Show THE USES OF COPPER the average man jf if asked to name offhand the uses of copper would he be likely to reply that the metal was used mainly for coining pennies and making wire yet those uses employ barely more than a quarter of the copper that is produced on second thought he might smile at naming copper coinage as an important consumer of the metal yet his first thought would he be nearer right than his second for the chinese empire t has used fifty thousand tons of copper for making new coins within the past two years thereby increasing the circulating medium of the country to the extent of four ounces for each inhabitant for while fifty thousand tons of copper is a large quantity of metal sufficient to load a thousand freight cars of the heaviest type used on american railroads it is but a quarter of an avoirdupois pound per capita when divided among four hundred million people only the expert or those engaged most actively in the copper industry have the slightest idea of the diversified uses to w which copper is put as shown by a chapter en cn the uses of the metal in the new edition of the copper handbook published by horace J stevens of houghton michigan according to this book copper enters into almost every form of human activity and the multiplicity of its uses is most surprising Elect electric lic light power and traction are immense consumers of the metal meta I 1 in the form forin of f wire and telephones and telegraphs find it indispensable yet electricity requires only a trifle more than a quarter of the metal made tile the engineering trades consume more than half of all the copper produced nia mainly in the form fonn of brass but there here l are about a score of friction metals and alloys each having its specific use into which copper enters as a com component part the building trades are enormous consumers of copper and this sort of consumption is increasing rapidly copper roofs cornices cornicks cor nices and fronts adorn the exteriors of business buildings in thousands of towns while for interior work the great majority for modern buildings use copper brass or fronze locks knobs and butts brass pipes mcke led are in modern bathrooms bath rooms and lav vora oratories tories gas and electric fixtures are almost invariable A dozen or more other very common domestic uses of copper are mentioned in the manufacturing world the uses of copper and brass are innumerable one concern in the naugatuck atuck valley of connecticut buys copper in tenton ten ton lots monthly solely for the making of watch dials all of the better grade dials being of copper enameled the common pin requires hundreds of tons of copper yearly insignificant as a single pin may seem bals for shoes and tips for shoelaces shoe laces require metal by the scores of tons and the thin metallic tips on rubber tipped lead pencils are responsible for a surprising depletion in the stock of the metal ii addition to the consumption of the metal itself tens of thousands of tons of copper sulphate are required for the arts and manufactures and for horticulture purposes in spraying fruit trees bushes and vines it is very evident from a perusal of chebook the book in question that copper plays a vital and a far more important part than commonly supposed in twentieth century civilization |