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.
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