While once more widely used, the primary use of tinplate now is
the manufacture of tin cans. Formerly, tinplate was used for
cheap pots, pans and other holloware. This kind of holloware was
also known as tinware and the people who made it were tinplate
workers. The untinned sheets employed in the manufacture are
known as black plates. They are now made of steel, either
Bessemer steel or open-hearth. Formerly iron was used, and was
of two grades, coke iron and charcoal iron; the latter, being
the better, received a heavier coating of tin, and this
circumstance is the origin of the terms coke plates and charcoal
plates by which the quality of tinplate is still designated,
although iron is no longer used. Tinplate was consumed in
enormous quantities for the manufacture of the tin cans in which
preserved meat, fish, fruit, biscuits, cigarettes and numerous
other products are packed, and also for the household utensils
of various kinds made by the tinsmith. The practice of tinning
ironware to protect it against ru