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Photographs

Production Department at the Althouse Chemical Company plant

  • 1946

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General view of the Production Department at the Althouse Chemical Company plant in Reading, Pennsylvania showing various equipment used in the production of azo dyes. Assorted equipment and apparatus visible in the photograph include a hydrochloric acid buggy on the left-hand side of the frame, as well as portable hoses, a heat exchanger, and Haveg and Cypress wood tubs.

Based in Reading, Pennsylvania, the Althouse Chemical Company was founded in 1915 by C. Scott Althouse (1880-1970) as a small, family-owned firm specializing in fabric dyes of a superior quality and class. In 1954, the Crompton & Knowles Corporation of Worcester, Massachusetts acquired Althouse, which continued to operate as a division of Crompton & Knowles and a leader in the specialty dyes industry.

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Extent
  • 8 in. H x 10 in. W
Inscription
  • (On verso) "Althouse Chemical Co. Plant 2nd Floor Production Dept. Pear St. 1946 Azo Dye Production Showing use of portable equipment: HCL buggy pH meters Lightnin' mixers Haveg and Cypress wood tubs (6', 8', and 11') (later rubber lined steel) Portable hoses instead of pipe lines Steam supply at each reactor - connected by hose to Hastelloy steam jet placed in tub. Heat exchanger Phosgenation in centrifugal pump chamber Buggy - delivered cracked ice to reactors."
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Rights In Copyright - Rights-holder(s) Unlocatable or Unidentifiable
Credit line
  • Courtesy of Science History Institute

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Department
Collection
Physical container
  • Box 1

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Learn More

Library Guide
History of Dyes and Dyeing

Related Items

Cite as

“Production Department at the Althouse Chemical Company Plant,” 1946. Photographs from the Records of the Althouse, Bates, and Crompton Chemical Companies, Box 1. Science History Institute. Philadelphia. https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/r207tp357.

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