Hercules Powder Company watch fob

Chipk · Jun 1, 2018

Found an odd piece of metal yesterday. On a whim I tossed it into the tumbler.

Learned it’s a Hercules Powder Company watch fob. HPC was a small explosives company in 1880 in Delaware until purchased by DuPont.

No idea what the numbers signify.

DougF · Jun 2, 2018

very nice find - with the stamped number I wonder if it's something other than a watch fob? Employee badge? Or like a miner's check. An explosive mfg. company would need a system to account for employees in case of accident.

matmit · Jun 2, 2018

That is really cool. We had a company here in Milwaukee called Hercules and they manufactured chemicals of some kind

WyoTom · Jun 3, 2018

Very cool find! Employee tag would make sense or tool tag.

beephead · Jun 3, 2018

Big Congrats on whatever it is! lol I don't think it's a watch fob though.

beephead

SoOregonMd · Jun 3, 2018

Maybe the Number is like a Gunfighter putting notches on his Gun j/k

Nice find there for sure..

JohnH · Jun 3, 2018

I think the numbers on the tags are mine ID numbers. When going underground in mines everyone had a tag token. When you went down you took the tag off the board that showed who was not underground and put it on the board that said you were in the mine. When you came out you took it off that board and put it back on the board that said you were out. That was the way of accounting for everyone in the mine. Many times all blasting was set off from the surface. If a token was left on the In board someone had to go in and find the person. Looks like Hercules had their own tags as they would not be going underground alone but with another mine employee. I used them many times when working underground. Woa be the one who didn't put his tag on the Out board if he was out.

pescadore · Jun 3, 2018

Really nice find !!! I agree with others that it doesn't appear to be a watch fob but some kind of ID tag.

georgeinsc · Jun 3, 2018

Since Hercules manufactured a variety of hazardous materials including gun powder I strongly suspect that your tag is an employee id tag.

If a fire or explosion happened they would know who was in the plant.

Coal mines also used a similar tag to know who was in the mine.

Mines also use tags to identify who had tools checked out.

Neat find.

JohnH · Jun 5, 2018

I think you are more correct than my comment. I didn't know the plants had the same method as mines.

Hercules Powder Company watch fob

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