Matthias Eduard Schweizer

[1] Schweizer published a paper in 1857 (Das Kupferoxid-Ammoniak, ein Auflösungsmittel für die Pflanzenfaser) in which he reported that cotton, linen cellulose and silk could be dissolved in a cuprammonium solution.

[6] It was the basis for the process patented in 1890 by the French chemist Louis-Henri Despeissis for making fibers from cuprammonium rayon.

[8] Max Fremery (1859–1932), a German chemist, and Johann Urban (1863–1940), an Austrian engineer, began manufacturing lamp filaments in Oberbruch near Aachen in 1891 using cotton and Schweizer's reagent.

[11] Cuprophan, a cellulose membrane based on the process, was being used in dialyzers after World War II (1939–45).

[4] As late as 2001 Asahi Chemical Industries of Nobeoka, Japan, was using the cuprammonium process to manufacture rayon.