Nylon and the broadloom boom

Tufting supplied the machine; nylon supplied the material. The chenille bedspread machines of north Georgia were widened to make rugs and then broadloom carpet.¹1Carpet and Rug Institute, web page on the history of carpet, carpet-rug.org (quoted from search results; page not yet checked). Record This chapter follows the fibre that went into them, and the long campaign that taught Americans to want it underfoot.

A fibre from the laboratory

The word needs care. The fibre now called nylon 6,6 came out of Wallace Carothers’s research at DuPont, which the company patented in 1937 (“Linear condensation polymers”, granted 16 February) and 1938 (“Synthetic fiber”).²2Wallace H. Carothers, “Linear condensation polymers” (US2071250A), granted 16 Feb 1937. Record Wallace H. Carothers, “Synthetic fiber” (US2130948A), granted 20 Sep 1938. Record Hagley, which holds DuPont’s archives, marks the first of those dates as the day the company was granted its nylon patent.³3“Hagley Vault: ‘February 16, 1937: E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. was granted U.S. patent…’”, 1937, Hagley Museum and Library. Record The standard account of how DuPont turned Carothers’s polymer into a product is Hounshell and Smith’s Science and Corporate Strategy.⁴4David A. Hounshell, Science and Corporate Strategy: Du Pont R&D, 1902–1980, 1988. Record

A second nylon, nylon 6, was developed separately by Paul Schlack at IG Farben in Germany in 1938, and it too went into carpet: Allied Chemical’s Caprolan, a nylon 6, competed with DuPont’s fibre in tufted broadloom.⁵5“Nylon 6 was developed separately by Paul Schlack at IG Farben, Germany (1938), sold as Perlon”, research note. Record “DuPont invented nylon” is true, then, only of nylon 6,6.⁶6“Careful wording: ‘DuPont invented nylon’”, research note. Record

DuPont’s first nylon plant, at Seaford, Delaware, dates from 1939. Carpet came later: Hagley’s guide to the Seaford collection says nylon for the carpet industry was developed there in 1958.⁷7“Seaford Plant nylon collection (photographs, pamphlets, film)”, 1939–, Hagley. Record

First on the floor, and woven

Nylon reached the floor woven before it was tufted. DuPont used its own hotel in Wilmington as a showcase. A press release of 13 July 1948 reports that “a cut pile rug of burgundy spun nylon in Axminster weave was laid nine months ago in the Brandywine Room”, one of the Hotel du Pont’s restaurants, and that a Wilton carpet in a gray and white spiral pattern was planned for the Grill Room.⁸8“Hotel du Pont Installs Nylon Fabrics for Economy of Wear and Care”, 1948-07-13, Hagley, 1984259_010913_168. Record

Photographs of the hotel’s “Nylon Suite” show James Lees and Sons’ “Sculptex” carpet: “an all nylon face in grey-green”, which, the caption adds, “does not attract moths or other insects”.⁹9“The Nylon Suite at the Hotel DuPont”, 1945 (year approximate), Hagley, 1972341_1401 (related views 1972341_1366, _1369, _1371, _1373). Record

In May 1948 DuPont announced a first. The carpet came from the Nye-Wait Company of Auburn, New York, under the name “Splendante”, its pile woven in contrasting heights to give “a bas-relief effect”, in beige, gray and pastel green.¹⁰10“Luxurious Carpet: A New Use for Nylon”, 1948-05-12 (for release May 12), Hagley, 1984259_010913_162. Record

The first carpet on the market with pile completely woven of Du Pont nylon

DuPont press release, 12 May 1948

About 1955 Nye-Wait showed almost a hundred nylon carpet samples to the press in New York, all available nationally. DuPont’s caption called nylon carpeting “paradoxically the most luxurious yet in terms of wear life and upkeep, the most economical ever made”, and dated its introduction to five years before.¹¹11“Nylon carpeting [Nye-Wait ‘Splendante’ and ‘Cirque’ carpet]”, 1955 (year approximate), Hagley, 1972341_1333. Record

Nylon was tried by hand as well as by loom. In 1950 Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch made a hooked rug in nylon, 116 by 139 inches, which Hagley links to DuPont’s wear-testing of nylon for floor coverings; walked on, it frayed and pilled.¹²12Nylon hooked rug made by Nancy du Pont Reynolds Cooch (Mrs. Edward W. Cooch Jr.), 1950, Hagley, 2012.8.1. Record It is a rare handmade bridge between rug-making at home and synthetic carpet, though not the only nylon hooked rug: Hagley also holds one in nylon and cotton from 1975–1990.¹³13Hooked rug in nylon and cotton, maker unknown, 1975–1990, Hagley, 2015.10.2. Record

