Electroplating and electrotyping
Galvanoplastia y plateado electrolítico
- Date
- 1838-1840 · confidence high
- Place
- Birmingham, England, United Kingdom; St Petersburg (Jacobi)
- Credited to
- George and Henry Elkington (1840 patent, with John Wright); Moritz von Jacobi (electrotyping, 1838)
- People
- 👤 George Richards Elkington1801–1865👤 Henry Elkington1810–1852👤 Moritz von Jacobi1801–1874
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
The deposition of a layer of silver, gold or copper onto a base metal using electric current, and the copying of objects by electrotyping. The first industrial application of electricity, and the end of Sheffield plate.
Jacobi announced electrotyping in St Petersburg in 1838; Spencer (Liverpool) and Jordan (London) made the same claim in 1839; the Elkingtons industrialised electroplating in Birmingham.
What it led to
- Cutlery and plated ware for the middle classes
- The first industrial demand for electric generators (Woolrich, 1844)
- Electrotypes for printing and the reproduction of sculptures
- Electrometallurgy and the electrolytic refining of copper
Built on
Made possible
- Electrolytic copper refining
- Industrial dynamo
- Chrome and nickel plating