Viscose
A natural
polymer made from wood pulp, viscose was first
patented by Cross, Bevan & Beadle in Britain
in 1892. The word viscose is believed to have
been used by Cross to describe the product,
although in the US in the 1920s the word rayon
was adopted.
Viscose was first used for coating fabrics which
it did quite successfully. However, when Cross
and his partners tried to make solid objects like
umbrella handles they were found to be much too
brittle.
Further development led to viscose being spun
into thread for embroidery and trimmings.
Eventually, after Samuel Courtauld & Co. had
taken over in 1904, viscose manufacture became
big business. By the twenties and thirties it had
almost completely replaced the traditional cotton
and wool for women’s stockings and underwear.
Similar changes occurred in the US and in Europe,
too.
Viscose was also being used for linings and
furnishing fabrics; providing the staple for
towels and table-cloths and was being made into
high tenacity yarn for tyres. Yet other uses
included the manufacture of sponges and absorbent
cloths.
Making viscose film had been tried by Cross in
the 1890s but it was in Switzerland and France
that major successes were achieved. By 1913 C.T.A.
established La Cellophane SA. Ten years later
DuPont Cellophane Co. was set up in the USA and
in 1935 British Cellophane Ltd. was established.
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