September: The making of cellulose esters

On 30th September, 1902, the 'making of cellulose esters' was patented by William H Walker, Arthur D Little and Harry S Mork.  The term 'Rayon' was used in 1924 to replace the various names like 'artificial silk' that had previously been used.  Rayon is made from wood pulp which occurs naturally, this is what distinguishes it from other man-made fibres in that the rest are generally synthetic.  The properties of rayon are more similar to those of natural cellulosic fibres such as cotton than those of petroleum-based fibres such as nylon.

Amongst its collection, the RSC library holds items relating to man-made/artificial fibres dating back to the 1930s including 'The manufacture of viscose rayon' by F G Denton & E J Whyte, 1952.