OCR Text |
Show Increased Use of Aluminum Reported in Magazine Article On roads, rails, in supermarkets supermar-kets and homes, aluminum, once rarer than gold, is finding new uses which have made production produc-tion of the modern wonder soar. ; American consumption of this aluminum is now three times what it was during the peak of World War II, Don Wharton reports. re-ports. Thirteen years ago, 4500 manufacturers used aluminum in their products; today, 25,000 do. The auto industry alone uses more than all industries did in 1939. ...... Production has been breaking records. In 1959, according to the Aluminum Association, it was 1,959,039 tons an all time high and 25 per cent over 1958. The use of aluminum to replace tin coated steel in cans is one of many new uses. The innovation, pioneered by oil companies, is being picked up by brewers and may be expected to spread to other industries as aluminum moves in on the 40 billion unit a year can market. One result may be that homeowners can sell their empty cans instead of paying a garbage man to haul them away. Some of the other new uses are: Freight cars each car costs about $7000 more than one made of steel, but because it is lighter can carry five extra tons of pay-load pay-load per trip. Highway bridges, signs, and railings, aluminum cannot rust, so needs no other painting or other expensive maintenace. Residential housing aluminum alumi-num siding, with the paint baked on at the factory, needs no painting paint-ing for an estimated eight or ten years. Office building construction of 63 tall buildings erected in New York since 1953, 30 have aluminum exteriors. The Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs will use over five millions mil-lions pounds of aluminum for walls of the cadet quarters, gym, chapel and other buildings. Automobiles in 1940 the average av-erage car contained five pounds of aluminum; 1960 cars contain 59 pounds. Nine out of ten 1960 models sport aluminum grilles, which not one 1955 model had. Several 1961 cars have aluminum alumi-num bumpers, and experts think several also will have aluminum engines. Although one-twelfth of the earth's crust in aluminum, it was not until 1886 that Charles Hall in Oberlin, Ohio, invented the process which made it readily extractible. Before that time, pure aluminum rated as a precious pre-cious metal. Napolean III had forks and spoons made of it, for guests too important for the standard gold and silver service. The nine inch alumium tip for the Washington monument was exhibited in Tiffany's before be- |