August 18, 2025 • 13 mins
The Role of Science in War 42-04-14 A. X. Schmidt
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Just remind you, ladies and gentlemen that John Kirby and
his orchestra, a really fine jazz band, will highlight today's
America in swing broadcast. The festival features at four dis
As Mills. Here is music in the jazz idiom. Music
is a high order that every listener will enjoy. I
should listening at World College each Saturday at this time
(00:23):
your city station, cooperating with the City College Pavilion Defense
Council preventive talk on the broad subject of the role
of science in the War Eminem authorities discuss the contributions
of chemistry, theology, physics, and engineering to the victory at
the Moccas Must Win Now today for the second broadcast
in our series. Our program guest is mister A. X.
(00:45):
Smith of the Department of Chemical Engineering of City College,
who will speak on Nylon. I'm the war epic.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Mister Smith, Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. From Alden Times
self has been as the fabric of Luuduriy arrayment of royalty.
As early as the middle of the seventeenth century. The
scientists had already begun to dream of making by synthetic
(01:12):
means a fiber which would have the properties of silk.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Today, that dream.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Has become a reality, a reality that is playing an
important part in our war efforts. In a previous lecture,
we've discussed the chemist's discovery that all textile materials are composed.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Of molecules which are in the.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Shape of very long, flexible chains. Indeed, since then he
has established the cardinal principle that if any substance, natural
or synthetic, is to be spinnable into fibers and threads,
that is essential that.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Have been composed of these long chain like molecules.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Further, he has learned how to build such chain molecules syntheticals,
and by this means has produced the man made fabrics
known to us as rayon, selenes, vignon, and nylon. The
first commercial successes in this direction came in the early
years of the twentieth century with the production of the several.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Times of rayon.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
These rayons possess many of the outward properties of silk.
They are contributing a great field to our material welfare
by making available silk like cloths and garments at prices
considerably below that of silk itself. However, on the basis
of chemical constitution, the rayons differ radically from silk. They
(02:48):
are made from chain type molecules of cellulose obtained from.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Trees or the cotton plant, or other members of the
vegetable king.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Silked, on the other hand, is a prodeum from the
animal knet. The delicate silkworm, which can thrive only in
special climates, spins it into a long thread from a
body secuation in forming its cocoon. Due to this wide
discrepency the chemical constitution, there are limits to the degree
(03:22):
with which rayons can be made to resemblance silk. For example,
they have not as yet proven to be truly satisfactory
substitutes for the silk required by our armed forces in warfare.
Silk is needed for the powder bags for large caliber gans,
and for the manufacture of parachutes. Let us consider what
(03:48):
this means to us. The United States produces no raw silk,
whatever it is. Therefore, on our list of strategic materials,
the production of raw silk is confined almost entirely.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
The three countries.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Japan produces seventy percent, China twenty and Italy ten percent.
Of the three, Japan and Italy will naturally not supply US,
while war torn China cannot supply us. Does this mean
(04:25):
that we are facing an acute problem? Does it mean
that when our presence stores of silk are used up,
the war effort will be crippled.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
The answer, fortunately is no. It was left to Wallace H.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Carrovas, one of the leading American chemists of our generation,
to save us from this dilemma. About ten years ago,
he and his co workers discovered how to make a
new kind of chain molecule and the chemical laboratory chemical
it is called a polyamide. Chemically, it resembles the proteus
(05:05):
and is therefore much closer in composition to silk.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Than any of the man made textile.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Molecules that preceded. A long, uphill struggle involving a great
deal of research and invention was required to translate this
laboratory discovery into practical results. But in nineteen forty the
new synthetic material appeared on the market under the trade
(05:33):
name of nylon, a product of American research, it was
an immediate commercial success. American women have already had first
hand experience with this new material in the form of stockuments.
Many of them actually prefer nylon to silk, and for
good reasons. In several important respects, nylon is superior to silk.
(05:59):
For example, it is stronger, more elastic, and dry and
faster after washing, and is completely mildew proof. Warfare agencies
have had a similar experience. They find that nylon makes
parachutes which are, if anything, better than those manufactured by silk.
