This collection, digitized here in its entirely, consists of photographs of the laboratory apparatus and facilities used in the manufacture of dyes at the Althouse, Bates, and Crompton Chemical Companies. The photographs span 1946 to 1974, but primarily document operations at the Althouse facilities in Reading, Pennsylvania in the 1950s and the Crompton & Knowles Research Laboratories in Gibraltar, Pennsylvania in the 1960s and 1970s. The photographs mainly depict various steps in the manufacturing and quality control process and key apparatus used, including autoclaves, blenders, spectrophotometers, and portable pH meters. The photographs were collected by Dr. James F. Feeman during his career as a research chemist with the companies.
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Addition of chemical intermediate at Althouse Chemical Company plant
Box 1- 1946
View of Martin C. Eby, Plant Manager, at the Althouse Chemical Company plant in Reading, Pennsylvania adding a chemical intermediate to a steel autoclave. At right, a barrel of intermediate sits on a portable scale.
…- Contributor Feeman, James
- Subject Dye industry, Employees, Dyes and dyeing, Dyes and dyeing--Equipment and supplies, Althouse Chemical Company
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Althouse Chemical Company Semiworks
Box 1- 1951
View of assorted machinery at the Althouse Chemical Company Semiworks or pilot plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. Identified machinery includes (from left to right) a filter press, blow case, portable centrifugal pump, and…
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Althouse Customer Service and Quality Control Laboratory
Box 1- 1952
General view of assorted machinery in the Customer Service and Quality Control Laboratory at the Althouse Chemical Company plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. At center, employees Robert Wither (left) and Carroll Dick…
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Althouse Customer Service and Quality Control Laboratory
Box 1- Circa 1960
General view of the Customer Service and Quality Control Laboratory at the Althouse Chemical Company plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. The employees visible in the photograph are, from left: Tom Margolillo; Dot Bowen;…
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Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer in use at Crompton & Knowles Research Center
Box 1- 1974
Bruce Billman using a Perkin-Elmer Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer to test the metal content of a dye solution. This photograph was taken in the Analytical Section Laboratory at the Crompton & Knowles Research…
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Beckman Model DU Spectrophotometer in use at Althouse Research Laboratory
Box 1- 1951
View of chemist James Feeman using a Beckman Model DU (Ultraviolet/Visible) Spectrophotometer in the Research Laboratory at the Althouse Chemical Company plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. Other laboratory apparatus…
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Chemist James Feeman filtering dye slurry
Box 1- 1966
View of chemist Dr. James F. Feeman filtering a dye slurry into a filter sink at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center in Gibraltar, Pennsylvania. The sink, made entirely of polyethylene, prevented the breakage of…
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Control panel at the Althouse Chemical Company plant
Box 1- 1946
View of a control panel used to regulate the air pressure in the blow cases at the Althouse Chemical Company manufacturing plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. Housed in the Press Room, blow cases were used for blowing dye…
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Coupling tubs at the Althouse Chemical Company plant
Box 1- 1946
General view of the coupling tubs used for the manufacture of azo dyes at the Althouse Chemical Company plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. In a typical manufacturing process for azo dyes, coupling tubs are recessed in the…
- Contributor Feeman, James
- Creator Of Work Tenschert Commercial Photo Studio
- Subject Dye industry, Dyes and dyeing, Dyes and dyeing--Equipment and supplies, Althouse Chemical Company
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Crompton & Knowles Computer Fashion Shades
Box 1- 1970s
Employees Matt Quigley (left) and Tom Balchin (right) holding a copy of the "Crompton & Knowles Computer Fashion Shades" catalog. This photograph was taken at the Crompton & Knowles Customer Service Laboratory in…
- Contributor Feeman, James
- Subject Dye industry, Employees, Dyes and dyeing, Crompton & Knowles Corporation
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Double conical blenders at Althouse Chemical Company plant
Box 1- 1946
View of the double conical blenders at the Althouse Chemical Company manufacturing plant located in Reading, Pennsylvania. Employees Howard Myers (left) and Warren Kalbach are seen filling drums with dye powder from the…
- Contributor Feeman, James
- Creator Of Work Tenschert, John A.
