Pacific Carbide exterior and interior for record. On March 4, 1944 E. F. Goodner of Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. announced that the plant would close down for an indefinite amount of time. The plant employed 65 people. Exterior view of plant.

Coke industry--Tacoma; Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. (Tacoma);

Pacific Carbide exterior and interior for record. The Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. operated 24 hours a day 7 days per week. Their carbide products helped many Tacoma industries. Exterior view of plant.

Coke industry--Tacoma; Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. (Tacoma);

Pacific Carbide shot of screen pulled loose. In 1943, the Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. plant was opened here because of cheap water transportation, an abundance of low cost water in Tacoma and cheap electricity. The plant was part of a defense plant corporation project. View of plant machinery, Link-Belt Company.

Coke industry--Tacoma; Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. (Tacoma);

Pacific Carbide exterior and interior for record. Interior view of the Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. plant a few days after plant was shut down. Congressman Coffee intends to write a letter to R. R. Sayre of the Bureau of Mines, opposing the closing of this plant.

Coke industry--Tacoma; Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. (Tacoma);

Pacific Carbide exterior and interior for record. The Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. was shut down due to recent explosions in a Tacoma shipyard that uses carbide products. The explosions are not linked to plant, but the War Production Board decided to shut down this carbide producing plant. Interior view of production area in plant.

Coke industry--Tacoma; Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. (Tacoma);

Pacific Carbide exterior and interior for record. The Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. plant used a new system of production that was highly efficient. Interior view of plant.

Coke industry--Tacoma; Pacific Carbide & Alloys Co. (Tacoma);

Independent Insulation, exterior of plant. The factory was located near Fife and opened March 1946. The equipment used in the plant was developed by the staff over an experimental period covering the last two years. (TNT, 3/22/1946; 3/30/1947)

Factories--Fife--1940-1950; Independent Insulation, Inc. (Fife);

Independent Insulation, Inc., exterior of plant. Independent Insulation produced rock wool as insulation for factories and homes. Rock was poured in at one end of the production line and it came out as rock wool at the other end. Three kinds of rock; copper slag from the Tacoma smelter, quartz silica and basalt, with limestone added as a flux, were layered with coke, and heated to 2,600 degrees farenheit. The molten stream which flowed off was broken up by live steam under pressure. (TNT 3/22/1946; 3/30/1947)

Factories--Fife--1940-1950; Independent Insulation, Inc. (Fife);

Independent Insulation Inc. of Fife produced rock wool to be used for insulation in factories and homes. Three kinds of rock - copper slag from the Tacoma smelter, quartz silica, ands basalt - were layered with coke and limestone, as a flux, and heated to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Once molten the rock was combined under pressure with live steam; it shot out of a man-made volcano and into a long blowing chamber. The rock emerges from the furnace in molten globulets and the speed at which it is cooled creates its thread-like texture. (TNT 3/22/1946; 3/30/1947)

Factories--Fife--1940-1950; Independent Insulation, Inc. (Fife);

This group of workers from the American Rock Wool Corporation posed in front of bags of insulation at their Tideflats plant located at 2301 Taylor Way in late September of 1952. John S. Tillman was manager of the Tacoma plant at this time. American Rock Wool Corporation bought the Feltrok Insulation Manufacturing Company in 1952. It, in turn, was purchased by US Gypsum in 1959, who bought all eight American Rock Wool plants nationwide. American Rock Wool manufactured rock wool insulation from slag obtained from the Tacoma smelter. The rock wool was used for home and industrial installation. (TNT 4-24-59, p. 1-article on US Gypsum purchase)

American Rock Wool Corp. (Tacoma)--People; Laborers--Tacoma--1950-1960; Factories--Tacoma--1950-1960; Building materials;

One of the groups of workers pose together at American Rock Wool Corporation. John S. Tillman was manager of the Tacoma plant at this time. American Rock Wool Corporation bought the Feltrok Insulation Manufacturing Company in 1952. In 1959, American Rock Wool was purchased by the US Gypsum Co. The Tacoma company was located on 15 acres on the Tideflats and employed 70 workers in its six buildings. The Tacoma plant was one of 8 American Rock Wool plants in the US. (TNT 4/24/1959, pg. 1)

American Rock Wool Corp. (Tacoma)--People; Laborers--Tacoma--1950-1960; Factories--Tacoma--1950-1960;

One of the groups of workers pose together at American Rock Wool Corporation. John S. Tillman was manager of the Tacoma plant at this time. American Rock Wool Corporation bought the Feltrok Insulation Manufacturing Company in 1952. American Rock Wool was purchased in 1959 by the US Gypsum Co. The company manufactured rock wool from slag obtained from the Tacoma smelter. The rock wool was used as home and industrial insulation. American Rock Wool had 8 plants in the United States, including its 15 acre site on the Tideflats. (TNT 4/24/1959, pg. 1)

American Rock Wool Corp. (Tacoma)--People; Laborers--Tacoma--1950-1960; Factories--Tacoma--1950-1960;

This photograph was taken as part of a photo mural for Feltrok Insulation Company, ordered by Mr. Lybeck. Feltrok manufactured home and industrial insulations and were members of the National Mineral Wool Association and Industrial Mineral Wool Institute. C.J. Rusden was president of the company at this time. A rail line brought materials used in the company's manufacturing processes directly to the yard. The smokestacks were tall to provide cooling.

Industrial facilities--Tacoma--1950-1960; Feltrok Insulation Manufacturing Co. (Tacoma); Smokestacks--Tacoma;