TY - MANSCPT DB - Science History Institute DP - Science History Institute M2 - Courtesy of Science History Institute. Rights: No Known Copyright TI - Paul F. Brown operating bale breaking machine at Hercules Hopewell plant ID - zw12z596t AU - Hercules Incorporated DA - 1951/// YR - 1951 AV - Photographs from the Records & Ephemera of Hercules Incorporated, Box 1, Folder 36 VL - Photographs from the Records & Ephemera of Hercules Incorporated, Box 1, Folder 36 AN - Photographs from the Records & Ephemera of Hercules Incorporated, Box 1, Folder 36 UR - https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/zw12z596t AB - Two views of employee Paul F. Brown feeding raw cotton linters (short fiber residues left on the cottonseed after the longer staple, aka the "lint" fibers, are removed by ginning) into a bale breaking machine in the Cellulose Department at the Hercules Powder Company plant in Hopewell, Virginia. Known as "chemical cotton," purified cellulose obtained from raw cotton linters is commonly used for the manufacture of cellulose ethers, i.e. water-soluble polymers that have a variety of uses as thickeners, binders, and water-retention agents in products ranging from ceramics and paints to food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. 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. KW - Employees KW - Chemical industry KW - Cotton KW - Polymers KW - Hercules Incorporated KW - Corporations KW - African Americans KW - Cellulose KW - African American men KW - Machinery KW - Brown, Paul F. LA - ER -