Status of the Beryllium Industry in the United States of America

THE first industrial production of metal beryllium in
the United States dates back to 1939, when The Brush Beryllium Co. established a small plant. The earlier activities connected with beryllium industry were
however confined only to the sales of beryllium nitr-
ate and beryllium oxide in minor quantities. In the
1930's, alloys of beryllium copper became the industry's
main product and have so remained almost up to the
present time. Sales of beryllium metal started to grow
slowly in the early 1940's. The increasing demand for
the metal, which in the following ten years fluctuated
greatly, has now become more steady and has, particul-
arly during the last 3-4 years, grown so rapidly that the
dollar value of sales of beryllium metal in primary or
fabricated form now is exceeding the dollar sales volume
of beryllium copper alloys and fabricated alloy products.