(06:22):
We previously mentioned nineteen forty as the dating when nylon
first appeared on the consumer market.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Just in time.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
From the standpoint of the war, our problem of silk
supply for war needs is partially solved.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Certainly, it is not acute.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
There are stockpiles of silk on hand, and excellent parachutes
can be made from nylon. However, there is still cause
to be careful with silk. We must not waste what
we have. It is still the best material for making
powder bags for large cow guns. When the gun is fired,
(07:02):
the powder bag must burn rapidly, completely and cleanly. No
other textile burns and flashes the way silk does, although
some types of rayan are fairly satisfactory in this respect.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Luckily, good powder.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Bags can be made from wasteil waste. Public spirited women
can therefore contribute to the war effort by saving outworn
silk articles against the future day of possible need. Care
should be taken not to mix rayon or nylon with
this silk. Turning now to another side of the question,
(07:43):
every woman is naturally interested in what the future may
hold with regard to that especially important item, her stockings. Indeed,
recent advices from usually reliable sources indicate that this is
a matter of concern to our arms as well. The
cause of the fashionably encased leg as a means of
(08:06):
maintaining a morale and the ranks of an umbattled nation
may be eloquently and admirably pleaded. But seriously, what should
a woman do about stockings and what may she expect
of the future In normal times women stockings are the
largest single.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Outlet for silk.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
There will undoubtedly be a shortage of silk for non
defense purposes. In fact, it is already here. The most
selfish and unpatriotic thing a woman can do under the
circumstances is to attempt to hoard a store of posiury.
The best things she can do from a constructive standpoint
(08:47):
of the following. First, buy stockings only as needed and
in normal amounts. Second, take particularly good care of that
particularly third try nylon stocking or the new types of
silk of lile hose that have come on the market
during the.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Last few years. This lyle hosiury is distinctly.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Superior to that of a decade ago, remarkable in wearing
properties and excellent in appearance.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
To the woman who.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Will act patriotically in this situation. And this means, after all,
acting rationally and unselfishly. There is this to say, the
capacity of our nylon plants is being increased as rapidly
as possible. The day will come in the not too
quae distant future when we shall not have to depend
(09:42):
at all.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Upon the silblane.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Most of the world's silkrims may be Japanese nationals working
for the forces of darkness, but we have American chemical
and technological genius working for us. But is not the
only synthetic cimber of merit. There are the rayons, with
which we are all familiar because of the comparatively long
(10:09):
time over which they have been available as articles of commerce.
There are also two newcomers of outstanding interest, which we
shall consider briefly.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
One is Vignyon.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Vignon is water repelling and dries with unusual rapidity. It
is completely mildew proof and will not burn. Up to
the present, it has been used mainly for making felts,
industrial filper cloths, shower curtains, umbrella fabrics, and the like,
(10:44):
but it also has possibilities as a stocking material, Although
still in the experimental state, full fashioned women's hose of
excellent appearance.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
And wearing properties have been made from fact.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
The other new synthetic fabric is fiberglass. The characteristics of
glass in its more common forms are well known to us.
All among them are strength, among their durability, cleanliness, insulating
properties both thermal.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
And electrical, and brittleness.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
When glass is spun into fibers about fifteen times as
fine as a human hair, it retains.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
All of the before mentioned.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Characteristics except brittleness. In place of the brittleness, there is
pliability and resilience. These fine fibers are woven into plot,
which is used extensively in the electrical industry as insulation
for electric motors, generators, and so on.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
But the fabrics may.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Also be woven into brocades, satins, and damasks of exceeding beauty.
These new products are already being used for drapes, bed spreads,
and tablecloths and gowns, and even hats and neckties. Besides
great beauty and other desirable features. The glass fabrics are durable,
(12:17):
color fast.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
And shrink poop, colorfast and.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Shrink pat You have heard part of the story of
the synthetic fibers, but as yet we have neglected to
mention the raw materials from which the chemist makes them.
The list is fantastic enough, including as it does wood, glass, limestone, coal, water,
(12:42):
and air water. In all ways, the story is as
romantic as the tale of Cinderella and the glass Slipper,
and more wonderful because it is true. The fairy princess
does not wave a magic wand to make beautiful use
fabric saturn. There that's the chemist and the engineers wielding a.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Standing aspects of paul raising and hard way and hardy.
Thank you very much, doctor, ladies and gentlemen. Doctor A. X.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Schmidt for the Department with Chemical Engineering and City College
has discussed this morning Nylon and the War Effort, one
of the weekly broadcasts concerned with the broad subject the
roles of science in the war.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
These programs are brought to.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
You by your city station in cooperation with the City
College Civilian Defense Council and during broadcasts in the Public
Service series, eminent authorities will discuss contributions of chemistry, biology,
physics and engineering through the victory of.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
The tas democracy must win. This is the municipal broadcasting system.
