Tin Plate

Tin-Plate, iron-plate coated with tin by immersing it in the latter metal. The superior kinds of tin-plate are made from iron refined with charcoal, whereas in "coke-plate" puddled iron is used. The process called "pickling" consists in dipping the plates in hot sulphuric or hydrochloric acid mixed with water in the proportion of 1 to 16. They are then washed, annealed, rolled between chilled and polished iron rollers, annealed again, placed a second time in the sulphuric acid, washed once more, and finally scoured with sand, after which they are ready to receive the coating of tin. This is a highly elaborate process, involving a long series of operations. The manufacture of tin-plate is supposed to have been invented in Bohemia in the early part of the 16th century. [TIN.] It has long been the leading industry of Swansea, though since the introduction of the McKinley tariff it has much declined there, and has in part been transferred to the United States.