Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-01-06
HERCULES TO RESCUE.
Local Concern Provided War Necessity
for Great Britain.

How the ingenuity and initiative of a
company with headquarters in this city
helped produce new product without
which the wnr may have been prolonged,
is well illustrated in an incident which
figured between the government of Great
Britain and the Hercules Powder Com
pany.
Immediately after England cnterrd the
war. and that was at its very beginning.
the British munition plants we're rushed
with tho making Of cor,iite, an explosive
rs essential to the British Army and navy
rs is smokelcss powder TO the American
Cordite is q snokeless powder composed
of nltroglyccrin, gun cotton and mineral
Jelly. In making it, the ingredients are
mixed into a paste with the addition of
acetone and pressed ont into cords, re-
semnlng brown twlne, which are dried
and cut To length. As an explosive. il is
the chief propellant ,lsed by the British
army and navy and has the peculiar
qualifications Of holding good under all
climates and weather more than any other
powder.
II WAS the aeetone one of the products
necessary for the making Of corditc. that
the British Government lacked, with the
result that the Hercules Powder Cam
pany received an order for about two
million pounds of the cordite The powder
company. so to say, got into the swing"
Of making the cordite. and the first order
having been satisfactory, were looking for
ward for additional business. The British
purt hases in this country, however,
placed no further orders The Hercules
Company made inquiry and discovered
that the British Government could not
supply the necessary acetone for its own
plants and was therefore unwilling io give
orders to a private company who would
only become n competitor IN the market
for acetone.
The Hercules Powder Company inn
mesliately applied itself to the task of de-
vising new method for making aretonc,
with the result that an entirely new pro
cess was discovered II was also learned
that the making Of vinegar giver all the
necessary product Two new planta wcrn
built one in Baltimore and the other on
the parific coast The Baltimore plant
was manufacturing vinegar from which is
derived acct 1tc of lime, which in turn is
the basis of acetone Lest il interfere
with the regular market for vinegar, the
company tried the Pacific coast plant
for the new process, the making of pulp,
which too, gives off acetate Of lime, thus
giving basis Tor acetone.
Many were those who predicted failure
and propherizcd that the vinegar from
the Baltimore plant and the potash from
the pulp plant, would be left ON the com
pany's hands without disposal and many
other pcssimistc views held by those
lacking initiative. Driven by the desire
10 see the new methods succeed as well rs
secure the big orders from the British
Government. the Hercules Powder Com
pany went ahead with the two plants in
vesting over one million dollars in raw
material labor. ctr Their efforts were
crowned with success and the company
went 10 the purchasing agent OF tho British
Government and offered hlm as much
corditc as he wanted without competing
IN the scetonc market. The company al
preached the British representative with
a proposition which meant IN So many
words
We found n method of producing
acctone from sourres unknown hitherto
and will therefore be in position to make
cGrditc without competing with vn1r mills
in the acetone market.
After considering the matter for a short
time the British Government gave the
contract to the Hcr-ules Company on
condition ehat the Hercules Companv
furnish, in addition To the 25.0OO, 600 of
corditc, as many pounds Of the acetone
produced through the new prpcees. The
acetone was TO he useo IN the British
plants To this the company agreed and
utilized to their full capacity, both the
plant at Baltimore which produced acetone
hv the use Of vinegar and the Pacific
coast plant. which produced the aeetone
bv the kulp process.