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- Dr. William H. Charch worked for the DuPont Co. in Wilimington, Del. He led the research group which developed mositure proof cellophane in 1927, which opened the way for self-service merchandising which revolutionized retailing. He went on to work on orlon acrylic fiber and dacron polyster fibers. At the time of his death he lived in Chadds Ford, PA.
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Daytonian William Hale Charch is a graduate of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. He joined the DuPont Cellophane Company in the 1920s. The company was formed in 1923 after DuPont acquired the rights to cellophane from a French company. Four years later, DuPont researcher William Hale Charch invented waterproof cellophane. This product revolutionized the food packaging industry and, eventually led to the development of cellophane tape. Charch is buried, along with his wife Anne, in Woodland Cemetery, Dayton, Ohio.
To cut a long story short: The strategy of the Pionnering Research Laboratory headed by Hale Charch (DuPont)was diversification through research. They wanted other nylons and they had no doubts about the success of the products of their creativity. The emphasis was on the search for new products instead of improving rentability of existing processes or products. Unexpectedly, the path to the discovery began about 1950 when low-temperature processes for the preparation of condensation polymers were developed in Paul Morgan's laboratory where Kwolek was working. There was quick recognition that these room-temperature processes could be useful in preparing unmeltable or thermally unstable polymers (see David. A. Hounshell, Science and Corporate Strategy: Du Pont R&D, 1902-1980 (Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989) pp. 425-439). See also the transcript of the interviews of Stephanie Kwolek, conducted within the Program for Oral History of the Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia). [2]
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