Copper Facts: Copper in Consumer Products

Copper alloys were used in even the oldest of musical instruments. Bronze cymbals date back over three millennia to Assyria. The Chinese created copper-alloy trumpets and bronze chimes 2,200 years ago. The first trumpets made of copper alloys in the West, created by the Greeks and Romans, are about 2,000 years old. However, the oldest trumpets, perhaps made of animal horns and tusks, were created in Egypt nearly 4,000 years ago.

The leading manufacturer of cymbals, Avedis Zildjian, traces its origin back to Istanbul in 1623 (it is now in Norwood, Massachusetts). Tiny, high-pitched cymbals known as "crotales" are worn by dancers on their fingers. Crotales' popular name, "zils," comes from the manufacturer. The ingredients for Zildjian's bronze cymbals are mostly copper, plus some tin and silver, but the exact amounts are a centuries-old family secret. Full-size cymbals are part of the percussion sections of the world's leading orchestras. A little-known use of copper is in classical guitars. According to David Starobin, head of the classical guitar department at the Manhattan School of Music, the bass strings are wrapped in silver plated copper.

The largest swinging bell ever is the 12-foot-high, 66,000-pound "World Peace Bell" in Newport, Kentucky. Cast in "bell bronze" in 1999 by the Verdin Company, its multimillion-dollar cost was borne by a wealthy contractor. When rung at noon each day, the bell can be heard from up to three miles away. The only larger bell is in Russia. It sits on the ground and can't be rung.

The crack in the Liberty Bell is most likely the result of use of scrap bronze at a time when the right casting temperatures couldn't be measured accurately, according to David Verdin, a fifth-generation U.S. bell maker. He suggests that it may also have cooled long enough in its mold before the mold was broken.

In the 14th century, iron was used to make the movements of mechanical clocks. By the 17th century, brass became the preferred material because it is corrosion-resistant and easily worked. In the 19th century, several Connecticut companies began supplying inexpensive, easily stamped sheets of "clock brass." This gave rise to the mass production of low-cost clocks, watches, and toys as well as buttons, lamp burners, flatware, kettles and other brass goods.

A five-pound cylinder of ultra-pure copper 12 inches long is a key element in a super-accurate "atomic" clock, which is accurate to one part in a trillion. Among those requiring such high accuracy is the U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, D.C., which keeps time for the entire nation, and the Global Positioning System, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Copper and its alloys are widely used in the funeral and burial business. Coffins, vaults, plaques on monuments, and cremation urns are typically made with durable, non-corrosive copper alloys. The lids on some coffins are also affixed with commercial bronzes.

Copper is used for making vessels to brew beer and distill liquor. The use of copper brewing vessels probably began around 2000 B.C., in the middle of the Bronze Age. Copper helps keep the distillate sweet by removing unpleasant tasting sulfur-based compounds from the alcohol.

Copper pots are also used for candy making, because copper has more than four times the thermal conductivity of its closest rival, stainless steel, providing efficient and uniform heat transfer. It also has a good reputation for removing toxins and giving a fresh brisk taste to food and beverages. Copper is used worldwide for distilleries, breweries and candy manufactures.

World-class golfers like Annika Sorenstam and Nick Price use copper-alloy putters. Sorenstam has used hers to win seven tournaments, according to Bobby Grace, who for the past ten years has made putters out of beryllium copper, brass and tungsten bronze in his plant in St. Pete Beach, Florida.