View of a control panel used to regulate the air pressure in the blow cases at the Althouse Chemical Company manufacturing plant in Reading, Pennsylvania. Housed in the Press Room, blow cases were used for blowing dye slurry through plate-frame filter presses, which are visible on either side of the control panel. In the manufacture of dyestuffs, filter presses are typically used to separate solids and liquids; following the separation process, air is blown through the filter to discharge the cake before the next batch is inserted.

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.