Explosives Department, 1889-1971
Part of collection: E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company twentieth century records (0500-II)
Dates
- Creation: 1889-1971
Historical Note
E.I. du Pont de Nemours' Explosives Manufacturing Department was created in May 1917 by the merger of the Black Powder Operating Department and the High Explosives Operating Department. From the latter, it inherited its own research laboratory, Eastern Laboratory, at Gibbstown, New Jersey, established in 1905. The Explosives Manufacturing Department was renamed the Explosives Department as part of the 1921 reorganization creating autonomous industrial departments. It absorbed the Smokeless Powder Department in 1936. By the 1970s, the DuPont Company had virtually gone out of the explosives business, and in 1971 the Explosives Department became part of the Polymer Intermediates Department.
Scope and Contents
Series I. General; Series II. Files of George Walker; Series III. Belin Works records; Series IV. Burnside Laboratory records; Series V. Carney's Point Works records; Series VI. Eastern Laboratory records; Series VII. Explosives Division minutes; Series VIII. High Explosives Division minutes; Series IX. Manufacturing Division records; Series X. Repauno Works records. The records consist of a selection of materials preserved by successor departments, including records from the old Black Powder, High Explosives, and Smokeless Powder Departments.
The General series includes correspondence concerning the Buckeye Powder Company suit and the Powder Trust (1902-1931); a chronology of the explosives industry; office practice data and sales records (1922-1931); a record of work accidents in plants and magazines (1904-1930); black powder notes (1912-1926); sales statistics (1913-1936); and reports on "DuPrene," later Neoprene, and smokeless powder (1934-1947).
The papers of George Walker, superintendent of the Nemours Mills and other powder mills (1905-1942), include record books and notebooks detailing activity at the Schaghticoke Mills (Valley Falls, New York), the Wayne Mills (Wayne, New Jersey) and the Brandywine Works (Del.). Subjects include notes on the velocities of rifles and shotguns, analyses of gunpowder and its ingredients, and statistics on black powder production.
Belin Works records include pellet powder press plans, engineering, and operating data, and operating instructions for a black powder wrapping machine safety gate. Records of the Burnside Laboratory in Penns Grove, New Jersey, include a book of cannon powder calculations, notebooks of powder tests and techniques, manuals, notes, and drawings.
Carney's Point Works records include partial construction data, a wage roll (1902-1904), and test firing books (1891-1905). Eastern Laboratory records include monthly summaries (1921-1944), managers' and section meeting minutes, and notes on the manufacture and testing of high explosives. There are also scattered minutes from the Explosives Division and the High Explosives Division.
Records of the Manufacturing Division (Indiana Ordnance Works at Charlestown, Indiana) include descriptions of the methods for manufacturing nitrocellulose and descriptions of reactivating the plant in 1952-1954. Records of the Repauno Works (Gibbstown, New Jersey) include a plant history, correspondence, news items, and a history of the Eastern Laboratory.
Extent
From the Collection: 416.25 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
From the Collection: English
Additional Description
Access Restrictions
No restrictions on access; this collection is open for research.
Repository Details
Repository Details
Part of the Manuscripts and Archives Repository
