Nylon Line Introduction

hurdpete · Post by **hurdpete** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:32 am

Hi Folks:

I'm hoping one or more of you can help with this one :

What year (or at least pre/post WWII) was braided nylon casting line introduced? I'm under the impression that commercial use of nylon came after its military development during the War, but I'd like to get some confirmation one way or the other. Thanks!

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 8:55 am

I think you hit that date right on. Prewar was flax cuttyhunk and braided silk.
The black braided nylon lines with the "artifical silk" look and feel sure cast great on my NLW reels.

Warren Platt · Post by **Warren Platt** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 5:23 pm

I'd date it to 1938 or 1939. Pretty sure it's pre 1940.
Warren

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Fri Apr 28, 2006 6:05 pm

Hi,

Warren is right, somewhere I have an article on the history of Nylon and I am fairly sure 1938 is the first use in fishing line, but I will have to check. I do know it was commercially available in 1940.

Sincerely,

Dr. Todd

Ron Mc · Post by **Ron Mc** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 11:52 am

checked UK cats - 1939 had "synthetic gut" available, but there were no braided nylon lines there.

(obviously doesn't preclude its introduction here)

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 3:37 pm

Nylon was invented in 1935, patented in 1937, and announced by DuPont in 1938. According to the Stren web site, the first nylon fishing lines were available in 1939, and according to the Ashaway web site, they were made by Ashaway and were the first commercially available nylon products. It took another year for nylon stockings to become available, though they'd been displayed at the NY World's Fair. Nevertheless, the DuPont web site says their first target market was women's hosiery.

One website (http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Fishing-Lure.html) mentions "Advances in fishing line waited until after World War II when braided nylon followed by monofilament line..." Again according to the Stren site, monofilament lines were also invented by DuPont in 1958. DuPont says their "bulked continuous filament nylon" revolutionized the carpet industry from 1959 on. According to Berkley, Trilene and Stren showed up at about the same time, in 1959. Could true nylon mono have been introduced that late?

Here's a fairly good history of nylon:
http://www.cha4mot.com/p_jc_dph.html#Co ... zing_nylon

Reel Geezer · Post by **Reel Geezer** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 7:01 pm

I was fishing with some sort of very stiff and brittle mono on my Airex spinster back around 1950. I believe it was German or French. I also tried braided mono on those reels and it cut the pickup finger, and then ruined the line.

Post by **Brian F.** » Sat Apr 29, 2006 9:22 pm

Reel Geezer wrote:I was fishing with some sort of very stiff and brittle mono on my Airex spinster back around 1950. I believe it was German or French...

Yes, I have heard from others that they were using Damyl (DAM?) monofilament here in the early 1950s. They would splice 50 yd spools of 70 or 80 lb test together to use in the 4/0 and 6/0 reels they used for surfcasting.

Bill Sonnett · Post by **Bill Sonnett** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:44 am

South Bend was advertising "new monofiliment nylon spinning line" in 2-8lb test in Feb 1952. $1.10 for 100 yards. I bought my first spinning reel in 1955 and had no trouble finding nylon mono, though the early versions were somewhat stiff and if one got snagged and had to break the line, it seemed to stretch forever before parting with a loud crack at which time it would come flying back at you with frightening velocity.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:46 pm

Sure makes you wonder what these guys are talking about
http://orcaonline.org/images/pixel.gif?comphist.htm
http://orcaonline.org/images/pixel.gif? ... istory.php
Could they have meant 1949, not 1959?

Reel Geezer · Post by **Reel Geezer** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 9:55 pm

Now that Berkley owns Stren, of course they've got to agree. Probably they both stole the process from the Germans.

Teal · Post by **Teal** » Mon May 01, 2006 6:28 am

HI y'all,

Interesting subject! Checked my files on fishing lines (by the way my friend John Etchieson is working on the definitive history of lines and line spools), and here is what I found:

On 24 April 1939, DuPont chemists demonstrated Nylon at the New York World's Fair, and an article the next day in the NY Times declared that it was already being used for fishing line. On 10 May 1939 the Times also declared in an article on four new Du Pont patents that fishing line was one of four items already being manufactured at a pilot plant in Wilmington, DE (the others being fishing leaders, sewing thread, and toothbrush bristles). By March of 1940, Raymond Camp--the outdoor writer for The Times--was touting the merits of braided nylon casting line. Even in 1942 during WWII, The Wall Street Journal was reporting that a full season's worth of nylon fishing line would be available to American fishermen.

Thus, Nylon fishing line was being manufactured on a small scale in 1939 and available by 1940; by 1942 it was widely available to American fishermen, although how many utilized it is impossible to discern.

Cheers,

Dr. Todd

hurdpete · Post by **hurdpete** » Mon May 01, 2006 8:47 am

Wow, thanks, folks! Your input has pretty well settled the question- now you folks who fish in the pre-1940 competition at Nationals have proof to allow the use of braided nylon!

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