Holston Army Ammunition Plant, RDX-and-Composition-B Manufacturing Line 9, Kingsport, Sullivan County, TN

Significance: Line 9 is highly representative of the 10 production lines constructed at HSAAP during WWII for the manufacture of the military high explosive Composition B, and its chief ingredient RDX. These buildings embodied the world's first, large-scale, industrial application of the "Bachmann method," which revolutionized the production of RDX by replacing an expensive, labor-intensive batch technology with a cost-efficient, mass-production operation. The HSAAP manufacturing lines also greatly improved on previous procedures for producing Composition B...

Survey number: HAER TN-10-B

Building/structure dates: 1943 Initial Construction

Building/structure dates: after 1965 Subsequent Work

Building/structure dates: 1973 Subsequent Work

military facilities brick buildings ammunition industry chemical industry war world war ii explosives manufacturing war korean war chemistry explosions weapons industry processing plants reinforced concrete construction railroad tracks pipes conduits pipelines pumps machinery barricades loading docks chutes conveyors kingsport tenn holston army ammunition plant holston army ammunition plant line kingsport sullivan sullivan county tennessee hawkins werner e bachmann building technology incorporated charles t main incorporated ryan and associates ltd dennett muessig fraser brace company historic american engineering record holston defense corporation robie s lange macdonald and mack partnership robert c mack national defense research committee tennessee eastman corporation sally kress tompkins us army corps of engineers us department of the army photo ultra high resolution high resolution manufacturing plants library of congress

1969 - 1980

Library of Congress

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