German use of Rayon

[Ralph A]

This particular piece is a sample given out at a 1937 Berlin trade exhibition, touting the fine qualities of German workmanship in Rayon. It is indeed made from all Rayon.

What exactly is Rayon? It starts with chips from pine or spruce trees, which are treated with alkali solutions to separate the cellulose from lignin. The resulting pulp is pressed into sheets of raw cellulose, which are soaked in caustic soda, then dried and broken up into cellulose crumbs. These are aged for a few days under strictly controlled temperatures and humidities. Then, liquid carbon disulfide is added to the crumbs, and then mixed with more caustic soda to make a viscous solution the color and consistency of honey. This mixture is called “Viscose”. The viscose is aged, filtered, boiled, then pumped through spinnerets into a bath of sulphuric acid, which coagulates the Viscose into filaments of 100% cellulose, which can be spun into thread and yarn.

Of course the stuff is then washed and purified to remove any caustic chemicals.

Easy, right?

You can see how this sort of “synthetic” fabric might appeal to a country in need of “ersatz” materials to replace scarce natural resources.

Rayon is soft and comfortable, and was initially known as “artificial silk”, but it draws up like crazy when wet, and loses a great deal of its strength. Never wet your Rayon cloth collectibles. Also, at the molecular level, Rayon looks and acts like “glass rods”; that is, given enough twisting and bending, then fabric will “break”. Rayon, being cellulose-based, is more absorbent than cotton (which is nature’s best run at 100% cellulose), but burns more easily.

The embroidery work in this piece is exceptional. The stitchery is the tightest I’ve ever seen, and I have dealt with 100’s of embroiderers over the years.

Note on the reverse how each color is one, long thread. As the embroidery needle jumps from area to area, it leaves a flyer of string. See how the craftsman manipulated the design so the red thread neatly “ties down” the loose black loops, and so on. Modern embroiderers usually don’t do this; they just snip the threads, which adds a time-consuming, labor-intensive step to the process. Whoever did this work was a master at “maschinenstickeri”, as you would expect from a company putting forth their best work at a trade show.

Many of us own cloth collectibles made of German Rayon, and if you ever doubted that they were capable of manufacturing it just before and during WW2, here is proof that they not only were, but with a high degree of sophistication, as this piece shows.

[Terry K.]

Ralph, That's a great read and helps prove a point of mine for years, that the Germans and others had synthetic cloth, etc...
So much for the black light test!!
Terry

[Ralph A]

Black light test is still good.

Terry, Rayon is not really considered a synthetic fabric, as it is made from natural cellulose. The harsh chemicals are leached out, leaving only natural fibers.

The black light test is good for detecting Nylon, a petrochemical-base, synthetic fiber.

Wallace Hume Carothers was only just developing Nylon (amine, hexamethylene diamine and adipic acid) in 1937, and DuPont did not begin practical production until just before the onset of war.

The Germans had only synthetic rubber (neoprene, another Carruther's invention), but no synthetic fabrics available to them. ( yes they did. see correction, below )

Extract from "Fortune Magazine" about Nylon, circa 1938: "Nylon breaks the basic elements like nitrogen and carbon out of coal, air and water to create a completely new molecular structure of its own. It flouts Solomon. It is an entirely new arrangement of matter under the sun, and the first completely new synthetic fiber made by man. In over four thousand years, textiles have seen only three basic developments aside from mechanical mass production: mercerized cotton, synthetic dyes and rayon. Nylon is a fourth."

[Terry K.]

Ralph,
That's still great info. What about the black light? Wouldn't it show some of that? I know there are many things from back then that glowed, as I have had some original stuff that did.
Best,Terry

[Ralph A]

Perhaps.

I would think the black light test would give false positives in some instances. Fabric dyes can certainly have photo- and even thermal-chromatic properties. I would imagine the Germans used all sorts of synthetic dyes on fabrics.

[keifer kahn]

Sorry raplph,
i disagree with the statement the german had no syntheticsprior to WW2.
In 1937 Paul Schlack of I.G.Farbenindustries at Berlin-Lichtenberg developed Nylon 6(known as Perlon).This was spun in some quantity in several I.G factories.This was the equivalent to modern nylon.
It was the germans who actually took the curruthers formula and developed it into a manufacturable product.I.G.farben had a cartel agreement with duponts ,which meant basically they shared patents,ideas and formulas.Duponts received the working idea after the germans had acheived success.This is why duponts manufactured their version at a later date.

Perlon"T",which is known as nylon 66(slightly different and was the period version of the american type)was also spun in germany in quantities during ww2.

Perlon"U" which is polyeurathane fibre(early forerunners of elastic) was also produced.

Ive seen period german magazines,1938-9,advertising perlon in articles.

also if something glows,it has "Absolutely "nothing to do with wether or not its made of nylon.Its all to do with the dye or somethings that have natural fluoresence.


regards keifer

[keifer kahn]

Aslo rayon was a common and well known clothing material by the late 1920,s so i dont understand why you think anyone would doubt it was used.
Also rayon was first produced due to the high cost associated with importing cotton.In 1928,cotton cost $5 a bale,the same amount of rayon,50c!

