page_title: Revere Copper Company
section_title: Copper rolling process
hierarchical_section_title: Revere Copper Company / History / Copper rolling process
caption_attribution_description: English: Canton Viaduct with Paul Revere's Copper Rolling Mill in the background
context_page_description: The Revere Copper Company is a copper rolling mill in the United States. It operated North America's first copper rolling mill. It was started by Paul Revere in 1801 in Canton, Massachusetts, and developed a commercially viable process for manufacturing copper sheets.
context_section_description: Copper rolling is the process of converting large blocks of copper into thin sheets by rolling them gradually down to size. These sheets of copper were used in the 18th and 19th centuries mainly to plate the bottoms of ships. This process of plating ship bottoms, referred to as “sheathing” or “coppering”, helped increase the speed and lifespan of ships. Copper was desired for this process because it reacts with seawater to create an oxide coating that prevents the build-up of barnacles, weeds, and other detritus, in addition to physically stopping worms from burrowing into and degrading the wood. Not only did copper sheathing help ships sail faster by keeping their hulls clean, but it also drastically increased the amount of time a ship could remain in service between overhauls. In fact, “British Navy Comptroller Charles Middleton estimated that copper sheathing might double the number of ships at sea at any time”.
caption: Paul Revere's Copper Mill with Canton Viaduct in the foreground
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