![]() ![]() The process was revolutionary, a vast improvement over earlier batch or step-by-step approaches. “It started as an elegant piece of research in polymer chemistry,” says Irénée, “and came out as the biggest moneymaker the DuPont Company has ever seen or ever thought of.” Behind DuPont’s success was a new technique for continuous operations with the ingredients at one end and the product at the other. Nylon dresses, stockings and other goods swept the fashion industry. In the late 1930s, DuPont continued its innovative trend by introducing nylon, the world’s first synthetic polymer. DuPont would become the world’s largest producer of the explosive during World War I, providing 40% of the gunpowder used by the Allies, or 1.5 billion pounds. This new type of powder allowed for the development of semi- and fully automatic firearms and lighter breeches and barrels for artillery. Shortly thereafter, researchers at DuPont developed smokeless gunpowder, a remarkable improvement over the centuries-old black powder. “The Experimental Station was built in an old powder mill,” recalls Irénée du Pont, Jr., the great-great grandson of Eleuthère. “The purpose was to improve the quality of the gunpowder, being almost the only product that the DuPont Company made.” In 1903, the company established the Experimental Station, an industrial research center initiated to apply scientific knowledge and methods to improve its gunpowder technologies. du Pont de Nemours & Company. Founded by Eleuthère Irénée du Pont in 1802, the DuPont Company was a major chemical and munitions manufacturer with an impressive track record of innovation and success. One of the most important companies involved in the Manhattan Project was the E.I. ![]() Thus, many of the production processes that are prevalent today had their origins in the Manhattan Project. From magnets to vacuum pumps, from welding seams to sterile operating conditions, every new production operation demanded new technology. Nazi Germany quickly conquered most of Europe and nothing less than the future of the free world was at stake.Īmerican industry was being asked to design and manufacture equipment that went way beyond the tolerances that anyone had previously thought possible. Although most US companies were already tasked with critical wartime contracts, most rose to the occasion if the President asked them. The task of building the world’s first atomic bomb might never have succeeded without the help of some of America’s foremost corporations.
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