Atlas Powder Company

Based on the U.S. Justice Department's proposal, a Philadelphia court approved a decree on June 13, 1912, that ordered the division of Du Pont Powder Company into three independent entities.{{Cite book |last=Chandler |first=Alfred |title=Pierre S. Du Pont and the Making of the Modern Corporation |last2=Salsbury |first2=Stephen |publisher=Beard Books |year=2000 |isbn=1-58798-023-1 |location=Washington D.C. |pages=288 |language=en}} The decision concluded an anti-monopoly case filed by the United States government against the company under the Sherman Antitrust Act.{{Cite book |last=Posedel |first=Jennifer |title=Hercules |last2=Lawton |first2=Stephen |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7385-7440-0 |location=Charleston, SC |pages=25 |language=en}} These three new companies, which became independent companies and substantial competitors, were called Hercules Powder Company, Atlas Powder Company, and the du Pont de Nemours Powder Company. Atlas was officially incorporated on October 18, 1912, in Wilmington, Delaware. However, Pierre and Irenee DuPont, president and vice-president of DuPont, still owned large blocks of stock in the company as was in the case of Hercules.{{Cite book |last=Himmelberg |first=Robert F. |title=Antitrust and Regulation During World War I and the Republican Era, 1917–1932 |publisher=Garland Publishing, Inc. |year=1994 |isbn=0-8153-1406-X |location=New York |pages=151 |language=en}}

File:Better farming with Atlas farm powder, the safest explosive, the original farm powder (1919) (20373579101).jpg

Atlas Powder Company and Hercules competed with DuPont in the manufacture of dynamite and black powder.{{Cite book |last=Dunn |first=Kevin M. |title=Caveman Chemistry: 28 Projects, from the Creation of Fire to the Production of Plastics |date=2003 |publisher=Universal-Publishers |isbn=1-58112-566-6 |location=Irvine, California |pages=360 |language=en}} It purchased Giant Powder Company in 1915, which continued to operate a production facility at Point Pinole until 1960. By 1919, Atlas Powder Company became a military supplier.{{Cite book |last=Brennan |first=Mark |title=Theory, Practice, and Community Development |last2=Bridger |first2=Jeffrey |last3=Alter |first3=Theodore R. |publisher=Routledge |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-415-69413-1 |location=New York |pages=104 |language=en}} During the years leading up to World War I, it was also Britain and France's main supplier of explosives.{{Cite book |last=Richmond |first=Clint |title=Fetch the Devil: The Sierra Diablo Murders and Nazi Espionage in America |publisher=University Press of New England |year=2014 |isbn=978-1-61168-534-3 |location=Lebanon, New Hampshire |pages=224 |language=en}} It delivered 37 million pounds of ammonium nitrate as well as acids and nitro cotton. It became one of the five major companies that served the American munitions market. The company worked for the U.S. government. An example was its operation of a plant in Maryland, which was built by the United States Ordnance Department. This facility produced 452,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate.{{Cite book |last=Albright |first=Richard |title=Cleanup of Chemical and Explosive Munitions: Location, Identification and Environmental Remediation |publisher=William Andrew |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4377-3477-5 |location=Oxford |pages=24 |language=en}} Along with Hercules Powder Company and DuPont Company, Atlas Powder Company also supported the Allied armies during World War II.{{Cite book |last=Rendle |first=Ellen |title=New Castle County |publisher=Arcadia Publishing |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-7385-8557-4 |location=San Francisco, CA |pages=8 |language=en}}

Employment at Atlas reached its greatest peak during this period, reaching 1,617 in 1947. This number declined with the decreasing use of anthracite. Atlas Powder Company was renamed as Atlas Chemical Industries, which became a corporate predecessor of AstraZeneca, through an acquisition in 1971 by Imperial Chemical Industries.{{Cite book |last=Guston |first=David H. |title=Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Society, Volume II |publisher=SAGE Publications |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4522-6617-6 |location=Thousand Oaks, California |pages=173 |language=en}}

Another technology attributed to the company was the HLB number scale, which was considered the first ever successful attempt of a quantitative characterization of the hydrophile-lipophile balance of different surfactants.{{Cite book |last=Kruglyakov |first=Pyotr M. |title=Hydrophile – Lipophile Balance of Surfactants and Solid Particles: Physicochemical Aspects and Applications |publisher=Elsevier |year=2000 |isbn=0-444-50257-2 |location=Amsterdam |pages=146 |language=en}} In collaboration with the University of Pittsburgh, it developed a stable polymorph of sorbitol during the 1960s.{{Cite book |last=O'Brien-Nabors |first=Lyn |title=Alternative Sweeteners, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded |publisher=Marcel Dekker |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8247-0437-7 |location=New York |pages=318 |language=en}}

In 1984, Atlas Powder Company filed a patent infringement case against DuPont over an invention that featured a water-resistant emulsion-based blasting agent.{{Cite book |last=Amernick |first=Burton A. |title=Patent Law for the Nonlawyer: A Guide for the Engineer, Technologist, and Manager, Second Edition |publisher=Van Nostrand Reinhold |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4684-7831-0 |location=New York |pages=63 |language=en}}

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Category:Chemical companies of the United States

Category:Companies based in Wilmington, Delaware

Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1912

Category:1912 establishments in Delaware

Category:Defunct manufacturing companies based in Delaware