Document ka9JXmx7BqXJb66v8vKxmNKnn

f The l.uwlamL /ennessee. plan/ ><f Amernan /Olka Cnrpufatmn makes au uttpres.Mie aerial rte;t. Erg/nning operation in /VA. it is J equipped with the most modern maihinery. I he power plant i.\ seen in the background. 1 he other stasks handle fatness jt'aste gas. I IN AMERICAN ENKA CORPORATION'S LOWLAND PLANT ERHAPS ever since the Chinese started using silk, nhoul 2640 B.C., scientific and curious people have been in- j_ P trigued with the prospect of making 'artificial silk." It is recorded that in 1664 an English naturalist and research i scientist suggested that a way might be found to make an artificial composition resembling the substance spun by silk worms. A Frenchman, de Chardonnet, in 1878 began an extensive study of the life and habits of silkworms. Al ter many failures, he chemically "digested'" mulberry leaves to produce nitrocellulose. He forced a syruplike solution through tiny holes in the end of a nozzle and patented his process in 1 884. His "artificial silk" was a sensation at the Paris World Exposition in 1889. Various other discoveries and developments came along rather rapidly. In 1911 at Marcus Hook, Pa., Oourtaulds and Company started the first viscose plant in the United Slates. In 1924 the term "artificial silk" was discarded in favor of "rayon." In a comparatively short time rayon has advanced from a laboratory curiosity to a vast industry employing PAGE 4 POWKltFAX. SI'HINC. 1954