Elmer Keiser Bolton
When Wallace Carothers arrived at DuPont in 1928 one of the tasks his group took on was the development of new synthetic fibers for textiles. At that time a number of natural polymers such as latex and cellulose were in common use, rayon as a semisynthetic from nitrated cellulose had recently been improved and begun upending the textile industries, and some fully synthetic polymers such as bakelite were also known and being used for certain applications, but the existing fully synthetic polymers could not be drawn into fibers and spun into thread, so great opportunity existed to manufacture thread and yarn from synthetic polymers to join or replace the existing fibers in the market (natural fibers such as cotton, wool, linen, and silk and artificial fiber in the various recently emerged types of rayon).
Morada (company)
The Cohen brothers were looking for a commercial edge and became aware, in 1894, that Charles Cross, Edward Bevan and Clayton Beadle had patented their "artificial silk" which they named "Viscose" in the UK and "Rayon" in the US, and sold under the trade name "Dacron". Although natural polymers have been with around since time began, synthetic polymers are more recent and owe their origin to Alexander Parkes and his exhibits at the International Exhibition in London in 1862. The most basic building block of a polymer is a monomer, which, when combined with oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine, or fluoride, becomes a "polymers". The most important polymer, for fabric construction is Polyethylene terephthalate, more commonly known as "polyester". The bright vibrant synthetic fabrics made from these synthetic "building blocks" exhibit a silk "handle"; and all the comfort properties of natural fibres, imitating silk, wool and linen.