| Item Description: | "In the mid 19th century aluminium was a precious metal. By the 1930's it was a bulk material, used in aircraft manufacture, electrical cables, kitchenware and motor cars. By 1950 its applications were beginning to multiply again, to include window frames, kitchen foil and even buildings, as wartime manufacturing capacity was hurriedly adapted for peacetime markets. Central to the availability of aluminium was the supply of cheap electricity for a new manufacturing process, electrolysis. Colin Chant traces the increasing uses of aluminium as the manufacturing process was progressively improved at hydroelectric smelting plants in the Scottish Highlands".
A282/02. |
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