Development of Electrodeposition Industry in the USA (1900s–1950s): The Russian Outlook

The paper reviews the development of electrodeposition industry in the USA in the first half of the 20th century as a separate, complex R&D industry characterized by the presence of essential components such as the systems for organizing research, manufacturing electroplating equipment, monitoring and control devices, and necessary chemicals, professional education, communications and information support. We have identified the main factors in the rapid growth of electrodeposition industry in the 1900s-1920s, and emphasized the contribution of American scientists and engineers to the development of basic technological processes of electroplating and to manufacturing automated equipment and monitoring and control devices. The paper highlights the role of the American Electroplaters' Society in attracting the scientists from adjacent disciplines as well as theoreticians in electrochemistry into tackling the problems of the applied electrochemical deposition. The most significant differences in the development of electroplating in the USSR and the USA during the period under study are identified.