The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1919-08-18
ROLLED ZINC PRODUCTION.
Great Increase Due to the Necessary
Demands of War.


For many years nearly all the sheet
zine made in the United States was pro-
duced by two of the older and larger
companies Matthiessen & Hegeler
Zinc company of La Sale, H., and the
, Illinois Zinc company, in the adjoining
town of Peru, Ill. Other companies, par
ticularly the manufacturers of glass
fruit jars having zinc tops, have rolled
zinc for their own use, and some that
furnish sheet zinc to photographers have
also rolled their own zinc.
The great demand during the war for
sheet zinc to line packing cases made for
shipment overseas, especially cases con
tanning munitions OF other materials that
were likely to be affected by salt air, led
still other firms into the business of roll
ing zinc, In addition to the two compa-
MES mentioned above. the following firms
now roll zinc: Ball Brothers Glass Man
ufacturing Co., Muncie, Ind; Hazel At
las Glass CO., Wheeling, w. Va; New
Jersey Zine Co., Palmerton, Pa; Ameri-
can Zinc Products CO., Greencastle, Ind.
Edes Manufacturing Co.. Plymouth,
Mass; E. Phillip & Sons, South Hanover,
Mass; and The Platt Brothers & Co,
Waterbury, Conn.
In 1918 the United States geological
survey, department of the interior, pub
lished for the first time the statistics of
rolled zinc, giving the output for 1915 to
1917, inclusive. Through a misunder
standing of the schedule, it has been
found necessary to correct the figures
then obtained, and proper corrections
have accordingly been made in the ac-
companying table, which includes also
similar statistics for 1918, obtained from
recent canvass of the industry by G, +.
Siebenthal of the survey If the figures
showing the exports, as published by the
bureau OF foreign and domestic com
merce, are subtracted from the figures
showing the production, the result will
represent the domestic consumption. 1t
should be borne in mind, however, that
the sheet zinc used by the government in
shipping munitions overseas is not re-
ported as exported.
The New Jersey Zinc company made
its first output in 1917 and the Ameri-
can Zinc Products company in 1918. Ad
ditions to capacity amounting to nearly
DU per cent were hldut az sbAlS VI tiic
principal mills to meet the increased de-
mand for zinc for war uses, and the out
put for 1918 showed an increase over
that for 1917 of about 20 per cent.
Rolled zinc has always been quoted at
so much per pound, with discounts and
extras for different cages and special
sizes and shapes. In 1914, according to
Metal Statistics, the base price ranged
from to S75 cents a pound. In 1918
the price began at s.75 cents, rose to 80
cents on June 8, fell to Is cents Aug %,
and rose to % cents at the close of the
year. In 1916 the price reached 25.5
cents on April D but dropped to 10 cents
on July H. and at the end of the year
was p cents. In 1917 the base price of
sheet zinc remained nearly stationary,
declining TO 20 cents on April % and TO
10 cents on April 26 On Feb, Is, l0lS,
the base price of zinc sheets was fixed by
the government at 10 cents and the price
of rolled zinc plates at IA cents, and
this price held until the end of the year.
Both the production and the value by
classes of product given in the accompa
nying table are subject to slight correc-
ton, because some producers that sell
from single base price do not separate
their sales according to classes Of prod
uct (which are arbitrary, anyhow and