| Show THE USES OF COPPER 1 rime average man If asked to name offnand the uses of copper would bo illktly lo reply that the mcta was I lii < td mainly for coining pennies aun making wire yet theso uses employ barely more than a quarter of the con prr that is produced On Kcconu thought ho might smile at namiufc copper coinage as an important con Iwimer of the metal yet his Ore j thought would bo nearer right tharl hut second for the Chinese Empire t has used fifty thousand tons ot copper for making new coins within the past two years thereby Increasing the circulating cir-culating medium of the country to I the extent of four ounces for each Inhabitant In-habitant for while fifty thousand I tons of copper Is a largo quantity of metal sufficient to load a thousand fiilBht earn of tho heaviest type used I on American railroads It Is but n I quarter of an avoirdupois pound per capita when dividend among four hundred million people Only tho export or those engaged i most actively In the copper Industry have the slightest Idea of the diversified diversi-fied uses to which copper Is put as shown by a chapter on the uses of the nodal In the now edition of the Copper Handbook published by Horace J Stevens of Houghton Michigan According Ac-cording to this book I copper enters Into almost every form of human activity and tho multiplicity of Its uses is most surprising Electric light power and traction aro Immense consumers of the metal In tho form of wire and telephones tele-phones and telegraphs find it Indlspcii slide yet electricity requires only a Irlllo moro than a quarter of the metal made The engineering trades consume moro than half of all the copper produced mainly III the form of brass but there aro about a score of friction metals and alloys each having hav-ing Its specific use Into which copper enters as a component part lIme building trades arc enormous consumers of copper and this sort of I consumption Is Increasing rapidly Copper roofs cornices and fronts adorn the exteriors of business buildIngs build-ings In thousands of towns while for Interior work the great majority of modern buildings use copper brass or 0S bronze locks knobs and butts Brass fluasI pipes nickeled aro In modern bathrooms I bath-rooms and lavoratorles and brass and bronze chandeliers gas and electric fixtures arc almost Invariable A dozen or more other very common domestic uses of copper arc mentioned In the manufacturing world the use of copper and brass aro Innumerable One concern in the Naugatuck valley of Connecticut buys copper in tenton lots i monthly solely for the making of watchdials all oT the bettergrade dials being of copper enameled The common pin requires hundreds of tons of copper yearly insignificant as a single pin may seem DaIs for shoes ami tips for shoelaces require metal by the scqrcs of tons and the thin metallic tips on rubbertipped lead pencils aro responsible for a surprising S surpris-ing depletion In the stock of tho metal 1 In addition to the consumption of the metal Itself tens of thousands of tons of copper sulphate aro required for the arts and manufacturers aim dIg for horticulture purposes In d-Ig fruit trees bushes and vines It is very evident from a perusal of the book In question that copper plays a vital and a far more Important part than commonly supposed In Twentieth Century civilization |
