History of galvanizing

In 1836, Sorel in France took out the first of numerous patents for a process of coating steel by dipping it in molten Zinc after first cleaning it. He provided the process with its name ‘galvanizing’.
The history of galvanizing starts over 300 years ago, when an alchemist-come-chemist dreamt up a reason to immerse clean iron into molten zinc and to his amazement, a shimmering silver coating developed onto the iron. This was to become the first step in the genesis of the galvanizing process.
The story of zinc is closely interlinked with that of the history of galvanizing; ornaments made from alloys that contain 80% zinc have been found dating as far back as 2,500 years. Brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, has been traced to at least the 10th century BC, with Judean brass found in this period containing 23% zinc.
The famous Indian medical text, Charaka Samhita, written around 500 BC, mentions a metal which when oxidised produced pushpanjan, also known as ‘philosopher’s wool’, thought to be zinc oxide. The text details its use as an ointment for eyes and a treatment for open wounds. Zinc oxide is used to this day, for skin conditions, in calamine creams and antiseptic ointments. From India, zinc manufacture moved to China in the 17th century and 1743 saw the first European zinc smelter being established in Bristol.

In 1824, Sir Humphrey Davy showed that when two dissimilar metals were connected electrically and immersed in water, the corrosion of one was accelerated while the other received a degree of protection. From this work he suggested that the copper bottoms of wooden naval ships (the earliest example of practical cathodic protection) could be protected by attaching iron or zinc plates to them. When wooden hulls were superseded by iron and steel, zinc anodes were still used.
In 1829 Henry Palmer of the London Dock Company was granted a patent for ‘indented or corrugated metallic sheets’, his discovery would have a dramatic impact on industrial design and galvanizing.