Keeping carpet clean was a project of its own. About 1955 DuPont photographed a test strip of carpet partly treated with Ludox colloidal silica: after vacuuming, “treated areas emerge clean, while untreated portions remain dirty and dingy”. A companion photograph said Ludox “is rapidly being adopted by the carpet industry as a soil retardant”.¹⁴14“Carpet test strip partly treated with Ludox colloidal silica”, 1955 (year approximate), Hagley, 1972341_2649 (related: 1972341_2692). Record

And nylon was already being tufted. A DuPont photograph of about the same date shows a bath mat and matching lid cover “tufted with DuPont nylon”, which their maker described as machine washable.¹⁵15“Nylon carpeting [tufted nylon bath mat and lid cover]”, 1955 (year approximate), Hagley, 1972341_1332. Record

Made for tufting: “501” and BCF

The fibre that made tufted broadloom took its working form in the late 1950s. Tom McAndrews, who worked in DuPont’s textile fibres business, recalled in a 2018 oral history that DuPont made carpet filament from 1952 and launched “501” carpet nylon, with a special crimp, in 1958.¹⁶16“Oral history: Tom McAndrews (DuPont Textile Fibers)”, 2018, Hagley. Record

The form that mattered most was bulked continuous filament, or BCF. Later histories date it variously to 1957 and 1959. DuPont’s own chronology, in its anniversary booklet Nylon: The First 25 Years (1963), gives 1958: “A special bulked continuous filament nylon yarn was developed for carpeting; it soon revolutionized the market for rugs and carpeting.”¹⁷17“DuPont introduces bulked continuous filament (BCF) nylon for carpet”, 1958. Record “Nylon: The First 25 Years”, 1963, Hagley, 1984259_121412_004. Record

The market moved quickly. Tufted carpet sales, near zero in the late 1940s, passed 100 million square yards by 1958.¹⁸18Randall L. Patton, “A History of the U.S. Carpet Industry”, EH.Net Encyclopedia (Economic History Association). Record Tufted carpet reportedly sold wholesale at about half the price of woven.¹⁹19“Tufted carpet sold wholesale at about half the price of woven”, 1950s, research note. Record By 1963 DuPont’s booklet could claim that “nylon for carpets now totals over 150 million pounds a year”, and that the continuous type had helped nylon take “over 26 per cent of market for broadloom carpeting”.²⁰20“Nylon: The First 25 Years”, 1963, Hagley, 1984259_121412_004, image 25. Record

The old weavers moved too. Mohawk and Alexander Smith, two of the great woven-carpet firms, merged as Mohasco in 1956.²¹21“1956: Mohawk merges with Alexander Smith to form Mohasco, as tufting takes over”, 1956, research note. Record Its 1957 annual report describes new synthetic fibres in its lines, Chromspun acetate and Acrilan acrylic, and new manufacturing techniques for its tufted and velvet fabrics, for which “patents have been received or are pending”.²²22“1957 Annual Report, Mohasco Industries, Inc.”, 1957, Hagley, 72430_477, page image 7. Record

Selling a synthetic floor

A new fibre had to be sold twice: to the trade, and to the people who would walk on it. In 1952 Ernest Dichter’s Institute for Motivational Research had proposed a psychological study of “the Sales and Advertising Problems” of the Carpet Institute, the wool carpet industry’s trade body.²³23“153A: The Carpet Institute, Inc. - Proposal for a Psychological Research Study on the Sales and Advertising Problems of the Carpet Institute, Inc., 1952”, 1952, Hagley, Accession 2407, Box 8, 153A. Record For DuPont, Dichter studied why shoppers resisted or embraced nylon carpet,²⁴24“A motivational research study of the sales and advertising problems of nylon carpets on the retail level”, Hagley, Box 42, 954C. Record and in November 1957 he proposed a second study, of its acceptance among distributors, buyers and retailers.²⁵25“A Creative Problem Analysis and Proposal for a Motivational Research Study of Nylon Carpeting Acceptance among Distributors, Buyers and Retailers”, 1957-11, Hagley, MSS_2407_042_0954A1. Record In January 1959 DuPont’s own market researchers reported on “Retailers’ Attitudes Toward Carpet Fibers and the Du Pont Airwaves Program Promoting 100% Nylon Carpeting”.²⁶26“E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Textile Fibers Department records”, 1899-1988, Hagley, Accession 1771. Record

