American: Native Empire

Chapter 198: Chemical Industry.

Of course, the scientific level of other countries, including Joseon, was far behind the Empire. 

That is, most of the substances and products that changed the world were mostly made in the Empire.

The basic science fields were the monopoly of the Empire’s scientists, and this tendency was especially prominent in the field of chemistry.

At this time, aluminum cans that began to be popularized were a representative example.

Aluminum had already been used for aluminum foil and duralumin production, but the increase in aluminum production was much faster than that.

Thanks to this, scientists worked hard to develop products using aluminum.

Thanks to these efforts, aluminum cans appeared in the world.

Aluminum cans had many advantages in many ways. 

Unlike the iron cans that had been used before, aluminum cans were easy to shape and make.

The consumers’ reaction was also good. 

Aluminum cans were much easier to open. 

As a result, aluminum cans established a solid foundation as containers for the beverage market such as beer, carbonated drinks, ion drinks, etc.

Of course, until then, tools for opening cans were essential. But as time passed, a groundbreaking technology was developed.

“Can’t we open aluminum cans more easily?”

Inventions often start from trivial questions. 

This also applied to aluminum cans.

Eventually, this question gave aluminum a lid that could be opened by hand.

It was a ring attached to the lid of the aluminum can, which made it possible to easily drink the beverage by pulling it.

This was a very innovative way. 

Until now, all containers had to have a can opener, but finally they didn’t need one.

“It’s so convenient!”

“Haha. Yeah! It’s so easy to open it like this.”

This seemingly trivial invention made the most decisive contribution to the popularization of aluminum cans. 

People started to stop by markets on the street, buy canned drinks and drink them.

Of course, there were also people who did not drink beer or carbonated drinks because they were afraid of the sound of carbonation escaping from the can, which was unique to them, but this was solved by time.

***

As chemistry developed, synthetic resins. 

That is, plastics were gradually developed.

Plastics had been researched as a major topic in many laboratories of the Empire.

Plastics could be easily molded into any shape by applying heat and pressure.

Especially after the Empire’s chemist, Smooth Mirror, discovered that plastics were made of polymers, plastic development received more momentum.

And at this time, major plastic materials were developed and gradually commercialized. 

And products using plastic materials began to hit big in the Empire.

The leader of them was none other than nylon. 

Strictly speaking, it was more of a synthetic fiber than a synthetic resin, but it was also made of polymer compounds.

Great inventions are born from trivial mistakes.

Nylon was worthy of such a saying.

Nylon went through such a birth process.

The place where nylon was made was Sunset University.

Sunset University was recognized as the best university in the western continent. 

Especially, it was famous for being the place where aluminum was developed by Swift Wing, who was from Joseon slave origin.

Perhaps because of that, it was a university that stood out in chemistry. 

Especially in the field of materials. 

There were quite a few celebrities in this field.

Smooth Mirror, who discovered that plastics were made of polymers, was also one of them.

“How can I increase the molecular weight of the polymer more…”

Smooth Mirror was immersed in research on making polymer molecules with maximum molecular weight at this time.

However, his research stayed at around 4000 for a long time. 

That is, beyond that point, the molecular weight did not increase any more.

He predicted the reason through heated discussions with chemists at the university and endless experiments.

“It seems to be because of the water.”

Water was created from the reaction of acid and alcohol used in the experiment, and it seemed to be because of that.

So he even brought in a special distiller to extract water, but he could not achieve the expected results.

However, an accidental mistake brought about a change in research.

“Ouch!”

Smooth Mirror accidentally dropped a glass rod into a special distiller. 

The problem was that there was an experimental polymer inside it.

“Oh no!”

He was startled and quickly pulled out the glass rod.

As he lifted up the glass rod, Smooth Mirror’s eyes widened.

“This is!”

He had no choice but to do so.

A thin fiber came out from where he had put it in the distiller.

“Oh! Is this a fiber made of polymer?”

Smooth Mirror excitedly pulled out a few more strands of fiber and dried them naturally.

And he examined the characteristics of this fiber closely.

“It stretches so much!”

Aside from anything else, the strong elasticity that stretched four times more excited Smooth Mirror.

Smooth Mirror swelled with hope and obtained a patent before announcing this material to academia.

“Nylon?”

“Wow! Look at this amazing strength and flexibility. It would be great if it was made properly.”

“Hmm. Can this product really replace natural fibers?”

Scientists exchanged various stories about nylon, which Smooth Mirror announced.

Meanwhile, Smooth Mirror went directly to the president and pleaded.

“Nylon will definitely succeed. I will start a business with this. So please invest.”

In fact, his proposal was not special.

The Wakan Tanka Empire developed in a friendly way to intellectuals such as scientists. 

And major discoveries and inventions were made in the laboratories of various universities.

Scholars wanted to make money with the inventions they made.

Of course, the royalties from patents were a lot of money, but they couldn’t match actually developing and selling products.

