Cellophane. History of invention and production

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HISTORY OF TECHNOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY, OBJECTS AROUND US
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Cellophane. History of invention and production

The history of technology, technology, objects around us

Directory / The history of technology, technology, objects around us

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Cellophane is a transparent fat- and moisture-resistant film material obtained from viscose.

Cellophane is obtained from a solution of cellulose xanthate. By squeezing the xanthate solution into the acid bath through the spinnerets, the material is obtained in the form of fibers (viscose) or films (cellophane). The raw material for producing cellulose is wood.

Sausage in cellophane packaging

As you know, many discoveries are made by accident. So, one of the most famous materials of the XNUMXth century was invented and developed in the process of solving a completely different problem. Chemist and engineer Jacques Brandenberger wanted to find a way to keep tablecloths clean and found a material that revolutionized food packaging.

The foundation of this story was laid by the British chemists Charles Cross, Edward Bevan and Clayton Beadle, who in the 1890s developed and patented a reliable and safe method for the production of "artificial silk", which they called viscose. Natural cellulose was treated first with alkali and then with carbon disulfide, resulting in a soluble cellulose xanthate. When a viscous solution was fed through the spinnerets into the acid bath, cellulose was reduced in the form of strong transparent filaments.

Around the same time, Jacques Brandenberger (born 1872 in Zurich) graduated from the University of Bern and moved to France, where he took a job as a chemist in a textile company.

One day in 1900, Jacques was having lunch in a restaurant, and one of his colleagues awkwardly knocked over a glass of red wine on a snow-white tablecloth. While the waiter was changing the tablecloth, Brandenberger had an idea in his head of how to protect the tablecloth from such incidents. He assumed that by treating the fabric with viscose, it was possible to make it water-repellent. However, the experiment failed. After drying, the viscose-covered fabric became coarse and did not bend well. In addition, the coating turned out to be fragile: it peeled off in the form of a thin transparent film.

This film interested Brandenberger. Transparent as glass, but flexible and durable, it did not let water through, but absorbed it and let water vapor through. The material looked so promising that Brandenberger spent several years developing a method for its industrial production.

In 1912, Jacques Brandenberger founded the company La Cellophane (from the French words cellulose - cellulose, and diaphane - transparent) for the industrial production of a new material. However, there was no talk of any mass character - cellophane was not cheap and was used only as packaging for expensive gifts.

In 1923, Brandenberger transferred the rights to produce cellophane in the United States to DuPont, a decision that proved to be life-changing. A few years later, an employee of the American company Hale Church, having tried more than 2500 different coating options, was able to eliminate the main drawback of the material, making it impervious not only to water, but also to water vapor. This opened a wide road for cellophane into the food industry.

By the end of the 1930s, DuPont was earning 25% of the profits from cellophane sales, and only with the advent of polyethylene in the 1960s did this material cease to be the market leader. But even now, transparent plastic bags are often called cellophane out of habit.

Author: S.Apresov

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