Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-02-22
THE HISTORY OF TIN.
Interesting Paper Read Before Cam
ners' Convention IN MilWau-
kee by w. n. Wells.

ners' Convention IN MilWau-
kee by w. n. Wells.
w. II. Wells. who represented the
American TinDlate company at the con-
vention OF the national association Of
Gamers recently, read Il paper before
TIE joint session, on the history of tin
There is much that is interesting to the
general reader in the paper, which is in
part as follows:
KNOWN in Ancient Times.
Tin (Latin stannum. Greek kassi-
t@rosJ is referred to in authentic record
dating back 20 the first century of the
Christian era. Some of the ancient writ
ers indicate that the difference between
TO two metals, tin and lead, was not
clearly understood. for we find the for
mer spoken of as 'plumbum album and
the latter as 'plumbum nigrium, simply
distinguishing in this way the difference
i'll color.
while there is unquestionably authori-
" for stating that tin was imported into
Italy very shortly after the invasion of
Bnton by Julius Caesar. it is believed
that occasional lots had been carried
from Briton long before this time. as the
Oldest and best paying mines of record
are hose of Cornwall, now so deep that
the expense of mining is SO great as to
cause partial abandonment, the prOduc-
son being but Il small portion of the
worlds supply. Australasia and the
Straits Settlements, embracing among
others the islands of Banca, Rilliton and
M"lacca. are the greatest producers at
the present time.
No Paying American Mine.
ut is a remarkable circumstance that
while the last few years have so devel-
Oped the metal Industries of our country
that today, both in the precious metals
such as gold and silver, as well as in the
useful metals. iron. steel. copper and
zinc, we stand head and shoulders above
any other country in the world, that as
yet tin mine of paying value has never
been found, although here and there there
are traces of the metal
Ilnstone is the principal form in
which this metal is found. 1t is gener-
ally unnecessary to 90 to any great
depth to get the tinStone, which is
soft quartz, and which is first crushed
and then roasted to remove all traces of
arsenic and sulphur. This roasting or
burning also converts the iron pirites in
to friable oxide. IT, as is sometimes the
case, there Is q trace of oxide of copper,
this has to be extracted with sulphuric
acid in addition to Ehe roasting When
thus purified, the meal is spoken of as
black tin. Frequently nature has, by its
own processes, saved the necessity of the
operations above named and then we
find what we call stream tn much as
the gold miner finds in his placer mine
the small pieces of gold, which have been
broken from the natural quartz bed
Smelling and refining now follow until
we have the whtish metal commercially
known as pig or block tin. which is Il
metal with considerable lUster which
does not tariSh, IS soft. but in it's pure
state is almost devoid of tenacity These
pecularities and its freedom from cor
roson and attack of acids led people in
by-gOne days to use it first as an alloy
in making pewter and other household
articles.
First TiEplate in Bohemia.
"Pliny speaks of copper, Agricola
speaks of sheet iron coated with tin. 1t
was reserved, however, for the people of
Bohemia or SaXOny to first produce tin
plate, and for a long time they kept the
process of manufacture secret. England
was the first country to make large use
of this article first made by these early
mountaineers from tin taken from their
own mines, using 1t as afmor for her
warriors and Tor fancy household ware,
pieces of which were kept from genera
ton to generation as heirlooms.
ANDREW YarrantOn of Pontypool,
Monmouthshire, first started the manu-
facture of tinnlate about 1870, after
having spent some time in Bohemia to
learn the secret of manufacture. Short
~ after this a court official secured
patent and in this way for a long time
production was restricted. In 1920 at
the same place another party named
Hamburg first made, commercially and
successfully. tinplates in any consider
able quantity. In the beginning the iron
for the black plates was hammered by
hand to the required thickness, but in
1928 the first rolling was done.
Early Protective Legislation.
Even at this early date the advan-
| tageS of a protective tariff upon tinplate
was appreciated, as is clearly indicated
| by the fact that the British Parliament
| placed on the imported tinplate 4 very
! heavy duty, giving the following as Il
| reason for So doing: For the purpose
| of encouraging her citizens to firmly es-
tablish the manufacture of tinplate with
| in their borders and to prevent other
nations from shipping an article manu-
| featured from her products back to her
! in completed form"
by 1884 Great Britain was the only
| exporting country, and ut that time the
| entire production was about 10000
| boxes per annum. In 1860 production
had grown to 100000 boxes. In 1890
| it had grown to about 100000 boxes.
/ In 1891 the tariff BILL since popularity
known as the Mckinley Till. was passed,
and tlnplatc mills began to spring up
in every direction, so that with the year
just closed, 1901, after a period of ten
years. we find that our production in this
country is equal TO nearly 80 per cent. of
| the consumption and is over 100000
| boxes.
America Uses Much Tin.
Through all the great growth of the
tinplate industry during the Nineteenth
century we find its greatest increasa in
consumption has been in the United
States, and that prior to production here
consumption with us exceeded that of all
the rest of the world put together. At
the present time the canning industry as
a whole and in all its branches taken
on a conservative basis, uses, | believe,
! fully 10 per cent of the entire product.
in no single manufactured article
! known to commerce is SO large Il propor-
tion Of production used only as a pack
age or covering to be afterwards discard
| ed. Where any article has such di-
rect bearing on the food of the people
and consequently their health, it is of
the utmost Importance that every en-
dcavor should he made, not only by the