l~lylon.JFour patents for hosiery and other knitted fabrics made of nylon, the new organic textile fiber derived basically from coal, water and air, were issued to E. I. Du Pont de Nemours & Company by the U. S. Patent Office recently. With the issuance of the patents, officials of the Company asserted the inventions represented "a phenomenal advance in the textile arts," assuring "a truly successful stocking from a synthetic yarn." The patents set forth that nylon has great elasticity, strength and wearing qualities; that it presents an excellent appearance; that it is virtually wrinkle free; that it dries extremely rapidly after laundering; and that stockings made of it may be washed repeatedly without material change in their original shape and smooth characteristics. The patents cover the use of polyamide yarn for stockings, pre-boarding of stockings, setting yarns and fabrics, and the use of sodium sulfite for setting. "Nylon is little sensitive to water spotting," says the Company announcement. "Stockings made of it are essentially crease-proof under ordinary conditions." The Company's chemists say nylon is the first man-made organic textile fiber prepared wholly from raw materials from the mineral kingdom. Other textile fibers in general use, including cotton, silk, wool, rayon, and linen, are derived from animal or vegetable materials. Nylon differs from rayon, another man-made fiber, in that it contains no cellulose. The word "nylon" was coined by the du Pont Company as the generic name for all materials defined scientifically as "synthetic fiber-forming polymeric amides having a protein chemical structure; derivable from coal, air, and water, or other substances, and characterized by extreme toughness and strength and the peculiar property to be formed into fibers and into various shapes, such as bristles and sheets." It is a most important discovery coming from chemical research and is so versatile that the extent of its varied commercial uses can only be guessed at today. R. H. O.