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Man Made Fiber

Correction

Carl Wheeler

In “The Toxic Equivalent to Natural Fibers”, 2nd paragraph is the statement:

“Rayon, the first synthetic fiber is simply stabilized guncotton, or nitrated cloth, the basic explosive of the 19th Century.”

Rayon is not nitrated cellulose. It is cellulose acetate which is in no way an explosive. Years ago, movie film was made of celluloid, the name for cellulose nitrate. There were many disastrous movie theater fires in projection booths when the film would jam and the heat from the arc lamp would ignite the cellulose nitrate (or celluloid) film and cause an explosive fire of all the film in the booth. One of the first uses of cellulose acetate was in the manufacture of film base material which was dubbed ‘safety film’ as it would not burn explosively as did the celluloid film.

About the only thing made today of celluloid is ping pong balls for the reason that cellulose nitrate, or celluloid, is stronger than any of the similar plastic materials. There are other cellulose plastics, or cellulosics, Cellulose acetate butyrtate, which is used in automobile taillights, and cellulose acetate propionate known for its toughness.

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