Several scientists have contributed to the creation of aluminum foil, a collaboration over time. According to Jefferson Lab, "Scientists suspected than an unknown metal existed in alum as early as 1787, but they did not have a way to extract it until 1825. Hans Christian Oersted, a Danish chemist, was the first to produce tiny amounts of aluminum. Two years later, Friedrich Wöhler, a German chemist, developed a different way to obtain the metal. By 1845, he was able to produce samples large enough to determine some of aluminum's basic properties. Wöhler's method was improved in 1854 by Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville, a French chemist. Deville's process allowed for the commercial production of aluminum.
On April 2, 1889, Charles Martin Hall patented an inexpensive method for the production of aluminum, which brought the metal into wide commercial use. Charles Martin Hall was born in Thompson, Ohio, on Dec. 6, 1863. He studied at Oberlin College and gained a bachelor's degree in chemistry. Just after graduation in 1885, Hall set up laboratory at home and it was here he invented his method of manufacturing pure aluminium.
He had the idea that if he could find a nonaqueous solvent for alumina, he could produce metallic aluminum by electrolysis, using carbon electrodes. On Febuary 23rd, 1886, Hall found that molten cryolite, which is the mineral sodium aluminum fluoride, was the solvent he needed for the process; using the cryolite and aluminum oxide and homemade batteries, he produced his first small globules of aluminum.
A plant, owned by J.G. Neher & Sons (aluminum manufacturers) started in 1886 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, at the foot of the Rhine Falls - capturing the falls’ energy to produce aluminum. Neher's sons together with Dr. Lauber discovered the endless rolling process and the use of aluminum foil as a protective barrier. From there began the wide use of aluminum foil in the packaging of proccesed food and tobacco products. Processes evolved over time to include the use of print, color, lacquer, laminate and the embossing of the aluminum. This process is still in use today but has been modernized. First, the alumina is dissolved in a smelting cell, a deep steel mold lined with carbon and filled with a heated liquid conductor that consists mainly of the cryolite. An electric current is then passed throught the alumina so pure aluminium remains.
On April 2, 1889, Charles Martin Hall patented an inexpensive method for the production of aluminum, which brought the metal into wide commercial use. Charles Martin Hall was born in Thompson, Ohio, on Dec. 6, 1863. He studied at Oberlin College and gained a bachelor's degree in chemistry. Just after graduation in 1885, Hall set up laboratory at home and it was here he invented his method of manufacturing pure aluminium.
He had the idea that if he could find a nonaqueous solvent for alumina, he could produce metallic aluminum by electrolysis, using carbon electrodes. On Febuary 23rd, 1886, Hall found that molten cryolite, which is the mineral sodium aluminum fluoride, was the solvent he needed for the process; using the cryolite and aluminum oxide and homemade batteries, he produced his first small globules of aluminum.
A plant, owned by J.G. Neher & Sons (aluminum manufacturers) started in 1886 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, at the foot of the Rhine Falls - capturing the falls’ energy to produce aluminum. Neher's sons together with Dr. Lauber discovered the endless rolling process and the use of aluminum foil as a protective barrier. From there began the wide use of aluminum foil in the packaging of proccesed food and tobacco products. Processes evolved over time to include the use of print, color, lacquer, laminate and the embossing of the aluminum. This process is still in use today but has been modernized. First, the alumina is dissolved in a smelting cell, a deep steel mold lined with carbon and filled with a heated liquid conductor that consists mainly of the cryolite. An electric current is then passed throught the alumina so pure aluminium remains.