General view of office machine operator Pat Bodie examining a sample of rosin at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Brunswick, Georgia. One of two Hercules plants specializing in naval stores, the Brunswick plant extracted rosin, turpentine, and pine oil from pine tree stumps in order to produce a range of chemicals used in the manufacture of varnishes, paints, adhesives, insecticides, textiles, and other industrial products. Per notations accompanying the photograph, rosin was rarely seen at the plant in solid form, but rather flowed as a hot liquid through pipes and into drums or tank cars for storage and transport.

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.