vol.11『 ZINC BUTTON 』

Vol.11 "Zinc Button"

● Zinc Button(Zinc button)

The zinc button has played an important role in the US military history. Especially in World War I and World War II were widely used in various troops.

Several companies have undertaken buttons, including Waterbury Button Company, Scovill Manufacturing Company, UNITED CARR FASTENER CORPORATION.
These companies produced various metal parts such as uniform buttons, pocket buttons, and collar buttons.


 

● History of zinc

The history of zinc has been discovered for zinc production from archeological sites in India and Iran around the 9th century BC.
Ancient Persians, Greeks, and Romans used zinc for various purposes, such as brass alloys.

By the 13th century, it was developed in India to distill zinc from ore from ore.
It is a method of heating zinc ore in a crucible, collecting zinc steam and condensing to obtain metal zinc.

In 1746, German scientists Andres Margraph were discovered in Europe for the first time in pure metal zinc.

In the era of the Industrial Revolution, the importance of zinc increased due to technology and metallurgic advances, and its popularity became popular.
Zinc is widely used for zinc plating to prevent iron and copper rust.
In addition, zinc also plays an important role in the production of brass, which is a copper and zinc alloy, and has been used for various purposes such as money, machinery, and decorations.


● Development of US Zinc button industry

The first zinc button in the United States was Waterbury Button Company, which was established in Waterberry, Connecticut in 1812.

Since 1824, Gordon Burnham has been welcomed as a partner and was called BENEDICT & COE, Benedict & Burnham, Burnham Manufacturing Co., Ltd. During this time, copper, copper alloy, door handle, furniture knob, safety pin, rivet, bolt hinge, lamp burner, insulating electric wire, telegraph wire, etc. were produced to increase production and types.
The company started producing zinc buttons on a large scale in the 1850s.
Waterbury Button Company quickly became one of the leading button makers in Japan, and has been in its position for many years.

From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, other companies also entered the zinc button market.
The typical one is also based on Waterberry, Connecticut.Scovill Manufacturing CompanyIt is.

SCOVILL MANUFACTURING COMPANY was established in 1802 and initially manufactured brass buttons.

However, in the 1870s, it shifts to the production of the zinc button.
In the early 1900s, Scovill was the world's largest zinc button maker.

During World War I, demand increased significantly because the zinc buttons were frequently used in military uniforms. As a result, the zinc button industry has expanded further in the United States, and many new companies have entered the market.

Demand for buttons continued to grow after World War I, and in the 1920s, the United States became the world's largest zinc button.

However, during the Great Depression, the demand for buttons decreased due to the deterioration of the economy, and the industry faced great difficulties.

During World War II, the zinc buttons were used in military uniforms and demand increased again. However, after the war, competition with overseas manufacturers, mainly in Japan, intensified.
Furthermore, with the spread of plastic buttons, US zinc buttons have declined.

Currently, the US Zinc button industry is a few minutes compared to the former scale.
However, there are still several companies that manufacture zinc buttons, such as Waterbury Button Company and Scovill.

 

 

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