We recently shifted our focus from the diabolical food conglomerates to consumer goods based companies, starting with the Unilever company – which is a fitting bridge between food and consumer goods companies, seeing that it provides a varied array of products. Well, today we look at a company with a diverse product line as well – the DuPont company. It is known as a global chemical and life sciences company that produces a wide array of products, including industrial chemicals, synthetic fibers, building materials, and even agricultural chemicals. But, before all of these products, the DuPont family had primarily set their gaze on the gunpowder industry.
Today, we will address 3 questions; namely: (1) What is the origin story of the DuPont family and company? (2) What was the nature of the DuPont company’s gunpowder and explosive business? (3) What were the notable events resulting from the intersection of family dynamics and business for DuPont?
And now onto the first question, being: What is the origin story of the DuPont family and company? DuPont Company, American corporation engaged primarily in biotechnology and the manufacture of chemicals and pharmaceuticals. The company was founded by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont in Delaware in 1802 to produce black powder and later other explosives, which remained the company’s main products until the 20th century, when it began to make many other chemicals as well. DuPont now makes a broad array of industrial chemicals, synthetic fibres, petroleum-based fuels and lubricants, pharmaceuticals, building materials, sterile and specialty packaging materials, cosmetics ingredients, and agricultural chemicals. It has plants, subsidiaries, and affiliates worldwide. Its headquarters are in Wilmington, Del.
As a young French émigré, du Pont discovered that a good prospect for business in America would be the milling of gunpowder. Returning to Paris, he found investors, and on April 21, 1801, the articles of partnership were signed for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company. On July 19, 1802, he settled along the Brandywine Creek near Wilmington, Del., and hired workmen to build his powder mills. The first black powder was marketed two years later. Sales rose yearly, especially during the War of 1812, and by the time of his death his mills were a major American enterprise. All this to say, that the DuPont company was built on profits from war, through sales of gunpowder.
THE DUPONT FAMILY’S GUNPOWDER AND EXPLOSIVES BUSINESS
This brings us to the second question, being: What was the nature of the DuPont company’s gunpowder and explosive business? Well, blasting powders for industries, mines, and quarries were becoming more important, and in 1857 the company produced a “soda powder” that was the first strictly industrial explosive. In 1880 DuPont began manufacturing nitroglycerin and dynamite.
The company was first incorporated in 1899, after nearly a century as a partnership. In 1907 it became the target of a U.S. antitrust suit because of its near monopoly of the American explosives industry, and in 1912 DuPont was forced to divest itself of a major proportion of its gunpowder business. In 1917 the company began buying an interest in General Motors Corporation and owned 25 percent of the stock at the end of 1925. In 1962, after 13 years of antitrust litigation, DuPont was ordered to divest itself of GM stock.
In 1904, as a by-product of its manufacture of explosives, DuPont began producing a special nitrocellulose for lacquers, leather finishes, and so on. The firm expanded into the manufacture of nitrocellulose plastics in 1915, and DuPont’s purchase of a number of firms in 1917 added product lines such as dyestuffs, paints, acids, and heavy chemicals. Its history of creating synthetic polymers made DuPont a world leader in the development of commercial polymers. DuPont introduced neoprene synthetic rubber in 1931 and nylon in 1938. Some of the more better-known synthetic materials developed by DuPont include Lucite, Teflon, Lycra, Orlon, Mylar, Kevlar, Tyvek, and Dacron polyester.
THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN FAMILY AND BUSINESS
And now onto our final question, being: What were the notable events resulting from the intersection of family dynamics and business for DuPont? In light of this, for over a century, the Du Pont family built a multibillion dollar gunpowder empire, but eventually, their battle for supremacy would almost shatter the DuPont company.
Today’s discussion primarily details the origin story of the DuPont family, and the beginnings of the DuPont company in the gunpowder industry. But, as DuPont’s product line varied to include chemicals and synthetic materials such as teflon, we then begin to see even more clearly its diabolical nature – which is wat we will address in our next discussion.
Written By Lindokuhle Mabaso
