The Story of Nylon The creation of a class of materials known as super polymers in the 1930s was one of the greatest scientific discoveries in HISTORY.  In 1928 the management of E.I du Pont de Nemours & Company assembled several teams of leading CHEMISTS with the initial goal of engaging in pure scientific research.    This effort was the beginning of large scale industrial research in the field of modern chemical science.  The team led by Dr. Wallace H. Carothers was eventually credited with the invention of Nylon. The first true synthetic fiber was drawn from a test tube in 1930 by Dr. Julian Hill, who was working as part of Dr. Carothers' research team.    After years of trying many different combinations to achieve the desired properties, the search finally came to rest in February of 1935 on a material known as polyhexamethyleneadipamide; fiber 66.  This specific material was SELECTED by Dr. Elmer Bolton as the most promising candidate for commercial success, due to the fact that the raw materials necessary to create it were relatively inexpensive and readily available in large quantities. In April of 1937, laboratory samples of Nylon were used to successfully knit the first pair of experimental stockings.  On September 21, 1938, the national press reported the issue of a DuPont patent covering a new textile fiber.  36 days later, on October 27, 1938, "Nylon" was officially announced to the world at the New York Herald Tribune's eighth annual forum on current problems.  Less than 50,000 pounds had been produced to this point for development purposes. The first public sale of Nylon hosiery was held in Wilmington, DE. on October 24th, 1939. Nearly 45 million people had their first glimpse of hosiery made from Nylon at the 1939 World's Fair in New York.  This demonstration created an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response and DuPont began full scale production in December of 1939. Nylons were made available for sale nationwide on May 15th, 1940.  DuPont's experience in the manufacturing of Rayon and other materials, in conjunction with exceptional determination and a clear long term vision for the future, had enabled them to ramp up to full scale production in record time.    By 1944 approximately 25 million pounds of Nylon had been produced in the United States.    This number would later rise to an astounding 600 million pounds by the end of 1963. Although the manufacture of ladies stockings was the largest single use for Nylon, it was by no means the only use.  Nylon shares some of the credit for the allied victory in World War II.  AMERICA entered the war on December 7th, 1941.  On February 10th, 1942 the flow of Nylon to hosiery mills abruptly stopped and all production from the newly completed and expanding plant in Seaford, Delaware was allocated for defense priorities.  The new material had ARRIVED just in time to have a significant impact on the war.    It was used in lieu of silk to make