1943 Steel Cents - What Happened to the Copper? - WWII Fact

I was researching a bit on the history of the Lincoln Cent and I read something that I always wanted to know. My question always was.. what exactly did they do with the copper during 1943, during World War 2?
I found these figures and thought they were fascinating!

Quote - "The 1943 penny, however, was made of steel coated with zinc. The World War II effort needed all available copper for ammunition and other military equipment so steel pennies were made.
According to the U.S. Mint Website, "The copper released for the war effort was enough to meet the combined needs of 2 cruisers, 2 destroyers, 1,243 flying fortresses, 120 field guns and 120 howitzers, or enough for 1.25 million shells for our big field guns." - closed quote

For more fun information I want to share this webpage with you -
http://www.coin-collecting-guide-for-beginners.com/lincoln-cents.html

 

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Some of the copper was sent here where I live to make ammunition. We use to have a ammunition factory here back then also we have a steel mill that produced a bunch of metal needed during ww2. Our local museum has photos of the ladies of the war making ammo in a production line...pretty cool

 

Thanks for the link. Very informative and presice.
That alot of copper, and just from the U.S.

 

I heard something on TV the other day about steel pennies (maybe on an old Pawn Stars?) and they said people hated the steel pennies so much they switched back to them in '44. I knew they only made them for one year, but wasn't the need for copper for the war still a higher priority? Did they look at any other metallic replacements?

 

Yes, the steel cent was very unpopular. Shiny new, it was sometimes carelessly mistaken for the dime. After some time it turned dark and was perceived as dirty and ugly. In spite of that it was saved in record numbers.

The military found it could recycle spent cartridges from training grounds and elsewhere to meet their needs. So the copper cent (really brass in 1942, and bronze in 1944) returned.
Lance.

 

Another interesting copper fact from a documentary on TV. As the Atomic bomb was being developed, huge magnets were needed for the production of nuclear fusion material. Copper was in huge demand, so an electrical engineer suggested the copper wire be made from silver from Fort Knox and sent to the facility in Tennessee, I believe.

 

I believe the several tons of silver came from the Mint, not Ft. Knox.

But Los Alamos did borrow Ft. Knox gold to deal with containing the bomb's core. It didn't work.
Lance.

 

The silver (50 million oz) was used for the windings of electromagnets and bus bars in the centrifuges used to separate U-235 from U-238. After the war it was eventually replaced with copper and almost all of it was returned to the Mint. (Ft Knox stored gold and may have stored silver as well. It did store other stratigic and historical artifacts as well including the original Declaration of Independence. All of the gold in Fort Knox was controlled by the Mint as well.).

In "Surely You're joking Mr Fynnman" Professor Richard Fynnman wrote that the door stop to the doorstop to the room as Los Alamos when the first plutonium core for the bomb was kept was a 10 inch hemisphere of gold. They had experimented with gold as a possible reflector for neutrons but it didn't work out and they took the scrap and melted it down to make the doorstop.

The recycling of the shell casings also solved a major headache for the military. What to do with all those shell casing? No one wanted them because of the difficulty recycling brass, plus the possibility of live rounds being mixed in with the casings. Their only option seemed to be to bury them, which would not have gone over well with the public being asked to cut back on everything and the scrap drives etc. When the Mint agreed to take them the military agreed to sort them to make sure there were no live rounds included.

 

Thanks for the additional info, love the history and coin collecting mix, hence my avatar.

 

At 175 pounds, such a doorstop would've weighed more than Feynman did. The brightest boys with the biggest toys...

 

I come up with roughly 134 pounds but either way it is one heck of a doorstop.

 

We are doing well! I get 182 pounds

 

Thanks for the research. My Dad worked at the Oak Ridge project during World War II and I find the entire development of atomic weaponry fascinating. Being a man of his word --secrecy pledge-- he took what he did, saw and heard at Oak Ridge to the grave with him.

 

The demand for scrap metal was also at a all time high WW2 is the reason the scrap yard here as big as it is today, I found an old video of them working in the scrap yard during ww2

 

Yes, Oak Ridge!! I couldn't remember the name, here is a link. http://manhattanprojectvoices.org/location/oak-ridge-tn
I guess I'm getting off subject again. OOPS

 

Some interesting Info

 

Double checked my math and found an error, I now come up with roughly 179 pounds so we are now all in the same ballpark.

Have you read The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes? Excellent book that covers from the early discoveries of spitting the atom, the early discussions of the physicists, their fleeing from Europe, the Chicago reactor, trying to interest the government in developing the bomb, life at Los Alamos, some of the developments at Oak Ridge, and Haniford etc. About 870 pages. Available for under $4 including shipping, at abebooks.com

 

The curious part about the rejection of the steel cent is that I have actually gotten them in change as dimes, and found them in dime rolls when they are in EF or better condition. And I am talking about the last 4-5 years. When they have corroded they are no better, and probably worse than a Zincoln.

 

That is funny. I used to search dime rolls while the steel cents were still circulating. I never ever found a single one in a roll of dimes. Maybe it had to do with familiarity. 2 or 3 in a roll of Lincolns was common back then.

 

Can you post the link again? Thanks