Close-up view of a molten compound, likely a mixture of sulfur, graphite, and mica, being poured over the tip of lead wires to form the plugs of electric blasting caps produced at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Port Ewen, New York. Per a photo caption from the March 1955 edition of the Hercules Mixer, the ladle moved too fast for the camera's lens and needed to be retouched prior to publication.

Formed in 1912 as part of an anti-trust settlement with DuPont, the Hercules Powder Company (later Hercules Inc.) specialized in the manufacture of explosives and smokeless powders. The company's Port Ewen plant produced a range of special detonators designed for military use, as well as construction jobs that required blasts of dynamite, such as the clearing of quarries, mines, and tunnels.