TY - MANSCPT DB - Science History Institute DP - Science History Institute M2 - Courtesy of Science History Institute. Rights: In Copyright - Rights-holder(s) Unlocatable or Unidentifiable TI - Control panel at the Althouse Chemical Company plant ID - tb09j565c DA - 1946/// YR - 1946 AV - Photographs from the Records of the Althouse, Bates, and Crompton Chemical Companies, Box 1 VL - Photographs from the Records of the Althouse, Bates, and Crompton Chemical Companies, Box 1 AN - Photographs from the Records of the Althouse, Bates, and Crompton Chemical Companies, Box 1 UR - https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/tb09j565c AB - 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. KW - Dye industry KW - Scientific apparatus and instruments KW - Dyes and dyeing KW - Dyes and dyeing--Equipment and supplies KW - Althouse Chemical Company LA - ER -