Close-up view of laboratory operator Percy L. Bell checking the composition of viscose solutions produced in the Cellulose Department at the Hercules Powder Company plant located in Hopewell, Virginia. The viscose solutions pictured here are likely viscous solutions of cellulose, which can be made into rayon or cellophane.

Formed in 1912 as part of an anti-trust settlement with DuPont, the Hercules Powder Company (later Hercules Inc.) initially specialized in the manufacture of explosives and smokeless powders and subsequently diversified its business to encompass a variety of industrial products, including pine and paper chemicals, synthetics, pigments, polymers, and cellulose.