Milford chronicle., 1939-12-15
NYLON MAKING
AT SEAFORD
TOSTART TODAY
CONTINUED from First Pascl

coke River several hundred yards
distant, where oil storage tanks and
"A dock have been erected. Facing the
plant is a two-stOry administrative
Office building.
The manufacturing process be-
gins in the tower. reached by metal
stairways. ON the top level are huge
insulated vessels of stainless steel.
( Below are other large receptacles,
called autoclaycs, extending through
/ two floors of the building. Pipes. lay
I er upon Iayer, line ceiling and walls,
forming strange geometric patterns
as they converge. On a lower level Is
long line of shining metal canisters
reaching IRON floor TO ceiling. Each
floor is devoted to a separate phase
of the operation as the material
flows dOT through the cru
cibles of chemistry
Robot Observers Give Signals
Electrical instruments mounted on
panels guide the process with minute
preciciOu. Robot observers signal
with flashing lights and chimes
Temperatures and pressures are re-
corded i'm vaTi-cOlOTed lines on paper
discs. There are scales that print
measures of weight on ticket-tapes
similar to those in stakeholder
office. Each a.pect of the perform
anCe is carefully and Systematically
scheduled TO the split second.
On the lower levels of the tower,
intricate mechanisms designed as
spinning units transform the nylon
fakes in,u the slender. web-like fla
ments of nylOn yard. These units
are grouped in batteries of 90. set in
horizontal wells through the floor.
From the top. they resemble circu-
lar flour sifters, shaped TO fit into
the apparatus. They are kept filled
with the flake-like nylOn chips by
mobile hoppers. travelling along an
overhead rail. Here the material is
melted. then pumped under pressure
through "Spinnerets, cups pierced
with tiny holes. On the level below.
the iilaneIts appear, almost invisible
individually as they become solid
upon reaching the air. The fibres are
again whisked from view down
narrow pipe-lille chimney, where on
the floor below they are wound on
h'fblAios AAF Alldl-AttsiIt AiCt htbA -
complete as the strands spin merrily
around the cylinder
From this point. the yarn begins
its progression through the various
processing operations. Tho length
OF the plant is partitioned laterally
into a series of long rooms. housing
rows Of textile machinery. Running
at high speeds. the devices rotate
spuols on bobbins. The batteries of
machines stands row on row along
long, ai5.es, the .regimented ranks OF
modern industry. Their mission is
10 twist and otherwise prepare the
product for industrial purposes.
After a 'pre-twisting" to facilitate |
the bundle of fibres is u
drawn or stretched TO impart the !
strength and elasticity peculiar TO |
nyIOn This is accomplished by a /
machine which stretches the yarn I
between two rotating devices going
az different speeds; Chemists char
acterize this process as 4 rearrange-
mcnt of the nylon molecules in an
longth-wise array, rather
than i'll helteT-skelter fashion like
individual StrawS in q hay stack.
Yarn Prepared For Weaving
The yarn is then twisted and given
a size and lubricant in preparation
for knitting and weaving After final
il is packaged in skeins,
cones or other forms and delivered
TO the shipping room at the build
ng's extreme end, where loading
platform parallels the railroad
racks.
Longitudinally. the plant is bisect-
ID by corridor separating the man
from the service section
This area provides quarters for store
'ooms. machine shops. control lab .
supervisory offices. locker
'oumJ and a cafeteria
The air-conditioning plant is one
ii the most modern industrial sys-
ems of its type ever constructed.
1he conditioning units are housed in
special rooms above the roof Refrig-
,ration equipment is located in the
,ower plant. The chilled water for
he units is piped in underground.
and relative humidity
re maintained at constant
throughout the plant.
The plant will produce polymer,
S well as yarn. Some CT the poly
ler will be made into brush bri;tlcs
nd surgical sutures. among tue ar
icles. by the DUPONT PlaStiCS De-
artment plant at Arlington, y. j.
The plant. when in complete Oper-
tion, will produce approximately
our million pounds of nylon yarn a .
ear.
500 TO BE Employed
About $50 workers will be en-
loyed in operating the plant.
Opening of the plant climaXes a
an-year research program. NylOn
bres for textile uses, such as will
2 manufactured at SeafOrd. are
holly man-made and have no cOun
,rpart in nature. One of the most
uses is in hosiery. Other
,xtile applications, such as knit
pods. underwear. and woven dress
pods are the subjects OF expert S
entation '
The nylOn process is begun in the
lPOnt plant at Belle, West Virginia, 4
hich has been enlarged in the last
,ar The intermediates" made at l
ellie will be shipped to Seaford.
The SeafOrd plant site is on the
ltskirts of the town. II comprises
veral hundred acres. Two miles Il
railroad spur have been built into
e plant from the Pennsylvania II
acks nearby River transportation h
i'll be used for fuel. oil being barg o
up from the Chesapeake Bay.
her shipments will be made by rail S
truck. C