USES OF BASE METALS.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIX, Issue 265, 9 October 1939, Page 5

USES OF BASE METALS.

COMPREHENSIVE RANGE. Although tho direct uses of base metals for war purposes arc considerable, the great rise in the consumption of metals in war-time is chiefly duo to the general expansion of industry and of facilities for transport and communications. 1 Figures showing the absorption of metals for different purposes in 1938 reveal how wide a range of purposes they fulfil. For zinc the chief use is galvansing, which accounted for 35 pci cent of the zinc used in Great Britain last year. Tho next most important use was brass, 30 per cent—a use which might be expected to increase considerably in war; zinc oxide absorbed 17 per cent. * Chief uses of lead last year in the United States were for storage batteries 30 per cent, cable sheathing 10 per cent, white lend 13 per cent, ammunition 6 per cent. Both for lead and for copper the electrical industries account for the greater part of consumption. Of copper used last year in the United States electric manufactures took 25 per cent, telephone and telegraphs 5 per cent, transmission lines 10 per cent, other wire 10 per cent, automobiles 10 per cent, and building 12 per cent. Tin is a somewhat exceptional metal, ns more than half the annual consumption is accounted for hv a single industry. that of tinplate, the next most important use being for solder and automobiles. In certain minor fields, such as collansible tubes and foils, tin has beep largely displaced hv aluminium, which is also used in place of copper for many electrical purposes. The proclue-" tion of aluminium has quadrupled since 1933, yet it has not seriously affected the consumption of other metals, as the peculiar qualities of aluminium have | created new uses for the metal.