The Announcement of "Nylon" by Du Pont
During a recent browse through the periodical section of the Doane library at the local Denison University, I came across an obscure journal, the "Magazine of History for Teachers of History", Science and Technology section, Winter 1998 issue. A particular article dealt with a project for students to write on the history of nylon. In this article was a reproduction of the first news release by du Pont, dated October 27, 1938. In this was predicted "...a material of hundreds of potential uses, one of which will be of revolutionary importance in fine hosiery." and "...was considered one of the most significant developments in the history of industrial research in the United States." Certainly both of these claims have been validated over the past sixty years. Continuing the announcement: "The new synthetic material is the outgrowth of research that has covered the better part of a decade. Its objective was the synthesis from readily available native raw materials of a wholly new group of chemical compounds capable of meeting definite deficiencies in many existing industrial materials that in the main are now imported. This group of compounds is called "nylon", a coined name. Nylon is the generic name for all materials defined scientifically as synthetic fiber-forming polymeric amides having a protein-like chemical structure, derivable from coal, air and water, or other substances, and characterized by extreme toughness and strength and the peculiar ability to be into fibers and into various shapes such as bristle and sheets." It is surprising that du Pont chose to make the coined word "nylon" (with lower case "n") a generic term rather than a trade name. I had always assumed that it was a trade name but had been relegated to a generic term rather than being so designated by the inventing organization. The word nylon is probably more recognizable throughout the world than any other name associated with the chemical industry. As a trade name it would have been invaluable. However, it readily accepted as a word coined by du Pont. Somewhere I read quite recently that du Pont initially had chosen the word "Delawear" for the initial products of nylon. That seems to have been a bit of jocularity.

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