A patent was issued to Wallace Carothers and several Du Pont co-workers
on February 16, 1937, covering nylon and its process of manufacture.
Nylon was announced at the New York World's Fair in 1939, where it was
said to be based on coal, air and water (technically true, in a broad
sense, since it contained carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen) and was
said to be stronger than silk. Actually, the raw materials for nylon
were derived from petroleum
