The Wilmington morning star., 1941-02-23
RESEARCH UNVEILS
MANY TRIUMPHS
Nylon, Artificial Rubber, And
More Powerful Explosive
Among Miracles

Back to the days before Don
lAmeche invented the telephone
Source: Groucho Marx). before
Paul NUM- even began to Pasteur-
ize milk, the public was content
with one industrial miracle a gen.
Grafton. Now, new miracles from
industrial laboratories are expected
daily as a matter Of course And
almost as a matter Of course they
are produced.
Looking over the developments
Of the past year, the chemical
industry's contributions are, as al
ways in the recent records, the
most numerous and far reaching
Despite other events of certain
historical importance, many WON
ea will remember 1910 as the year
that Nylon hosiery came on the
market. Presentation OF this pro
duct, born Of coal, air, water,
limestone and the wizardly Of
dupont chemists, was a news.
worthy event awaited with almost
as many baited breaths as the I'M
yelling of Henry Ford's Model A
twelve years ago.
First stocks were an immediate
sell-out, with but limited number
of pairs to each eager customer
First reports from actual user:
were conflicting; some wer ad
verse, largely because original ex
pectations had been impossibly
high, Repeat sales, however
proved public acceptance Of thi!
new synthetic fibre and with the
new plant facilities under construc
ton total production is expected
to reach in two years the volume
which it took rayon eleven years
to attain.
New Fields To Conquer
The uses of these new products
such as Nylon and Vinyon have
only been slightly explored. Nylon
is already widely used for tooth.
brush bristles. Vinyon is invading
the hosiery field but its big mar
ket is expected to be in the field
of industry for filters and similar
uses. Innumerable adaptations oil
products of this type will bring II
into competition with leather, cot.
ton and silk.
Synthetic rubber is stepping into
the picture farther and faster as
war creates uneasiness about
maintaining shipments Of the natu-
raj product. For many industrial
uses, the "ersatz" product is SUI
perior to the natural one. Au-
thorities believe it is easily pos
sible that before long an acre Of
manufacturing plant will be pro-
dCcing as much rubber in two
hours as an acre Of rubber planta-
tlon can produce in five years.
other new products originating
from the test tubes of our chemists
1hcluoe: a new paint which kills
germs, a new plastic capable of
Wlthstandlng high temperatures,
new plastics to replace steel for
some purposes, as for a bodies.
~ course the chemical industry
IS In the vanguard of the drive to
rearm; its efforts have already re-
su.'eo In a new and more powerful
explosive and a new synthetic
metnod OF making toluol. an in
gredient of INT. LII
Moving Sound'
The moving picture .r+
with a sound reproduction
technique IN 1910 that has been
hailed as the greatest change s;nen
the MOVIES first talked. T1sea ;s
Walt Disney's film, Fantss;s seo IN
speakers hidden all over 4hs
theatre to give a life-like nersno uie
i've to sound. spect-
Behind the scenes. he.,
try has scored various1v noGs-
e snad,aa+. search for better, chean o.ar
products. Steel alloys of new Iiaha:
ness strength, and resistance ~
rust and stains are maL;na 20
greater d greater n1aan a
themselves in all brannSe ee o
manufacture; New testing anu "
grading methods, utilizing the W
ray and the photo-electric cell 49,
come INTO wider use in the na se
year. Frequency modulation past
is paSSing from H1 1do1o