Calamine brass slowly phased out as zinc smelting techniques were developed in Europe, which produced metallic zinc more suitable for brass production than calamine. However, the conversion away from calamine brass manufacture was slow; a British patent was awarded to William Champion in 1738, but the alloying of metallic zinc and copper to produce brass was not patented until 1781 (by James Emerson), and calamine brass mills persisted in South Wales until as late as 1858. The slow diffusion of this technology was probably the result of economic factors. Calamine brass Calamine brass is brass produced by a particular alloying technique using
Francis Metallic Surfboat Francis Metallic Surfboat The Francis Metallic Surfboat is a boat, currently housed at 130 West Center Street in Douglas, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015. It is one of two known surviving examples of its kind, one of the first type of coastal rescue craft used. The Francis Metallic Surfboat was designed by Joseph Francis, an inventor who specialized in inventing and constructing maritime lifesaving equipment. Francis constructed 137 of these vessels from about 1849 to 1857, of which 48 were used on the Great Lakes. This particular boat dates from approximately 1854,