It opened up a new world of textiles
-the invention of nylon in 1933. In 193s, the invention of carothers, the "father of nylon", was like a blockbuster, which caused a global "nylon commotion".
Before the invention of nylon, human beings could only rely on the gift of nature to weave with silk, wool and cotton. However, after all, the gift of nature is limited, so human beings are eager to find another way to invent something that can replace natural fibers. The historical opportunity was given to Hualaitu Hume carothers.
Wallace Hume Carothers was born in Burlington, USA in 1896. In 1921, he studied at the University of Illinois and obtained a master's degree in organic chemistry. In 1924, he received a doctor's degree in organic chemistry. Later, he taught and studied at Harvard University. In 1928, DuPont, founded by French-American dupont family, hired him as the research director of organic chemistry in the laboratory in Delaware.
During this period, carothers carefully studied the polycondensation discovered by German polymer chemist staudinger. Around 1931, he and his research team found that when the molecular polymerization degree of a substance is greater than a certain value, it can be spun into silk, and after cooling, a fibrous filament with certain toughness can be obtained, which can be stretched several times. Can such fiber silk replace natural fibers such as silk to weave? From 1933 to 1934, carothers and his assistants synthesized hundreds of nylon fibers. In 1935, they finally invented a synthetic fiber with good flexibility and high tensile strength, and named it nylon-66.
Because this kind of nylon-66 is synthesized by using chemical elements such as carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen which can be easily extracted from air, water, coal or oil, the cost is low. In 1939, Dupont Company quickly started large-scale industrial production, and announced that it is "a nylon yarn with beautiful luster that is thinner than spider silk and stronger than steel wire".
Nylon-66 was first introduced to the market in the sock industry. At that time, DuPont used a 3-foot-high thigh model to cover nylon socks to promote it. Women in western countries like to wear light-colored socks. The original socks made of cotton fiber and wool are not suitable for this requirement, and they look heavy. Silk is expensive, while socks made of nylon are thin, light, strong and elastic, which is of course widely favored by consumers. From 1938 to the end of 1939, nylon socks spread all over the United States from trial production to large-scale market, and then became popular all over the world. Various countries have introduced patents to build factories and put them into production. At that time, women all over the world bought more than 4 million pairs of nylon socks a day, which was called "nylon commotion" by the news media of that year.
The popularity of nylon socks has also brought the popularity of short skirts. Thin and elastic nylon stockings has replaced the relatively bloated and rough cotton and linen fabric, and women are willing to show more of their beautiful legs. After World War II, many soldiers like to buy a pair of nylon stockings in their pockets and give it to their beloved woman-nylon stockings became a popular love gift at that time, and some even tried on this sweet token of love in the street after receiving the gift. Since then, nylon has been used in a wider range of fields. People use it to make hot air balloons, nylon mosquito nets, underwear and so on.