Not DuPont Antron, just DuPont. It was actually their commercial division called DuPont Commercial Flooring. They were one of the early companies to develop the technology, about a decade ago now. They developed a product called Resistech, which was a decent product from everything I've been told. This was part of their "cradle to the grave" approach to commerial sales and maintenance. DuPont later became disenchanted with the whole thing and sold off their fiber production to Koch industries under a new name of Invista. And their maintenance division became known as the Invironmentalisits. That's DuPont's encap history in a nutshell.
An even earlier proponent of encap was Ed York. He obtained an interesting encap based formulation called LST from Keith Williams (both are now dead). The theory was based on river mud (clay). Clay was added to a mild detergent containing a fluoro-chemical. The idea was that the clay would absorb soil like a poultice that could later be vacuumed out of the carpet after it was dry. This product was a good mild detergent, but it's performance as a true encapsulator was questionable. LST is now made by Paul Lucas. Another very early player in the field of crystallizing chemistry was Whittaker, and they still make a good product till this day.
We got involved with Releasit a few years ago. I saw the potential of this cleaning method from my own experience cleaning carpet, so I got together with a good chemical formulator and a good chemist and went on to develop the Releasit product line. Up till that time, the word "ENCAPSULATION" had not been attached to this method of cleaning. I was talking with a friend and we came up with the term encapsulation, a word we thought would best describe what the chemistry was doing. I posted that expression on the ICS message board and the next day Bob Wittkamp called me and then wrote the first industry trade journal article on the topic of Encapsulation Cleaning.
The rest is history. Today encap is a commonly known term for this method of cleaning. Everybody and their brother is trying to jump on the band wagon it seems. There are some good products that have come out of this and there are some poor ones too. But one thing's for sure - encap has made an impact on our industry! It is changing the way commercial carpets are maintained. It's changing people's lives! It's been a real honor to have a share in this development.
Rick Gelinas
rick@excellent-supply.com
