Cross & Bevan

Cross & Bevan was a partnership between Charles Frederick Cross (1855 – 1935) and Edward John Bevan (1856 – 1921). They went into partnership in 1885 and set up as analytical and consulting chemists in New Court, Lincoln’s Inn in London. In 1888 they published what was to become a standard work on papermaking. In 1892, together with another partner, Clayton Beadle (who was also an authority on papermaking) they took out a patent for ‘viscose’ which became the basis for the viscose rayon and cellophane industries. In 1894 Cross and Bevan took out a patent for the manufacture of cellulose acetate – this was to become the industrial process for its manufacture. They removed the related plant materials that occur in combination with cellulose by dissolving them in a concentrated sodium hydroxide solution. They designated the undissolved residue as α-cellulose. The soluble materials (designated as β-cellulose and γ-cellulose) were later shown not to be celluloses, but rather, relatively simple sugars and other carbohydrates. The α-cellulose of Cross and Bevan is what is usually meant when the term "cellulose" is used now.