With the continued growth and prosperity of the Paton Manufacturing Company, the Sterling Comb Company, and the Harvard Novelty Company, the owners decided to

 
Handifold Tissue advertisement

Handifold Tissue advertisement

merge the three firms to form a single business with the intent of manufacturing pyroxylin plastic articles. In 1901 the four men met at the Delaware Club, directly across the street from the E.I. DuPont headquarters in Delaware, and organized the Viscoloid Company.
     The process of making pyroxylin plastic involved the use of cellulose, which was treated with nitric and sulfuric acids and alcohol. The result was cellulose nitrate, which then had to be washed with pure water, water that was free of iron, sulfur, and any organic particles or substances. To obtain the large amounts of quality water needed, the founders of Viscoloid hired a drilling rig and crew to dig a 200 ft. deep well prior to the date of first production in December of 1901.
     At the time Viscoloid began production, the type of cellulose used in the manufacturing process came in the form of double bleached cotton yarn. This yarn was subjected to heat in a hot air chamber where it was thoroughly dried, then run through a cutter that chopped it into tiny pieces. The cut-up cellulose fiber was then placed in large jars and soaked in a nitric and sulfuric acid solution. After a chemical change had taken place and the cellulose was fully nitrated, the jars were emptied and the
 
1923 Viscoloid pocket calendar

1923 Viscoloid pocket calendar

cellulose nitrate put into large 1,200 gallon tanks of water where it was washed repeatedly, up to 15 times. Once the acid residue had been thoroughly cleaned from the nitrated cellulose, the material was cut up a second time, put into vats, and mixed with camphor, then treated with alcohol to make a pyroxylin compound. After thorough mixing, the material was then ready to be dyed and processed into sheets and blocks.
     In 1902, just one year after the Viscoloid Company produced their first sheet of pyroxylin plastic, another Leominster industry was born, the Handifold Toilet Paper Company; their first sheet of tissue paper measured 64 inches wide and 60 feet long. J.G. Jarvis, superintendent of Viscoloid, was quoted in the newspaper as saying, "This class of paper can be used as a basis for manufacturing the Viscoloid, instead of cotton yarn which is now being used, if it could be gotten just as cheaply." The Handifold management replied to Jarvis's comment by stating they were indeed prepared to make tissue paper for the manufacture of cellulose nitrate by Viscoloid Company.


Viscoloid plant in Leominster, Ma