Barium "baryta", from Greek βαρύς ("barys"), meaning "heavy." "Baric" is the adjectival form of barium. Barium was identified as a new element in 1774, but not reduced to a metal until 1808 with the advent of electrolysis. Barium has few industrial applications. Historically, it was used as a getter for vacuum tubes and in oxide form as the emissive coating on indirectly heated cathodes. It is a component of YBCO (high-temperature superconductors) and electroceramics, and is added to steel and cast iron to reduce the size of carbon grains within the microstructure. Barium compounds are added to fireworks to impart a
Stieff Silver years around the start of the 20th century, before starting a silver business of his own. The complete history of The Schofield Company can be found on the website. Schofield was also known as Herr-Schofield from 1905-1927. The factory was again expanded; doubled in size in 1971 to allow for the booming pewter manufacturing business. Pewter became the major business of Stieff as sales of Sterling Silver waned since the 1960s. Sterling Silver hollow ware was made at Stieff until 1999, but pewter became the star of the company in the 1970s and 1980s. Stieff was the official maker of