Sample board of copper-processed artificial silks

Three artificial fibres made from regenerated cellulose arrived on the market in the early 20th century: ‘rayon’ (produced from cellulose nitrate), patented by the Frenchman Hilaire Bernigaud de Chardonnet in 1885; ‘cupro’ or ‘Bemberg silk’ (1897); and ‘viscose’, invented by the Englishmen Cross, Bevan and Beadle (1893). The latter, less expensive to produce, finally replaced the others in the 1930s, but Bemberg silk is still used for linings. The Bemberg process consists of dissolving cotton linters (the fine silky fibres that adhere to the seeds after ginning) in a bath of ammonia and copper then extracting the coagulated fibres. A fibre is termed ‘artificial’ when the raw material is natural, unlike nylon, which is made from synthetic fibres. This sample board was offered to the Conservatoire by the Comptoir des Textiles Artificiels in 1931, perhaps to commemorate a lecture given by the engineer Jules Quantin.