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Overview

Although initially used in the manufacture of smokeless powder, DuPont’s nitrocellulose production led to the company’s diversification into non-explosive chemicals and finished goods. In the 1830s and 1840s, European chemists discovered that cotton dipped in nitric acid produced an explosive material. However, this early form of nitrocellulose was too unstable to be used safely in explosives production. Scientists later converted nitrocellulose into a stable base for an improved gunpowder known as smokeless powder. DuPont developed its own smokeless powder in the 1890s and became the leading manufacturer of the explosive for the U.S. military during World War I and World War II.

In addition to explosives, experiments revealed that a combination of nitrated cotton or wood pulp with ether and alcohol produced a non-explosive solution that hardened into a film. This discovery led to a wide array of end uses for nitrocellulose including plastics, lacquers and photographic film. Following the 1902 change in management at DuPont, the company looked to diversify into these new end uses for excess nitrocellulose production. In 1904 DuPont bought the International Smokeless Powder and Chemical Company which, in addition to smokeless powder, produced nitrocellulose lacquers. The 1910 purchase of the Fabrikoid Company brought DuPont into the production of artificial leather for the automobile industry. Acquisition of nitrocellulose-based companies was capped by the 1915 purchase of the Arlington Company, a manufacturer of pyroxylin plastics. DuPont continued to improve these products and develop new ones like Duco, a durable nitrocellulose lacquer that revolutionized the automotive finish business. The company first moved beyond nitrocellulose-based products in 1917 when it purchased the Harrison Brothers Paint Company. Thereafter, DuPont increasingly directed its diversification efforts into new chemical research for industrial and consumer products.

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