Word: du
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Subtly or dramatically, Du Pont has made a considerable impact on the nation's language and life. Besides nylon, Dacron and cellophane, the firm has contributed a whole lexicon of names, many of which sound like something right out of science fiction. While a man dons his suit of orlon and his socks of Spandex in the morning, his wife may be wriggling into a Lycra girdle, an Antron slip, Cantrece hose-or the Warner "body stocking," a new fashion rage made of Du Font's stretch nylon...
...family's clothes are probably dry-cleaned with Du Pont Perclene, waterproofed with Zelan, bleached with Oxone. Their food comes in packages that are glued together with Elvacet and wrapped in Mylar, stored in a refrigerator cooled by Freon and cooked on a greaseless griddle coated with Teflon. Their car may be finished with Lucite, their furniture lacquered with...
...company's scientists win 600 to 700 patents a year and turn over all their patent rights to the company, as is standard practice throughout industry. But Du Pont encourages its scientists by letting them share in the profits of their inventiveness. Through a special bonus system, more generous than in most other companies, it yearly pays upwards of $50,000 each to several scientists, and over the years it has made millionaires of many of them...
From the company's viewpoint, the trick is not so much to invent something as to find practical uses for it. When Du Pont developed its new plastic, Surlyn, one customer cracked: "You've got the world's greatest answer. Now start looking for questions." Whenever one of its scientists does find a genie in a bottle, the company is quick to commit everything to exploit it: more scientists, plants, funds-and, importantly, more time and patience-than any other company...
Like the Daily Double. These elements have been enough to bring Du Pont many a windfall. They came together, for example, in a narrow darkroom in the industrial area of Parlin, N.J., where Physicist R. Kingsley Blake produced Du Pont's new no-negative photographic film. Blake started out by simply trying to untangle a peculiar phenomenon that he had been observing for a few months: faint positive images that unaccountably appeared on sheets of film. He was sure that the reaction was caused by any one of countless chemicals in his photo lab-but which one? Working...