When I first came across this vintage DuPont blasting ohmmeter, I knew very little about the history of the DuPont family and the DuPont company which grew to become one of the largest corporations in America.
In reading about the company, I learned that its founder, Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours, was enthusiastic about learning as a child and had an interest in explosives. He was born in 1771. After studying advanced explosive techniques and becoming a chemist, he started assisting his father at the family’s publishing house in France in 1791.
I don’t know much about the political parties of the day in France, but it seems DuPont was a member of the pro-Revolution national guard. However, in 1792, both he and his father guarded the escape of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette when the palace was stormed. It seems to me they were moderate politically; I have to admire the fact that they were against the execution, but still believed in the need for change.
The decision led to his father’s arrest and the ransacking of the family’s publishing house, but fortunately, neither of them were executed. They made the decision to leave France and arrived in the United States in 1800, settling in New Jersey.
DuPont, having been trained in gunpowder making, recognized that American methods paled in comparison to how French gunpowder was manufactured. He saw a need and went into business in 1802 near Wilmington, Delaware.
I think it’s especially interesting that DuPont provided one-third to one-half of the gunpowder used by the Union Army during the Civil War.
In 1914, a grandson of the DuPonts, Pierre, bought stock in General Motors. For a time, the carmaker had been struggling, but under his leadership as president of GM in 1920, it became the biggest automobile company in the world.
Over the years, DuPont has had its hand in some interesting inventions, many of which proved to have negative impacts on the environment over time. Of course, no one knew it then. The company introduced insecticides in 1935 and had a hand in creating a hydrogen bomb.
DuPont is even responsible for the body armor worn by police and military.
The company also invented Teflon. Today, we know how bad Teflon is, even though we frequently cook with it. Nevertheless, despite any negatives, it’s interesting to look back and see how one man’s influence can impact so many facets of daily life.
Every object has a story, and this one brought us all the way back to the French Revolution.
