The age-herald., 1897-09-05
THE USES OF TIN FOIL.
Its Invention and Manufacture Growth of an
 Important Industry.

From the New York Post.
 The ever-growing extent and variety of the use of the substance known as tin- foil, as we'll as the many ornamental forms in which 1t is now supplied, must have attracted the attention of large numbers of persons, most of whom, how ever, know nothing of it's origin, history, or mode of manufacture. Only persons past middle age, as rule, are aware that this article Is a product of the last half of the century, and few of these recall the facts that it is practically an Ameri- can invention ard was first introduced in this country.
 The invention was made in 1852 or 1853, the writer's informant being unable to tell the exact year without a search through old business papers. There was then living in New York a young man nam John J. Crooke, who had been con- nected with the drug and chemical trade, but whose inventive faculties led him to experiment in lines outside his own vo- cation. The East river front, in that neighborhood of which Seventh street was one of the busiest points, was in those days alive with the industry of the shp-carpenters, and young Crooke had opportunities for observing many details in the construction of vessels. According to the recollection of an old friend of his, he conceived ths idea of overlaying iron bolts with copper so as to provide a cheap but good substitute for the bolts of pure copper used in shipbuilding and as a sequel of this attempt, which was not successful, devised the plan of com bining two metals for the production of tinfoil. The same narrator says that the inventor associated two or three other young men with him in the enterprise, and with a little borrowed capital, se cured some sets of secondhand rollers at the price of old iron, with which he be- gan the manufacture of tinfoil in a small building in Stanton street. Robert Croolle, president of the John J. Crooke company, and nephew of its founder, had not bsfore heard of this account when if was mentioned to him the other day, and said he had understood that tim foil was an independent invention, not led up to by any ether. He also believed that new machinery had to be devised for the production of the article. The state ment of the man who knows most about the matter. the inventor himself, could not be obtained. a s he is now living, at ripe old age. in Colorado. giving his at- tsntion to large mining and smelting in- terests, of which he Is the proprietor
 Prior to Mir. C'rooke's invention, the only tinfoil known was pure tin, beaten thin by tha same process that is applied to gold leaf. or urse. this was expen- sive, and 1t was nsN7e to he easily torn, Sn that it was used chiefly for thewrap- ping of small articles wfach it was de- sired to put up in ernan1er tai shane. It was made only in England. and little was imported to this country MT. CroolSe hit upon the idea of rolling tin upon sheets If lead ard welding the two metals to- gether. lead being the cheaper of the two, while tin has more tensile strength and is more pleasing to the eve. His first rol- inn r'iN was at Nos 325 and 337 Stanton street where the rolling method was ap- pled both to the new fon and to pure