On Fri, 29 Aug 2003 13:27:07 -0400, Ned Simmons wrote
In article
, Stans4
says...
It's interesting that this would have been cast aluminum back in 1918.

Why? Aluminum castings have been around a lot longer than that. Ever
see a Liberty engine crankcase casting? It was a WW-1 vintage
aircraft engine, a very elaborate casting. There was just no real
standardization of alloys like we have today.

Not a whole lot longer, at least not in commercial quanities

The reason of course is that before widespread availability of electric
power, and the Hall process, aluminum was a very rare and expensive
metal. At the French court, the very highest ranked guests got to eat using
aluminum utensils, the lower ranked guests had to make do with gold.

Gary