Just remind you, ladies and gentlemen that John Kirby and
his orchestra, a really fine jazz band, will highlight today's
America in swing broadcast. The festival features at four dis
As Mills. Here is music in the jazz idiom. Music
is a high order that every listener will enjoy. I
should listening at World College each Saturday at this time
(00:23):
your city station, cooperating with the City College Pavilion Defense
Council preventive talk on the broad subject of the role
of science in the War Eminem authorities discuss the contributions
of chemistry, theology, physics, and engineering to the victory at
the Moccas Must Win Now today for the second broadcast
in our series. Our program guest is mister A. X.
(00:45):
Smith of the Department of Chemical Engineering of City College,
who will speak on Nylon. I'm the war epic.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
Mister Smith, Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. From Alden Times
self has been as the fabric of Luuduriy arrayment of royalty.
As early as the middle of the seventeenth century. The
scientists had already begun to dream of making by synthetic
(01:12):
means a fiber which would have the properties of silk.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
Today, that dream.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Has become a reality, a reality that is playing an
important part in our war efforts. In a previous lecture,
we've discussed the chemist's discovery that all textile materials are composed.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Of molecules which are in the.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Shape of very long, flexible chains. Indeed, since then he
has established the cardinal principle that if any substance, natural
or synthetic, is to be spinnable into fibers and threads,
that is essential that.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
Have been composed of these long chain like molecules.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Further, he has learned how to build such chain molecules syntheticals,
and by this means has produced the man made fabrics
known to us as rayon, selenes, vignon, and nylon. The
first commercial successes in this direction came in the early
years of the twentieth century with the production of the several.
Speaker 3 (02:21):
Times of rayon.
Speaker 2 (02:23):
These rayons possess many of the outward properties of silk.
They are contributing a great field to our material welfare
by making available silk like cloths and garments at prices
considerably below that of silk itself. However, on the basis
of chemical constitution, the rayons differ radically from silk. They
(02:48):
are made from chain type molecules of cellulose obtained from.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Trees or the cotton plant, or other members of the
vegetable king.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Silked, on the other hand, is a prodeum from the
animal knet. The delicate silkworm, which can thrive only in
special climates, spins it into a long thread from a
body secuation in forming its cocoon. Due to this wide
discrepency the chemical constitution, there are limits to the degree
(03:22):
with which rayons can be made to resemblance silk. For example,
they have not as yet proven to be truly satisfactory
substitutes for the silk required by our armed forces in warfare.
Silk is needed for the powder bags for large caliber gans,
and for the manufacture of parachutes. Let us consider what
(03:48):
this means to us. The United States produces no raw silk,
whatever it is. Therefore, on our list of strategic materials,
the production of raw silk is confined almost entirely.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
The three countries.
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Japan produces seventy percent, China twenty and Italy ten percent.
Of the three, Japan and Italy will naturally not supply US,
while war torn China cannot supply us. Does this mean
(04:25):
that we are facing an acute problem? Does it mean
that when our presence stores of silk are used up,
the war effort will be crippled.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
The answer, fortunately is no. It was left to Wallace H.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Carrovas, one of the leading American chemists of our generation,
to save us from this dilemma. About ten years ago,
he and his co workers discovered how to make a
new kind of chain molecule and the chemical laboratory chemical
it is called a polyamide. Chemically, it resembles the proteus
(05:05):
and is therefore much closer in composition to silk.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
Than any of the man made textile.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Molecules that preceded. A long, uphill struggle involving a great
deal of research and invention was required to translate this
laboratory discovery into practical results. But in nineteen forty the
new synthetic material appeared on the market under the trade
(05:33):
name of nylon, a product of American research, it was
an immediate commercial success. American women have already had first
hand experience with this new material in the form of stockuments.
Many of them actually prefer nylon to silk, and for
good reasons. In several important respects, nylon is superior to silk.
(05:59):
For example, it is stronger, more elastic, and dry and
faster after washing, and is completely mildew proof. Warfare agencies
have had a similar experience. They find that nylon makes
parachutes which are, if anything, better than those manufactured by silk.
(06:22):
We previously mentioned nineteen forty as the dating when nylon
first appeared on the consumer market.
