Editing Cellophane (section)

==History==
[[File:Xanthation.png|thumb|center|520px|Simplified view of the [[xanthation]] of cellulose.<ref name=Ull>{{Ullmann | first1=Hans | last1=Krässig | first2=Josef | last2=Schurz | first3=Robert G. | last3=Steadman | first4=Karl | last4=Schliefer | first5= Wilhelm |last5=Albrecht|first6=Marc | last6=Mohring | first7=Harald | last7=Schlosser | title=Cellulose | year=2002 | doi=10.1002/14356007.a05_375.pub2}}</ref>]]
Cellophane was invented by Swiss chemist [[Jacques E. Brandenberger]] in 1910, while employed by ''Blanchisserie et Teinturerie de Thaon''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Carraher |first= Charles E. (Jr.) |date=2014 |title=Carraher's Polymer Chemistry: Ninth Edition |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YXo0AAAAQBAJ&q=Carraher+Jacques+E.+Brandenberger&pg=PA301 |location=Boca Raton Fl. |publisher=CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group |page=301 |isbn=978-1-4665-5203-6 }}</ref> Inspired by the [[Hydrophobic effect]] of a restaurant tablecloth and a wine spill, Brandenburger aimed to create a material which could ''repel'' liquids, rather than absorb them. Brandenberger's initial attempt to produce such a material involved spraying a waterproof coating onto [[viscose]] cloth. The resulting coated fabric was too stiff, however—upon drying—the [[wikt:diaphanous|diaphanous]] cellulose coating could be easily separated from the backing cloth in one, flexible and unbroken sheet. Recognising the possibilities of this incidental formation of a structurally-sound material, Brandenberger abandoned his original method.

It took ten years for Brandenberger to perfect his film. His chief improvement of his original cellophane-like film was to add glycerin to soften the material. By 1912 he had constructed a machine to manufacture the film, named "Cellophane"—a [[Blend word|portmanteau]] of ''cellulose'' and ''diaphane'' ("transparent"). The product film, Cellophane, was patented that year.<ref>Carlisle, Rodney (2004). ''Scientific American Inventions and Discoveries'', p.338. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New Jersey. {{ISBN|0-471-24410-4}}.</ref> The following year, Comptoir des Textiles Artificiels (CTA) bought Thaon firm's interest in Cellophane and  Brandenberger in a new company, La Cellophane SA.<ref name="hounshell170">{{cite book | last = Hounshell | first = David A. | author2 = John Kenly Smith | title = Science and Corporate Strategy: Du Pont R&D, 1902–1980 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 1988 | page = [https://archive.org/details/sciencecorporate0008houn/page/170 170] | isbn = 0-521-32767-9 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/sciencecorporate0008houn/page/170 }}</ref>

[[File:Dupont-baby-bag-advert (8080777436).jpg|thumb|upright|1953 DuPont advert for cellophane]]
[[Whitman's]] candy company initiated use of cellophane for [[candy]] wrapping in the United States in 1912 for their [[Whitman's Sampler]]. They remained the largest user of imported cellophane from France until nearly 1924, when [[DuPont]] built the first cellophane manufacturing plant in the US. Cellophane saw limited sales in the US at first since while it was waterproof, it was not moisture proof—it held or repelled water but was permeable to water vapor. This meant that it was unsuited to packaging products that required moisture proofing. DuPont hired chemist [[William Hale Charch]] (1898–1958), who spent three years developing a [[nitrocellulose]] lacquer that, when applied to Cellophane, made it moisture proof.<ref>{{cite book | last = Winkler | first = John K. | title = The Dupont Dynasty | publisher = Waverly Press, Inc | year = 1935 | location = Baltimore, MD | page = 271 }}</ref> Following the introduction of moisture-proof Cellophane in 1927, the material's sales tripled between 1928 and 1930, and in 1938, Cellophane accounted for 10% of DuPont's sales and 25% of its profits.<ref name="hounshell170" />

Cellophane played a crucial role in developing the self-service retailing of fresh meat.<ref name="hisano" /> Cellophane visibility helped customers know quality of meat before buying. Cellophane also worked to consumers' disadvantage when manufacturers learned to manipulate the appearance of a product by controlling oxygen and moisture levels to prevent discolouration of food.<ref name="hisano">{{Cite web|url=https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/17-106_cc97c076-3685-4e40-80b8-9de7342b0aac.pdf|title=Cellophane, the New Visuality, and the Creation of Self-Service Food Retailing|last=Hisano|first=Ai|website=Harvard Business School}}</ref> It was considered such a useful invention that cellophane was listed alongside other modern marvels in the 1934 song "[[You're the Top]]" (from ''[[Anything Goes]]'').<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s-LwzeIcboQC&dq=%22You%27re+the+Top%22+cellophane&pg=PA47|title=Plastics|first=Norman H.|last=Finkelstein|date=17 August 2008|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|isbn=9780761426004 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DdwlKhVudMkC&dq=%22You%27re+the+Top%22+cellophane&pg=PA115|title=How Engineers Create the World: The Public Radio Commentaries of Bill Hammack|first=William S.|last=Hammack|date=6 September 2011|publisher=Bill Hammack|isbn=9780983966104 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eSucDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22You%27re+the+Top%22+cellophane&pg=PT140|title=The Next Fifty Things that Made the Modern Economy|first=Tim|last=Harford|date=28 May 2020|publisher=Little, Brown Book Group|isbn=9781408712641 }}</ref>

A British textile company—[[Courtaulds]]' viscose technology—diversified their operations in 1930 to include into viscose film named "Viscacelle". However, competition with the commercially-successful Cellophane hindered sales of Viscacelle, and in 1935, resulted in the founding of [[British Cellophane|British Cellophane Limited]] (BCL)—in conjunction with the Cellophane Company and its French parent company CTA.<ref>{{cite book | last = Davenport-Hines | first = Richard Peter Treadwell | title = Enterprise, Management, and Innovation in British Business, 1914-80 | publisher = Routledge | year = 1988 | page = 61 | isbn = 0-7146-3348-8}}</ref> BCL subsequently established a major production facility at [[Bridgwater]], [[Somerset]], England, between 1935 and 1937, which employed 3,000 workers. Further cellophane production plants were opened at [[Cornwall, Ontario]] (BCL Canada) - adjunct to the pre-existing Courtaulds viscose rayon plant, and from which it bought the viscose solution - and at [[Barrow-in-Furness]], Cumbria. The latter two plants were closed in the 1990s.