filament, nylon
date: label: Date made
content: 1939
name: label: maker
content: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company
notes: label: Description
content: Nylon was the first fiber made entirely in a laboratory. In 1928, E. I. DuPont de Nemours, hired Dr. Wallace Carothers to conduct pure research in any area of chemistry he chose. He had a great interst in long chain polymers, and his research in that area to the nvention of nylon. The American public was introduced to nylon in the form of women's stockings at the 1939 World's Fair. The stockings were a success, and within two years nylon was taking twenty percent of the stocking market. When the U.S. entered World War II, nylon was withdrawn from civilian use, as it was needed for the war effort. So many military uses were found for nylon it became known as the "fiber that won the war."
label: Description
content: This is the first nylon filament, made from the first batch of nylon made at DuPont's first nylon factory, in Seaford Delaware. Also in the picture is the first pair of experimental nylon stockings made by the Union Hosiery Co. for DuPont in 1937. The leg area of the stockings is nylon, while the welt, toe and heel are silk. Cotton thread can be found the seam. The nylon yarn would not take the silk dye, and dyed to black rather then brown.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Textiles
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. Inc.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: TE.T12047.000
label: catalog number
content: T12047.000
objectType: label: Object Name
content: filament, nylon
label: Object Type
content: yarn
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: synthetic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: wood (spool material)