formed in 1882
Santa Cruz, California
Wilmington, Delaware
- 1874 special formulation of dynamite was patented
– by J.W. Willard
– superintendent of the California Powder Works
– “Hercules powder” - 1877 California Powder Works manufacturers Hercules powder
- 1877 J.W. Willard moved to Cleveland, Ohio
- 1882 – 1904 Hercules Powder Company
– California Powder Works & DuPont and Laflin & Rand Powder Company - 1890 first smokeless powder manufactured in the United States
- 1897 Sharpshooter
– a flake powder
– introduced by Laflin & Rand
– to replace black powder in .45-70 - 1898 Bullseye
– introduced by Laflin & Rand
– rapid combustion in short-barreled handguns - 1900 Unique
– introduced by Laflin & Rand
– designed for shotguns
– can be used in handguns - 1911 Sherman Antitrust Act ordered a breakup of the explosives and gunpowder manufacturing
– Atlas Powder Company = explosives manufacturing
– Hercules Powder Company = gunpowder - 1912 incorporated as the Hercules Powder Company
– following the breakup of the Du Pont explosives monopoly - major producers of smokeless powder
- 1932 Red Dot
– for light and standard shotgun loads (12, 16, and 20 g )
– can be used in handguns - 1940, the Kenvil, New Jersey plant explosion
– twenty-five tons of explosives - 1965 Green Dot
– for medium & standard shotgun loads (12, 16, and 20 g )
– can be used in handguns - 1966 changed name to Hercules, Inc
- 1972 Blue Dot
– for magnum shotgun loads (10, 12, 16 g )
– can be used in magnum handguns - 1995 sold to Alliant Techsystems Inc (ATK)
– “Bullseye”, “2400”, “Reloder”, “Unique”, and “Red Dot”
– Radford, Virginia. - 2008 sold to the Ashland Corporation and dissolved.
About Hercules Powder Company
The Hercules Powder Company, based in Wilmington, Delaware, was incorporated in 1912 after a U.S. court ordered the breakup of DuPont’s explosives and gunpowder business. It became one of the major American producers of smokeless powder, supplying the military in both World Wars and ranking 65th among U.S. corporations by the value of its World War II production contracts. On September 12, 1940, an explosion at its Kenvil, New Jersey, plant killed 51 people, according to contemporary reports.
For handloaders and shotgun shooters, Hercules is best remembered for canister powders such as Bullseye, Unique, Red Dot, Green Dot, Blue Dot and 2400, several of which date to the Laflin and Rand era and remain in production today under the Alliant Powder name. The company became Hercules, Inc. in 1966, sold its Hercules Aerospace business to Alliant Techsystems in 1995, and was merged into Ashland Inc. and dissolved in 2008. Many reloading manuals still list these powders by their Hercules-era names, a sign of the company’s lasting influence on American shooters.
Key Facts
- 1912: Incorporated as Hercules Powder Company after the DuPont breakup
- September 12, 1940: Kenvil, New Jersey, plant explosion
- World War II: Ranked 65th among U.S. war production contractors
- 1966: Renamed Hercules, Inc.
- 1995: Sold Hercules Aerospace to Alliant Techsystems
- 2008: Merged into Ashland Inc. and dissolved
Sources
Profiles on Minuteman University.com are editorial content compiled from public sources. Inclusion does not imply endorsement of, sponsorship by, or affiliation with this site or the Gun Websites Firearms Network. Corrections and removal requests are welcome through Contact Us.