And the time was the Great Depression, not the most propitious moment to take a $27 million gamble — the cost of nylon from research through the start-up of the new plant at Seaford, Delaware.
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Excerpted with permission, National Historic Chemical Landmarks Program
www.acs.org/landmarks