page_title: DuPont (1802–2017)
section_title: Major breakthroughs: 1920s–1930s
hierarchical_section_title: DuPont (1802–2017) / History / Major breakthroughs: 1920s–1930s
caption_attribution_description: File name: 06_10_018661 Title: Aerial view of Dupont's "Orlon" Plant, Camden, S. C. Created/Published: Pub. by The Asheville Post Card Co., Asheville, N. C. Date issued: 1930 - 1945 (approximate) Physical description: 1 print (postcard)&#160;: linen texture, color&#160;; 3 1/2 x 5 1/2 in. Genre: Postcards Subjects: Industrial facilities Notes: Collection: The Tichnor Brothers Collection Location: Boston Public Library, Print Department Rights: No known restrictions
context_page_description: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, commonly referred to as DuPont, was an American company that was founded in July 1802 in Wilmington, Delaware, as a gunpowder mill by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont.
  In the 20th century, DuPont developed many polymers such as Vespel, neoprene, nylon, Corian, Teflon, Mylar, Kapton, Kevlar, Zemdrain, M5 fiber, Nomex, Tyvek, Sorona, Corfam, and Lycra. DuPont developed Freon for the refrigerant industry, and later other refrigerants. It also developed synthetic pigments and paints including ChromaFlair.
  In 2014, DuPont was the world's fourth-largest chemical company based on market capitalization and eighth-largest based on revenue. On August 31, 2017, it merged with the Dow Chemical Company to create DowDuPont, the world's largest chemical company in terms of sales. Subsequently DowDuPont spun off three businesses and is now the new DuPont.
context_section_description: In the 1920s, DuPont continued its emphasis on materials science, hiring Wallace Carothers to work on polymers in 1928. Carothers invented neoprene, a synthetic rubber; the first polyester superpolymer; and, in 1935, nylon. The invention of Teflon followed a few years later and has since been proven responsible for health problems in those exposed to the chemical through manufacturing and home use. DuPont introduced phenothiazine as an insecticide in 1935.
caption: DuPont's Orlon plant in Camden, South Carolina, c. 1950s
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "3292", "Image ImageLength": "2079", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image Compression": "Uncompressed", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "Epson", "Image Model": "Exp10000XL10000", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "600", "Image YResolution": "600", "Image PlanarConfiguration": "1", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2011:02:11 20:06:05", "Image ExifOffset": "304", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "442", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8577", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1500", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "948"}