Business: Rayon

The old axiom used to be that there were only three important textile fibres—wool, cotton and silk. Since the War, the new artificial fibre “rayon” has forged ahead so rapidly that it has already passed silk in point of production, and now looms as a dangerous competitor to wool and cotton. In 1924, world output of cotton was 9,000 million pounds; of wool, 2,600 million pounds; of rayon, between 100 and 125 million pounds. Rayon production for 1925 is estimated at 150 to 200 million pounds, with steady growth ahead.

Rayon was invented some forty years ago by a Frenchman, the Count de Chardonnet, who manufactured a lustrous fibre by treating cotton linters with nitric acid, and pressing the resulting nitrocellulose through small dies into a coagulating solution. Subsequently, wood pulp was employed as well as cotton linters as raw material, and other important improvements effected in the process. At first, rayon was known as “artificial silk,” but so swiftly has its output increased that its trade name of rayon is now thoroughly established.

Profits of rayon-producing companies have been obviously large, yet are shrouded in mystery, as leading concerns rarely issue earning statements. Prominent rayon makers are: in the U. S., the Du Pont Rayon Co. and American Viscose; in Britain, Courtaulds, Ltd.; in Italy, Snia Viscosa. Rayon companies have been able to expand by using their own large earnings, without recourse to the banks.