SYNTHETIC FIBRES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21379, 23 June 1939, Page 16

SYNTHETIC FIBRES

A NEW PRODUCT STRONGER THAN SILK Nylon is a new competitor in the synthetic fibre field, competing with rayon and indirectly with wool as a material for hosiery and underwear. It was described by Lord McGowan, to shareholders of Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., at their annual meeting in London on May 11. Following his remarks on this new material, which has been named Nylon, Lord McGowan stressed the importance of business recovery in the United States. The future, he said, will depend to some extent on the United States. “But it will depend still more upon world political conditions, for the forecast of which the industrialists cannot be held to be responsible. Of the United States it may be said that there has been an expeditious recovery from the sudden plunge downwards which took place in the autumn of 1937. Conditions there to-day are more stable, though I observe with regret a slight backward movement in the first few months of this year.” Referring to Nylon, Lord McGowan said; "It was our close and long-stand-ing relation for technical purposes with Messrs E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. that has given us the opportunity to acquire the rights for the British Empire, excluding Canada, to manufacture the new synthetic organic material, nylon, recently patented by that company, after research which has covered the better part of a decade.

“As some of the principal uses of this new product are in the textile industry with which w r e are not directly concerned, we entered into negotiations with Messrs Courtaulds, Limited, for the formation of a joint company to carry out the manufacture of nylon yarns and fibres in the United Kingdom.

“The yarns and fibres manufactured by the joint company will, in due course, be made available to the existing silk and textile industries. Nylon, when drawn into fine filaments, is closer in its actual chemical structure to real silk than anything yet made by man, and is actually stronger and more elastic than silk itself.

“Naturally the possibilities in this country are much smaller than in the United States, so that at the commencement the factory will be on a small scale with provision for extension to meet future demands as they arise. Besides its use as a textile fibre, nylon may be worked up as bristles, racquet strings, and fishing lines, and as a plastic it has great potentialities which are receiving our close attention.”