So the university helped with the investment and management of the business after carefully reviewing the success potential of the inventions made by scholars.

If you hit the jackpot, a lot of money would come in, so it wasn’t a bad story for the university either.

“Good. In fact, we’ve already finished talking internally. Nylon can be successful enough.”

The president of Sunset University readily accepted Smooth Mirror’s proposal.

And with the full support of Sunset University, a large-scale investment was made. 

From then on, Smooth Mirror worked hard day and night to commercialize nylon.

‘I have to succeed.’

If commercialization was reversed at this stage, both Sunset University and he would suffer a great loss. 

That couldn’t be possible.

Smooth Mirror’s hard work was fortunately not in vain. Finally, he extracted nylon fibers with commercial competitiveness.

***

After that, nylon debuted brilliantly in the Empire.

The start was at the capital exhibition hall.

“Wow! There are stockings that are tough, transparent, and elastic like this…”

“This is amazing! This is a miraculous product!”

The popularity of nylon stockings at the annual capital exhibition hall was unrivaled.

It had to be that way.

At this time, silk was the trend for stockings. But nylon stockings were thinner and more transparent than silk stockings. 

And the fit that stuck to the legs was something that silk stockings couldn’t even dream of.

“When these stockings are released, they will change the fashion trend completely.”

That was what people could easily predict when they saw the nylon stockings at the exhibition hall.

The imperial citizens were sensitive to fashion trends as the mass media developed. 

Among them, women’s fashion was indispensable.

In this regard, nylon stockings were much more fashionable than the existing products. 

They were more beautiful and sleek.

After that, nylon stockings were introduced voluntarily by various media along with word of mouth.

Especially when the stars appeared wearing them first in movies and television broadcasts, the women’s expectations were amplified.

“So when are they coming out exactly?”

“Ah… I want to try them on soon.”

Smooth Mirror was greatly encouraged by this social atmosphere. 

He even delayed the release date while accumulating nylon stock.

“They will surely sell like crazy.”

Sunset University also agreed with this, and kept pouring money into expanding the factories endlessly.josei

Finally, after securing a close to a billion pairs, he finally released the nylon stockings. 

If the sales of nylon stockings were lower than expected, he would have suffered a huge loss.

Even the initial price of nylon stockings was twice as expensive as the existing silk stockings.

Nevertheless, the enthusiasm on the first day of release was truly tremendous.

“Huh… Is this all to buy nylon stockings?”

“…I can’t see the end of it.”

As the passers-by muttered, the line that started from the front of the department store was really incredibly long. 

It was so hard to pass by because of it.

This was a phenomenon that occurred equally in department stores and shops nationwide.

As soon as the department store’s door opened, the women went into the store one by one and lifted their skirts to try on nylon stockings.

“Wow… They fit better than I thought.”

“Hehe. Look at this smooth leg line.”

“Please give me ten pairs of these!”

The women competed to buy large quantities of nylon stockings and returned home. 

The news was busy reporting on such scenes, and soon a social atmosphere was created that seemed like you had to wear nylon stockings.

Thanks to nylon stockings, women started to shave their leg hair, so it had a huge impact for just one product.

So in just a few days, the stock that had been made up until then ran out. 

Smooth Mirror asked with a dumbfounded expression.

“What did you say? How many did you sell in a day?”

“…Sixty million pairs.”

“Si, sixty million!”

It was an unbelievable number.

He sold sixty million pairs on the first day, and sold over 100 million stockings in just a few days.

Considering that half of the population of over one billion Wakan Tanka were women, it was an absurd thing that happened.

This was thanks to one woman buying several pairs of stockings.

Smooth Mirror wiped his cold sweat and thought.

‘I’m glad I stocked up enough. Otherwise… Ugh, it would have been terrible.’

He almost ran out of stock in less than a day.

Of course, it was still out of stock now.

Smooth Mirror quickly gave orders.

“Do whatever it takes to produce as many nylon stockings as possible. Do you understand?”

“Yes!”

And he reinvested the money he earned by selling hundreds of millions of nylon stockings, and built a huge nylon factory.

Smooth Mirror thought.

‘The popularity of nylon stockings won’t decrease for a while. It’s obvious that they will be popular not only in the empire but also overseas.’

The products that became popular in the empire over time were mostly successful overseas as well. He didn’t think nylon would be any different.

‘Nylon stockings are just the beginning. There are many products that can be made with this miraculous synthetic fiber.’

Nylon had excellent properties.

Smooth Mirror’s thoughts were right. 

Nylon was widely used not only for clothing, but also for military supplies such as parachutes, tires, ropes, tents, etc.

The steady worldwide popularity of nylon stockings was a natural phenomenon.

Thanks to this, Sky Top, which Smooth Mirror established with the investment of Sunset University, quickly rose to the ranks of large companies.

This nylon was just the beginning. 

After that, various plastics and synthetic rubber materials were developed in earnest, and the petrochemical industry bloomed more and more.