Close-up view of an unidentified employee pouring raw material into the hopper of an extruder in the Plastics Laboratory at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Parlin, New Jersey. The material is subsequently extruded in strands, as visible on the left-hand side of the photograph. Extruders were commonly used to process and shape a variety of raw materials produced at the plant, including ethyl cellulose, nitrocellulose, and cellulose acetate.

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.