science · 30 September 1902 · 122 years ago
In 1902, the "making of cellulose esters" was jointly patented by William H. Walker, Arthur D. Little and Harry S. Mork of Massachusetts. (U.S. No. 709922). A month later, on 28 Oct 1902, they also patented artificial silk (No. 712,200). Viscose was an early name for the product. The term rayon was adopted by the textile industry in 1924 to replace "artificial silk" and similar names. It was said to derive from the French for "shine" - a reference to its silklike lustre. Unlike most man-made fibers, rayon is not synthetic. Made from wood pulp, a naturally-occurring, cellulose-based raw material, rayon's properties are more similar to those of natural cellulosic fibers, such as cotton or linen, than those of petroleum-based synthetic fibers such as nylon.
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