Nylon
Wallace Carothers (1896–1937) invented nylon while working for the DuPont Company in the 1930s. The name "nylon" was originally a DuPont trademark. Nylon first appeared in the form of toothbrush bristles in 1938. Soon nylon became one of the most widely used man-made materials. It is used in ropes, plastic sheeting, netting, moldings, and woven fabrics. It is also used as an insulating material in electrical goods. Nylon takes the place of steel bearings, gears, and bushings (insulating linings for holes or tubes) in all kinds of machines. It is also widely used in medicine for making splints, sutures, braces and other items. At the start of the twenty-first century, nylon appears in almost all areas of life. Without it, many of the things people take for granted would not exist.
Within two years of the first toothbrush bristles, nylon was being used to make lightweight fabrics for hosiery. Because they were so strong, nylon stockings (see entry under 1930s—Fashion in volume 2) were more popular than silk and soon became known as nylons. Nylon also replaced silk in parachutes, and in military slang a parachute jump was known as a "nylon let-down." By the 1960s, nylon was widely used in objects from furniture to clothing. Occasionally, nylon has not always improved people's lives. In the 1970s, synthetics such as nylon dominated fashion. Like its cousin polyester (see entry under 1970s—Fashion in volume 4), nylon tended to encourage sweating. In extreme cases, nylon shirts became charged with static electricity and made the wearer's hair stand on end. Thankfully, nylon is currently most popularly used in sports wear and hosiery.
Nevertheless, nylon is not far from being the wonder material it was once thought to be. Because it is so tough and resistant to wear and tear, it is ideal for floor coverings, tires, inflated balls, pumps, valves, containers, and car body parts. The invention of nylon made possible the cheap mass production of high-quality consumer goods from children's toys to computers and sound systems. Wallace Carothers' invention revolutionized life in the twentieth century and beyond.
For More Information
Handley, Susannah. Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution: From Art Silk to Nylon and Thinking Fibres. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
Hermes, Matthew E. Enough For One Lifetime: Wallace Carothers, Inventor of Nylon. Washington, DC: American Chemical Society, 1996.
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