E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company is a chemical company more commonly referred to as the DuPont company. The company was established in 1802 by Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817) and his son Éleuthère Irénée du Pont (1771-1834) the company began with the production of gunpowder. The du Pont’s purchased a mill site on the banks of the Brandywine River just North of Wilmington, Delaware. During wartime the company was a major supplier for the United States government. During peacetime, the company marketed their product towards sportsmen and hunters. Throughout the 1900s and 1910s, the company shifted its focus away from gunpowder production and towards chemistry innovations.

Hypalon, a chlorosulfonated polyethylene, was the second artificial rubber synthesized by DuPont after Neoprene. A Hypalon production facility began operating in Beaumont, Texas, in 1957 and produced its one-billionth pound of Hypalon on April 11, 1986. Production ended on April 20, 2010, when DuPont exited the business. Hypalon was especially used for durable seals, such as the waterproofing of automobile and building roofs, lining tanks and catch basins, and in hoses and cable insulation. Another DuPont elastomer, Hylene, an organic isocyanate or urethane foam, was used in padding for carpeting and mattresses, while Viton coatings were used to protect valves and other process machinery from heat and corrosion.