History
Cellophane was invented by Swiss chemist Jacques E. Brandenberger in 1908,[6] while employed by Blanchisserie et Teinturerie de Thaon.[7] Inspired by the hydrophobic effect of a restaurant tablecloth when wine was spilled on it, Brandenberger aimed to create a material which could repel liquids rather than absorb them. His initial attempt to produce such a material involved spraying a waterproof coating onto viscose cloth. The resulting coated fabric was too stiff, but after drying, the diaphanous cellulose coating could be separated easily from the backing cloth as a flexible and unbroken sheet. Recognising the possibilities of that incidental formation of a structurally-sound transparent material, Brandenberger abandoned his original method.
It took ten years for Brandenberger to perfect his film. His chief improvement of his original cellophane-like film was to add glycerin to soften the material. By 1912, he had constructed a machine to manufacture the film, named "Cellophane"—a portmanteau of cellulose and diaphane ("transparent"). The product film, Cellophane, was patented that year.[8] The following year, Comptoir des Textiles Artificiels (CTA) bought Thaon firm's interest in Cellophane and Brandenberger in a new company, La Cellophane SA.[9]
In the United States, Whitman's began using cellophane for its Whitman's Sampler candy wrapping in 1912. Whitman's remained the largest user of imported cellophane from France until nearly 1924, when DuPont built the first cellophane manufacturing plant in the United States. Cellophane saw limited sales in the U.S. at first because, although it was waterproof, it was not moisture-proof; it held or repelled water but was permeable to water vapor. That meant it was unsuitable for packaging products that required moisture-proofing. DuPont hired chemist William Hale Charch (1898–1958), who spent three years developing a nitrocellulose lacquer that, when applied to Cellophane, made it moisture-proof.[10] Following the introduction of moisture-proof Cellophane in 1927, sales tripled between 1928 and 1930 and, in 1938, Cellophane accounted for 10% of DuPont's sales and 25% of its profits.[9]
Cellophane played a crucial role in developing the self-service retailing of fresh meat. Cellophane's transparency helped customers know the quality of meat before buying. Cellophane also worked to consumers' disadvantage when manufacturers learned to manipulate the appearance of a product by controlling oxygen and moisture levels to prevent discolouration of food.[11] It was considered such a useful invention that cellophane was listed alongside other modern marvels in the 1934 song "You're the Top" (from Anything Goes).[12][13][14]
The British textile company Courtaulds, diversified its operations in 1930 to include production of a viscose film named "Viscacelle". However, competition with the commercially successful Cellophane hindered sales of Viscacelle. That resulted in the founding of British Cellophane Limited (BCL) in 1935, in conjunction with the Cellophane Company and its French parent company CTA.[15] BCL established a major production facility at Bridgwater, Somerset, between 1935 and 1937, which employed 3,000 workers. Other cellophane production plants were opened at Cornwall, Ontario (BCL Canada), as an adjunct to the existing Courtaulds viscose rayon plant, and from which it bought the viscose solution, and at Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. The latter two plants were closed in the 1990s.
