#camphor
A phenomenon called “crown shyness” can be found in Camphor trees, where the crowns of the Camphor trees do not touch each other and form channels in the canopy. The camphor tree is used to produce Vic’s Vapor Rub and Tigerbalm. Scientists still have not found a reason for the phenomena. Their most likely hypothesis is that the trees release a type of gas that warns other trees to stay away.
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This #WorkerWednesday, we’re making a visit to the Camphor Plant of E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company’s Chambers Works facility.
The site, located on the Delaware River in Deepwater Point, New Jersey, was established by the DuPont Company in 1892 for the purpose of manufacturing gunpowder. Between then and when it closed in 2018, the site was used to develop, manufacture, and store a wide variety of chemical products, including Kevlar, nylon, Freon, leaded gasoline, and uranium processing for the Manhattan Project.
Camphor, an aromatic compound produced from the wood of camphor producing plants, or synthetically derived from turpentine, is a versatile product used in mothballs, embalming fluids, perfumes, medicinal products and, in the early years of the plastics industry, as a plasticizer used in the manufacturing of celluloid and plastic lacquers.
This ca. 1945 photograph is part of Hagley Library’s collection of DuPont Company Product Information photographs (Accession 1972.341). The DuPont Company created the Product Information section within the Public Relations department in 1952. Its function was to produce news releases with photographs about DuPont and its products for indirect publicity and advertising purposes.
This collection contains photographs of DuPont Company corporate events and proceedings, product trade shows and fairs, development and manufacturing processes, and the employees and facilities where the products were created. Most of the photographs were taken from the 1930s through the 1950s. This collection has not been digitized in its entirety, but you can view a selection of images online now. Just click here to visit its page in our Digital Archive.
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