TY - MANSCPT DB - Science History Institute DP - Science History Institute M2 - Courtesy of Science History Institute. Rights: Public Domain Mark 1.0 TI - Mix house apparatus at Hercules Port Ewen plant ID - sj139241m AU - Hercules Incorporated DA - 1954/// YR - 1954 AV - Photographs from the Records & Ephemera of Hercules Incorporated, Box 2, Folder 37 VL - Photographs from the Records & Ephemera of Hercules Incorporated, Box 2, Folder 37 AN - Photographs from the Records & Ephemera of Hercules Incorporated, Box 2, Folder 37 UR - https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/sj139241m AB - General view of a rubber mat apparatus used to mix Pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) with graphite for use in the electric blasting caps produced at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Port Ewen, New York. The apparatus was controlled by an employee operating a series of levers on the other side of the concrete wall to move the mechanical arms of the rubber mat. Notably, rubber was used to transfer and mix the explosive powder in order to avoid the hazard of metal, which might cause a spark or a shock. 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. KW - Pentaerythritol tetranitrate KW - Detonators KW - Chemical industry KW - Scientific apparatus and instruments KW - Propellants KW - Hercules Incorporated KW - Graphite KW - Corporations KW - Explosives LA - ER -