Speaker 3 (06:30):
Just in time.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
From the standpoint of the war, our problem of silk
supply for war needs is partially solved.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Certainly, it is not acute.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
There are stockpiles of silk on hand, and excellent parachutes
can be made from nylon. However, there is still cause
to be careful with silk. We must not waste what
we have. It is still the best material for making
powder bags for large cow guns. When the gun is fired,
(07:02):
the powder bag must burn rapidly, completely and cleanly. No
other textile burns and flashes the way silk does, although
some types of rayan are fairly satisfactory in this respect.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Luckily, good powder.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Bags can be made from wasteil waste. Public spirited women
can therefore contribute to the war effort by saving outworn
silk articles against the future day of possible need. Care
should be taken not to mix rayon or nylon with
this silk. Turning now to another side of the question,
(07:43):
every woman is naturally interested in what the future may
hold with regard to that especially important item, her stockings. Indeed,
recent advices from usually reliable sources indicate that this is
a matter of concern to our arms as well. The
cause of the fashionably encased leg as a means of
(08:06):
maintaining a morale and the ranks of an umbattled nation
may be eloquently and admirably pleaded. But seriously, what should
a woman do about stockings and what may she expect
of the future In normal times women stockings are the
largest single.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
Outlet for silk.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
There will undoubtedly be a shortage of silk for non
defense purposes. In fact, it is already here. The most
selfish and unpatriotic thing a woman can do under the
circumstances is to attempt to hoard a store of posiury.
The best things she can do from a constructive standpoint
(08:47):
of the following. First, buy stockings only as needed and
in normal amounts. Second, take particularly good care of that
particularly third try nylon stocking or the new types of
silk of lile hose that have come on the market
during the.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Last few years. This lyle hosiury is distinctly.
Speaker 2 (09:10):
Superior to that of a decade ago, remarkable in wearing
properties and excellent in appearance.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
To the woman who.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
Will act patriotically in this situation. And this means, after all,
acting rationally and unselfishly. There is this to say, the
capacity of our nylon plants is being increased as rapidly
as possible. The day will come in the not too
quae distant future when we shall not have to depend
(09:42):
at all.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Upon the silblane.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
Most of the world's silkrims may be Japanese nationals working
for the forces of darkness, but we have American chemical
and technological genius working for us. But is not the
only synthetic cimber of merit. There are the rayons, with
which we are all familiar because of the comparatively long
(10:09):
time over which they have been available as articles of commerce.
There are also two newcomers of outstanding interest, which we
shall consider briefly.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
One is Vignyon.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Vignon is water repelling and dries with unusual rapidity. It
is completely mildew proof and will not burn. Up to
the present, it has been used mainly for making felts,
industrial filper cloths, shower curtains, umbrella fabrics, and the like,
(10:44):
but it also has possibilities as a stocking material, Although
still in the experimental state, full fashioned women's hose of
excellent appearance.
Speaker 3 (10:56):
And wearing properties have been made from fact.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
The other new synthetic fabric is fiberglass. The characteristics of
glass in its more common forms are well known to us.
All among them are strength, among their durability, cleanliness, insulating
properties both thermal.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
And electrical, and brittleness.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
When glass is spun into fibers about fifteen times as
fine as a human hair, it retains.
Speaker 3 (11:28):
All of the before mentioned.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Characteristics except brittleness. In place of the brittleness, there is
pliability and resilience. These fine fibers are woven into plot,
which is used extensively in the electrical industry as insulation
for electric motors, generators, and so on.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
But the fabrics may.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Also be woven into brocades, satins, and damasks of exceeding beauty.
These new products are already being used for drapes, bed spreads,
and tablecloths and gowns, and even hats and neckties. Besides
great beauty and other desirable features. The glass fabrics are durable,
(12:17):
color fast.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
And shrink poop, colorfast and.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Shrink pat You have heard part of the story of
the synthetic fibers, but as yet we have neglected to
mention the raw materials from which the chemist makes them.
The list is fantastic enough, including as it does wood, glass, limestone, coal, water,
(12:42):
and air water. In all ways, the story is as
romantic as the tale of Cinderella and the glass Slipper,
and more wonderful because it is true. The fairy princess
does not wave a magic wand to make beautiful use
fabric saturn. There that's the chemist and the engineers wielding a.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
Standing aspects of paul raising and hard way and hardy.
Thank you very much, doctor, ladies and gentlemen. Doctor A. X.
Speaker 1 (13:17):
Schmidt for the Department with Chemical Engineering and City College
has discussed this morning Nylon and the War Effort, one
of the weekly broadcasts concerned with the broad subject the
roles of science in the war.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
These programs are brought to.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
You by your city station in cooperation with the City
College Civilian Defense Council and during broadcasts in the Public
Service series, eminent authorities will discuss contributions of chemistry, biology,
physics and engineering through the victory of.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
The tas democracy must win. This is the municipal broadcasting system.
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