Raincoats are a fascinating piece of apparel not only for the kids but also for the adults. We all love to wear them. We all wait eagerly for the monsoons to come to take out our set of raincoats. But amidst all this have you ever thought about who invented the rainwear? Doesn’t it intrigue you to know about the first person who thought of producing waterproof clothing?
Well, worry not today all these questions will be answered!
We all owe it to the British chemist Charles Macintosh. He is the man because of whom we are able to go out in the rains and enjoy the beautiful gift of Mother Nature without getting dirty and wet. So, the story began with Macintosh finding a way to incorporate the water-repellent properties of polymer materials in clothing.
At that time, Macintosh was experimenting with a waste product of black coal gasification out of which he extracted ammonium that was required to manufacture a violet-red dye. The by-product of this experiment was coal tar naphtha, a solvent which did not mix with water. Seeing this, Macintosh got an idea of coating this product on thin layers of cotton fabric. As a result, a rubbery fabric which was impermeable to water was produced.
Now, the biggest hindrance in his way was the problem of stickiness of this product. He overcame this problem quickly by coating a textile web. He further took advantage of the sticky layer to laminate it to another textile web. And finally, he was able to produce a water-repellent, the double-layer material which was no longer sticky and was easy to handle.
In later years, Thomas Hancock (1786 – 1865) the founder of British rubber industry took Charles Macintosh’ invention and improved it via the vulcanization process. In this experiment, the problem with rubberisation, such as the intensive odor, stiffness and poor washability in hot water, were all gone.
With years passing by, we see several other improvisations done by companies for the betterment of quality and comfort. But this is how where it all started from, interesting right!
