Existing comment:
Transition to a Chemical Company:
The DuPont Company quickly became the country's leading producer of black powder due to the high quality of its ingredients and thoroughness of its processing. This was based on centuries-old formulas for mixing together saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. Lammot de Pont's knowledge of chemistry led to "B" blasting powder in 1857, providing an inexpensive product to meet an increasing demand for civil engineering projects. Entry into the new field of dynamite in the 1870s increased the role of chemistry at DuPont. Extensive research into the development of smokeless powder in the 1890s transformed DuPont from a manufacturer of explosives to a firm with the capacity for fundamental scientific research.
In the decade from 1910-1920, DuPont remade itself from an explosives firm into a much more diversified business. Antitrust pressures, as well as enormous profits during World War I and the huge excess capacity represented by its wartime smokeless powder facilities, all led DuPont onto a new path. Soon it would develop products previously unimagined.
Please take the nearby elevator to the third floor to continue this exciting story in "DuPont Science & Discovery." |