- Subject Dye industry, Employees, Dyes and dyeing, Dyes and dyeing--Equipment and supplies, Althouse Chemical Company
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Dyeing equipment in use at Althouse Customer Service Laboratory
Box 1- Circa 1951
View of James Feeman (left) and George Garcelon (right) operating assorted equipment for the application of dyestuffs. This photograph was taken at the Althouse Chemical Company Customer Service and Quality Control…
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Dyeing equipment in use at Althouse Customer Service Laboratory
Box 1- 1951
View of Thomas Manzolillo examining a roller used to hold fabric in place for the application of dyestuffs. In this typical dye process, fabric is rolled through a trough of dye and then pressed between two heavy…
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Dyeing technicians at Althouse Customer Service Laboratory
Box 1- 1952
View of dyeing technicians working in the Customer Service and Quality Control Laboratory at the Althouse Chemical Company plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. The technicians are engaged in a skein dyeing process whereby…
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Exterior of new Crompton & Knowles Research Center
Box 1- 1974
Exterior of the new Crompton & Knowles Corporation Research Center in Gibraltar, Pennsylvania. The Research Center housed laboratories for research and development in dyes and chemicals for the textile, paper, leather,…
- Contributor Feeman, James
- Subject Dye industry, Crompton & Knowles Corporation, Research, Industrial--Laboratories
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Exterior of the Althouse Chemical Company plant
Box 1- After 1954
Exterior of the Althouse Chemical Company manufacturing plant located at 540 Pear Street in Reading, Pennsylvania. The Althouse Chemical Company was founded in 1915 by C. Scott Althouse (1880-1970) as a small,…
- Contributor Feeman, James
- Subject Dye industry, Dyes and dyeing, Althouse Chemical Company
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Fabric evaluation at the Althouse Customer Service Laboratory
Box 1- 1951
General view of the Customer Service and Quality Control Laboratory at the Althouse Chemical Company plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. At left, plant manager Martin C. Eby is seen using a MacBeth light to evaluate color…
- Contributor Feeman, James
- Subject Dye industry, Employees, Dyes and dyeing, Althouse Chemical Company, Research, Industrial--Laboratories
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George Garcelon inspects temperature monitoring device
Box 1- 1966
Research Director George Garcelon inspects a portable temperature monitoring and control device at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center in Gibraltar, Pennsylvania. The device was used to regulate chemical reactions as…
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Heating tubs at the Althouse Chemical Company plant
Box 1- 1946
General view of the heating tubs at the Althouse Chemical Company manufacturing plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. At left, an unidentified employee is seen using a Hastelloy pipe and jet to pump high-pressure steam into…
- Contributor Feeman, James
- Creator Of Work Tenschert Commercial Photo Studio
- Subject Dye industry, Scientific apparatus and instruments, Dyes and dyeing, Dyes and dyeing--Equipment and supplies, Althouse Chemical Company
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James Feeman using portable pH meter at Crompton & Knowles Research Center
Box 1- 1966
View of chemist James F. Feeman using a portable pH meter, designed by the Althouse Chemical Company, in a laboratory at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center in Gibraltar, Pennsylvania. A special stirring table for…
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Laboratory No. 1 at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center
Box 1- 1966
View of Laboratory No. 1 at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center in Gibraltar, Pennsylvania. The photograph shows a typical two-person laboratory set-up for a chemist and technician, including partitioned office space…
- Contributor Feeman, James
- Subject Dye industry, Crompton & Knowles Corporation, Research, Industrial--Laboratories
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Laboratory No. 4 at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center
Box 1- 1966
View of Laboratory No. 4 at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center in Gibraltar, Pennsylvania. The photograph shows a typical laboratory layout, including bench arrangement for easy access to the outward-opening door.…
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Laboratory module at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center
Box 1- 1974
View of a chemist in a two-person laboratory module for the synthesis and testing of dyes and chemicals at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center in Gibraltar, Pennsylvania.
Based in Worcester, Massachusetts, Crompton…
- Contributor Feeman, James
- Subject Dye industry, Employees, Dyes and dyeing, Crompton & Knowles Corporation, Research, Industrial--Laboratories
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Launder-O-Meter at Althouse Customer Service Laboratory
Box 1- Circa 1960
Leo Labrecque using a Launder-O-Meter to test the wash-fastness of dyed fabric. Bottles containing a standard weight of fabric in a standard soap solution are visible both within and outside of the machine. During the…
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Library and Information Retrieval Quarters at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center
Box 1- 1974
View of the Library and Information Retrieval Quarters at the Crompton & Knowles Research Center in Gibraltar, Pennsylvania. Seated are researcher John King (left) and Elizabeth B. Hamf (Literature Chemist) at right.
…- Contributor Feeman, James
- Subject Dye industry, Employees, Corporate libraries, Crompton & Knowles Corporation
