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I have been seeking information about the James Balleny Elkington (1865)
patented copper electro-refining process, used for the first such refinery
installed in Pembroke, Wales in 1869. The Mason and Elkington electric power
plant built there to provide the power may have been the first anywhere.* In
1875 copper was refined electrolytically by the Norddeutsche Affinerie in
Hamburg, Germany, with a power plant obviously necessary. However, there are
claims that Thomas Edison built the first power plant in London in 1882, and
another in New York later the same year. It will be helpful if further
details about Welsh activities in this important subject can be obtained and
publicized. In my opinion, the factor of maximum importance in the
Industrial Revolution was the industrial application of electricity, and I
will help as much as I can to obtain appropriate credit for the Welsh
contribution.
* References: History of Technology, vol. 5, (Oxford, London) Chapter 4,
p. 100
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