April 27th marks the birthdate of the chemist Wallace Hume Carothers, credited with leading the invention of Neoprene artificial rubber and Nylon synthetic fiber. Carothers worked as a chemist in E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company's Fundamental Research Program from 1928 until his death in 1937.

Carothers' work at the DuPont Experimental Station focused on polymerization and the ways in which polymers structurally analogous to cellulose and silk could be prepared. In early 1930 the chemists in Carothers' laboratory produced neoprene, the first laboratory-synthesized fiber and first commercially successful synthetic rubber. This ca. 1932 photograph from Hagley Library's DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341) shows Carothers demonstrating the properties of neoprene. Nylon, the first synthetic polymer fibre to be spun from a melt, was developed in 1934.  

This week's Hagley Vault post comes from our Lukens Steel Company photographs (Accession 1972.360) collection and shows the company's process for heat treatment of steel discs around the year 1950.

The Lukens Steel Company was a medium-sized, non-integrated steel company and one of the top three producers of steel plates in the nation. It was founded in Coatesville, Pennsylvania in 1810 and controlled by members of the Pennock, Lukens and Huston families in direct succession for over 180 years; the company is noted for being the first industrial company in the United States led by a woman, Rebecca Lukens (1794-1854).