[Adrian Stevenson]

Perlon

Hi Guys, I have taken a pic of a photo article about "Perlon" taken from Dutch edtion "Signaal" magazine for Sept.2nd 1942.
I could not scan it as it was too large to fit under my scanner
Cheers, Ade.

[Ralph A]

Excellent input Keifer!

...and this underlines some of the mystery around cloth items of the period in question. Your info is good, though I’d argue a few points. Instead of doing that, let’s work together to separate fact from fiction, and add something to the Forum knowledge base. Perhaps an article will spring from it…

Rayon was indeed first commercially produced by the “father of rayon”, French chemist Count Hilaire de Chardonnet, in his plant at Basancon in 1889.

Paul Schlack of I. G. Farben introduced Perlon (polymerized caprolactam), after Carothers and the boys at DuPont developed “Nylon 6-6” (so-named due to the respective number of molecules in the diamine and dibasic acid). Other countries had to develop new ways to polymerize the stuff (since DuPont held a patent) and “Nylon 6” was one way to do so. Nylon 6 melts at a lower temperature, and is more brittle.

I believe you are correct that the Germans were working with DuPont on “Nylon 66 “, as the best supply of one of the intermediate compounds, adipic acid, was then being produced in Germany! As the international situation began to deteriorate, I imagine these ties were severed, and the Germans fell back on what you call “Perlon”. Of course, DuPont’s entire production of Nylon, 25 millions pounds per year at peak, was diverted to military use for such things as parachutes, airplane tire cord, glider tow rope and much more.

I don’t know how much Perlon the Germans were actually using during the war, but I can’t imagine it was large scale? Your research seems to be better than mine on this.

I say we pool our resources and get to the bottom of some of the myth and mystery. As far as fabric vs. dyes flourescing, even though this has been talked to death, let’s do some more research here, too. I’ve been in the textile manufacturing and distribution business for over two decades and can get the mills to answer some basic questions once and for all about why some fabrics flouresce and others don’t.

If we work together, we can really make a contribution to the Forum guys who collect cloth and even uniforms! Understanding the nature of the materials will lend to better appreciation and care of the same; how twill and denim are different from poplin and chino, where Rayon (and Nylon) were actually used, and how much, what types of dyes were in use, and how they were made; why they flouresce, etc.

I can bring many resources to bear from the industry in which I work: Hanes Knitwear, Anvil Knitwear, Capital-Mercury (Bill Blass and Arnold Palmer menswear manufacturer), Fruit of the Loom, Outer Banks, Russell Athletics, Lee/Vanity Fair among a dozen others, and a myraid of weavers, spinners, finishers, convertors, sewers, dyers, etc. worldwide. I’ll come up with a letter explaining what we want to know, and mail it to all my contacts.

Any interest in this? We should narrow down our questions if we do this, and publish the results.

Let me know.

Best regards, and thanks for the great info,

Ralph

[Ralph A]

Of interest:

"A closer examination of the facts revealed that it was not chemical bleaching agents that caused this (flourescing) effect, but the actual fibers of the material itself. While it is true that chemical whitening agents are used to make modern materials appear 'whiter', what UV black light typically responds to is the material itself. In post WWII materials it is the synthetically produced fiber that is causing the fluorescing rather than the chemical agent used to whiten the fiber. In some cases it is the combination of the two factors both material and whitening agents."

and further on:

"Did wartime Germany ever employ the use of synthetic materials or did they just use wool, rayon and cotton?
Were chemical whitening agents ever used in Germany that give the same effect on white materials like those found in modern fibers?

And of course the answer is YES! Much to the chagrin of those who rely exclusively on UV black lights to determine authenticy, wartime Germany did in fact use such materials at various points in their manufacturing history. Patent searches reveal that many leading industrial textile firms in Germany had submitted for approval the use of chemical whitening agents as early as 1890! That would mean that by the start of WWII, the German textile industry would have had nearly 50 years of direct experience in advanced textile production using chemical whitening agents."

-From this article:

http://www.german-helmets.com/blacklights_article.htm

So you see, research up to this point is, at best, inconclusive. Time to call in the big guns (the manufacturers) and get to the bottom of this once and for all.

I'll work on it!

[djpool]

Early Syntheitics/Blacklight

Very interesting post. There was a super article published in the Military Advisor Fall 92, Titled ,The Black light Early Synthetics and Reproductions. Without posting the article,the truth is there were many coal based dyes, amino acids, metals etc used in the manufacturing of clothing and insignia before and during the war that will "glow" under the blacklight. As also noted period pieces that are dry cleaned or washed with most modern detergents will also glow. As far as synthetic fibers are concerned I'll quote" Many synthetic fibers came into use before WWII. By 1927 rayon had been developed in Germany and was in use in Germany and the United States. This was later followed by Dacron and Orlon. In 1936 nylon was developed by DuPont in the U.S. and in germany where one brand name was Cellulon (celleon)." Of course Celleon was used for general Officer insignia. Then of course theres a question of what synthetics may have been used in the areas occupied by the Germans during the war, since captured stocks of textiles etc were used to produce German uniforms etc. Jim

[keifer kahn]

Thsi is the type of thread i like.Information gathering and dissemination that helps to debunk a lot of false information.