The airwaves were literal. DuPont sponsored network drama, and “DuPont Carpet Nylon” commercials ran in its breaks: in The DuPont Show with June Allyson on 5 October 1959 and 11 January 1960;²⁷27“‘The Opening Door’ (The DuPont Show with June Allyson, Episode No. 1-3), with a DuPont Carpet Nylon commercial”, 1959-10-05, Hagley, FILM_1995300_FC305 (FC 305). Record “‘The Trench Coat’ (The DuPont Show with June Allyson. Episode No. 1-16), with a DuPont Carpet Nylon commercial”, 1960-01-11, Hagley, FC 322. Record in The DuPont Show of the Month in 1960, in “The Way Home” with Ronald Reagan;²⁸28“‘The DuPont Show of the Month: The Way Home’, with a DuPont Carpet Nylon commercial”, 1960, Hagley, FC 319. Record with June Allyson again on 20 February 1961;²⁹29“‘The Old Fashioned Way’ (The DuPont Show with June Allyson. Episode No. 2-21), with a DuPont Carpet Nylon commercial”, 1961-02-20, Hagley, FC 352. Record and, as “DuPont 501 Carpet Nylon”, in The DuPont Show of the Week in 1962.³⁰30“‘The Beauty of Woman’ (The DuPont Show of the Week. Production Number 4036), with a DuPont 501 Carpet Nylon commercial”, 1962, Hagley, FC 366. Record

In print the campaign ran in the New York Times Magazine in 1960³¹31“DuPont Carpet Nylon”, 1960, Hagley, dpads_1803_00475. Record and on through the mid-1960s, from “A Houseful of Value … All ‘501’” (1965) to “Those Five Tough DuPont Tests” (1966).³²32“A Houseful of Value ... All '501'”, 1965, Hagley, dpads_1803_00643. Record “Those Five Tough DuPont Tests”, 1966, Hagley, dpads_1803_00650. Record One advertisement of 1966 was headed:

Don’t Let Anyone Mislead You, DuPont 501 Is Not the Name of a Fiber

DuPont advertisement, 1966

Designers showed the carpet in rooms. At the 1962 Decoration & Design Show in New York, William Pahlmann Associates laid wall-to-wall carpet of “continuous filament nylon in white and beige” by James Lees & Sons, named “Happy Day”.³³33“William Pahlmann Associates sitting area, 1962 Decoration & Design Show, New York: continuous filament nylon carpet”, 1962, Hagley, 1972430_1080. Record Competitors answered with their own fibres and their own advertising, among them Allied Chemical’s Caprolan.³⁴34“Caprolan carpet nylon advertisement (Allied Chemical), Duke AdViews”, Duke University Libraries (AdViews), dmbb00804. Record

Antron, and after

In 1967 DuPont introduced a new carpet fibre under the headline “Meet Antron: The New Carpet Fiber for Enduring Elegance”.³⁵35“‘Meet Antron: The New Carpet Fiber for Enduring Elegance’”, 1967, Hagley, dpads_1803_00680. Record By 1969 its advertisements called Antron “the Luxury Carpet Fiber from DuPont”.³⁶36“‘Antron Is the Luxury Carpet Fiber from DuPont’”, 1969, Hagley, dpads_1803_00709. Record “‘Antron Nylon Is the Luxury Carpet Fiber from DuPont’”, 1969, Hagley, dpads_1803_00712. Record Sarah Archer has written about this advertising and the image of luxury it sold.³⁷37Sarah Archer, “Luxury Underfoot”, 2023, Material Intelligence. Record

The same year a DuPont chemist, Donald Hull, invented conductive fibres to control static in nylon carpet.³⁸38“Donald R. Hull papers”, Hagley. Record The promotion could be spectacular: for the 1977 New York City Marathon, DuPont laid Antron carpet on a bridge for the runners.³⁹39“‘New York City Marathon 1977’: Antron carpet laid on a bridge for runners”, 1977 (record dated 1980–81), Hagley, FC 249. Record

Nylon carried other names into American homes too. A rug labelled “Winterthur Collection”, 100 per cent nylon and made by Shaw Rugs under licence from the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum, has appeared at auction.⁴⁰40“Winterthur Collection” area rug, 100% nylon, made by Shaw Rugs under licence, Private (auction listing). Record The du Pont name had come full circle, from the laboratory to the period room.

The argument of this chapter is simple. Tufting supplied the machine and nylon the material. The broadloom boom was the two together, and a decade of advertising made it something every household wanted.