The Pittsburgh Press (December 31, 1944)
Wider civilian aluminum uses are predicted
Production exceeds war needs in 1944
By L. W. Wilson, Aluminum Company of American vice president
(UP) – The aluminum industry in 1944 went far enough “over the top” in supplying war needs to permit WPB to close down entirely a number of government-owned aluminum plants, releasing thousands of workers to shell plants and other critical industries which need them badly.
Even with substantial reduction in Alcoa’s production, aluminum is still being made in this country at a rate three times that of the peacetime peak.
During 1944, ever-increasing quantities of the metal poured into new military applications. Because of its availability, aluminum was not only returned to these military uses for which other materials had been substituted in many cases for other materials less plentiful in supply.
The new year should see growing amounts of aluminum going into the semi-military and civilian uses which must be expanded as rapidly as manpower may be safely diverted to their development.
Aluminum cars built
Prime examples of semi-military uses are airplane building mats weighing about half as much as the older steel type, and aluminum gasoline drums weighing 21 pounds each, compared with 52 pounds for those of other materials. typical of civilian uses are aluminum boxcar.
Wherever possible, surplus aluminum stock left in military stores, has been utilized. A quantity of aluminum sheet belonging to the Army was recently turned over to the Navy for use as siding and roofing in the construction of Navy warehouses thereby saving other more critical materials.
Aluminum manufacturers during 1944 developed a number of new alloys of military importance and of far-reaching peacetime significance. A new Alcoa alloy, 75S, has a yield strength about twice that of the strong aluminum alloys used only a few years ago, and an ultimate strength exceeding 80,000 pounds per square inch.
To meet urgent civilian demands for aluminum, WPB issued during the latter half of 1944, a series of authorizations for the use of the metal in cases where manpower would not be taken from essential war work and where other more critical materials could be replaced. Whenever the manufacture of a particular item was authorized, permission to use aluminum was granted.
Metal’s use approved
Aluminum truck and trailer bodies are now being built under WPB authorizations. Among such authorized uses of aluminum during the past year were collapsible tubes, metal containers including cans, tank bodies, motorcycles, electrical wiring devices, domestic laundry equipment, automatic phonographs, caskets, burial vaults, furniture and furniture parts, aluminum paint, light power-driven tools, cooking utensils, food processing machinery, engineering instruments and industrial type lighting equipment.
Although military demands for aluminum continue to create a manpower problem in many localities where fabricating plants are located, the facilities for producing the metal in all its forms in this country have stimulated a vast interest in the peacetime prospects for this light, versatile material.
The lowered price of aluminum ingot, now 25 percent below pre-war levels, and the fact that many thousands of additional workers are familiar with the characteristics and advantages of aluminum through its widespread use in the manufacture of war materials, give indication of a greatly enlarged civilian market after the war.
Many new uses for aluminum, as well as the expansion of markets already established, are in the offing.