In regards to perlon and its distribution.The factories that manufactured it were in the soviet zone of control when the war ended.They were dismantled ,and all records retained by the soviets,so we may have to wait for the information to trickle out like a lot of new info that pops up every now and then.I do know that the russians did reactivate the factories and began producing their own type.

I have personally encountered perlon usage in some insignia.
Wartime Perlon does burn in a particular way,and most people if they see it would discount it automatically as modern nylon.
Perlon does melt,but does not melt in the same erratic nature as modern polyesters.Modern polyesters tend to melt to a ball,but they will be erratic in their burn ,some will"pop",sizzle,some may retain an ash residue with a hard ball underneath(common with cotton/polyester types.some will also string.All typical of melted plastic.
All the tests with Perlon I have done show a consistent burn characteristic.It melts slowly,and melts to a hard black bead.always consistently showing a grey centre.I repeated this test countless times with different test samples from different sources,and each time the exact same burn characteristic.
i tested many different types polyesters and all it showed were inconsistent type burns as described.

The tests also parralled examples from these books"man made fibres of the 20th century" and " cotton to nylon/ a study".

regards keifer

[Bruce Simcox]

Excellent thread.....

......I have a book that has been in my possession since 1985. WHY DO SOME SHOES SQUEAK AND 568 POPULAR QUESTIONS ANSWERED by George W. Stimpson, Bell Publishing Company, New York, 1984, ISBN: 0-517-455749.

I will quote directly from the book, pages 23-24:

Why is artificial silk called rayon ?

In 1923 the National Retail Dry Goods Association of the United States invited a number of associations to form a committee for the purpose of selecting a substitute for the name artificial silk, which was deemed inadequate and misleading. After considering many suggestions by the public, glos was adopted by the committee on January 25, 1924. This term however, failed to meet with general approval, and, therefore, another committee was appointed to select a more euphonious word. This second committee consisted of twenty men, who represented the leading manufacturers and consumers of artificial silk. The chairman of this committee was Mr. S. A. Salvage, president of the Viscose Company, pioneer rayon manufacturers in the United States. In a statement dated September 4, 1928, and addressed to the author, Mr. Salvage explained how rayon was coined:


We started with no ideas, but we felt that a two-syllable word would be preferable, and a member of the committee suggested that as the product had a brilliant luster, one syllable should be ray, and we finally concluded to tack on to it, and thus the word rayon was born. There was no connection with the French word rayon, and we felt at the time there would not be much confusion over the two words on account of the different pronunciation, but we now know that there would already have been a world-wide adoption of the term rayon had it not conflicted with the French word.


The National Retail Dry Goods Association officially adopted the new word on May 23, 1924, and other interested organizations soon followed suit. It was later adopted by the Federal Trade Commission, The Department of Commerce, and the Department of Agriculture, as well as by other Federal agencies.

I hope that this adds a little more to this discussion. The interesting thing is that I have been re-reading through this book a little before bedtime each evening lately and this just jumped out at me. Lo and behold, I look, and there is a thread going. Blew me away.

-------------------------

Bruce

[Alex Ciavaglia]

Dear Ralph,
do you think there is the possibility, in some way, to detect the old time Rayon from the new one? In other words... can i detect the lining of the faked tunic comparing it with the original one?
Greetings

[Ralph A]

Good question.

Speaking for myself, I probably could, by handling it and inspecting it. That comes from years of examining 1000's of garments of all types over the decades. Individual fabrics and weaves have a signature all their own and you can tell who made what by handling it, after you've handled enough of it. Like badges.

Batches of Rayon should be fairly easy to identify one from the other. There are certainly many different ways of making the stuff! One way involves nitrocellulose, and the fabric resulting can have explosive properties! Even today new types of Rayon appear with names like Tencel and Polynosic and Microfiber; and Hanes has a new batch out made from eucalyptus tree pulp.

So the short answer to the first part of your question is yes; you should be able to identify Rayon fabric from different bolts of cloth.

As to whether a certain batch of Rayon is "period" or no, that will have to wait until I hear back from some of the manufacturers. I am working on some questions to present these fine folks, and your question is actually embodied in some of the queries I have pending.

Stay tuned! We are going to get manufacturers' answers to many questions as to what flouresces, and why; also who was making what fabrics and when and where, and how they were most likely used; what properties regarding dyes/whiteners/sizings make them flourece, when did these compounds come into vogue; etc., ad infinitum.

Best,

Ralph