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Historical Articles
September, 1954 issue of Plating
EDITORIAL
The Value of AES to You—Progress
THE FOUNDING FATHERS of the American Electroplaters’ Society undoubtedly based their start on the pattern of the American Electrochemical Society, born a few years earlier. Electroplating was a secret and mysterious collection of special brews and dips, operating primarily at room temperature without any definite or precise method of control and bordering on the ancient art of alchemy.
Gold, silver, copper, and nickel were the only prime metals being plated, along with one alloy of variable color and composition—brass. Chemical after treatments of all kinds were used to bring about a salable commercial product.
These courageous founders wanted to exchange secrets and bring about a uniform method of control of plating operations. Success was not immediate but rather painfully slow.An annual meeting on a national basis, together with a quarterly magazine, accelerated progress, which continued slowly but surely through the development of zinc, cadmium, and finally chromium plating. Chromium tipped over the apple cart, guided so carefully during the previous fifteen years, and showed that existing methods of preparation prior to plating required investigation.
This was the start of free exchange of knowledge between individuals, companies, laboratories, and manufacturers concerning their processes and what they could do, not only in the plating room but also in the commercial market. Developments during the past thirty years bear this out.
The American Electroplaters’ Society through education, meetings, publications, and research has fathered most of these developments and coordinated the work of the chemist, research technician, plater, supplier, manufacturer, and user through friendly cooperation.
Your Society, working for you in the plating industry and related fields, has helped to make your position better today. The value of AES to you today is that it will enhance your progress tomorrow.
George P. Swift
Past President