Figure 1.--Huge quantities of tin were needed to produce the brize needed for shell and bullet cassings during World War II. This is the deck of the American battle ship 'USS New Mexico' preparing to take back Guam from the Japanese (July 1944).

Tin (Sn, an50) is one of the earliest metals known to mankind. Because of its hardening effect on copper, tin was used to produce bronze (3,500 BC). An entire epic in history is known as the bronze age. Tin was best known by American children (mostly boys) in the days before plastic was used to produce cheap toys. The toys mostly came from Japan, but not the tin needed to produce them. Strangely while tin was an easily bendable metal--it was the heaviest of the major industrail metals. Tin alone did not have a lot of combat military uses and does not come to mind as a major metal required for arms production. But brass is and tin was needed to produce brass. Tin is used as an alloy with copper. And brass was used in large quantities to produce shell casings. It was also used as a rust-proof coating over steel to produce tin cans, in solder, babbitt (bearing metals), and other metals. The military used tin for plasma containers, airplane instrument panels, ammunition boxes, and morphine syrettes for administering needed pain relief for wounded soldiers. The United States had no domestic tin ore deposits. American industry relied on Asian sources. especially Southeast Asia. Japan after Pearl Harbor invaded and occupied the area. Malaya was the major source of tin. Tin was not one of the metals the Soviet Union produced in quantity. We are not sure where the Germans got tin. For the most part they did not. They turned to recycling bronze, but their primarily approach to producing bronze was to replace the tin with aluminum or zinc. While their Japanese ally occupied Malaya and the tin mines, there was no way to ship it to Germany. Both America and Britain had to adjust. The U.S. War Production Board (WPB) ordered a reduction in the use of tin in civilian products (April 2, 1942). This meant a lot of children's toys, but this created a bonanza for kids. In addition to collecting bottles for refunds, they could turn in tin cans. More importantly, tin was used in packaging. Suddenly Americans who wanted to buy a tin tube of toothpaste, shaving cream, or medical ointment had to turn in the old tube to get a major matter because frozen food was not yet very important. Canned foods (primarily fruit and vegetables) were much more important than the case today. The United States quickly moved to expand tin mining operations in Bolivia, Belgian Congo, and Nigeria. Bolivia was by far the most important. The Japanese also seized tin smelters of Malaya and Dutch East Indies (modern Indonesia). The United States relied on smelting operations in Britain and Belgian Congo. The United States prohibited the use if tin in luxury items and household and kitchen utensils. Industry turned to electrolytic tinplating which replaced the hot dip method because it involved a thinner coating. These and other measures succeeded in reducing domestic tin consumption by about 50 percent (1941-45).

Created: 6:07 AM 6/17/2025
Last updated: 6:07 AM 6/17/2025