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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 w...ere 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.
Metadata describing this Open University video programme
Module code and title: A282, "Science, technology and everyday life 1870-1950"
Item code: A282; 02
First transmission date: 1989
Published: 1989
Rights Statement:
Restrictions on use:
Duration: 00:24:43
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Producer: Neil Cameron
Contributor: Colin Chant
Publisher: BBC Open University
Keyword(s): Aircraft; Aluminium; Cables; Cars; Electrolysis; Hydroelectric smelting plants; Kitchens; Manufacturing processes; Nineteenth century
Subject terms: Aluminum; Manufacturing processes; Technological innovations
Master spool number: HOU5909
Production number: FOUA259N
Videofinder number: 2906
Available to public: no