{{Short description|Lead-and-tin foil}} '''Albion metal''' is a form of metal foil produced by rolling tin onto a lead base, or sandwiching lead between two sheets of tin.<ref name="Phillips">{{cite book|title=The Monthly Magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bygAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA250|year=1805|publisher=R. Phillips|pages=250–}}</ref>
An alternative method of production was to cast tin onto an ingot of recently-cast, congealing, lead.<ref name="EllisBlackburn1865">{{cite book|last1=Ellis|first1=Thomas Flower|last2=Blackburn |first2=Colin Blackburn Baron|title=Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of Queen's Bench and the Court of Exchequer Chamber on Error from the Court of Queen's Bench: With Tables of the Names of the Cases Argued and Cited, and the Principal Matters [1852-1858] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2GxGAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA371 |accessdate=13 May 2017 |year=1865 |publisher=T. and J.W. Johnson & Company |pages=923–937}}</ref>
Albion metal is used for decorative rather than load-bearing purposes, such as coffin adornments, toys, and costume jewellery,<ref name="Showell">{{cite book|title=Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|url=https://archive.org/details/showellsdictiona00harm|year=1885|publisher=Cornish Brothers|page=[https://archive.org/details/showellsdictiona00harm/page/5 5]}}</ref><ref name="RHC">{{cite web|url=https://rupertharris.com/products/albion_metal|title=Albion metal – rupertharris|publisher=Rupert Harris Conservation Ltd|accessdate=13 May 2017}}</ref> and for protecting foodstuffs and drinking water from contact with lead.<ref name="Phillips" />
It was introduced and patented in 1804, by Thomas Dobbs, an inventor from Kings Norton who was also a comic actor at the Theatre Royal in Birmingham, England.<ref name="Phillips" /><ref name="Showell" />
The patent was the subject of a legal dispute in 1857, when a failed attempt was made to use it to invalidate another later patent.<ref name="EllisBlackburn1865" /><ref name="MM">{{cite book|title=The Mechanics' Magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/mechanicsmagazi54unkngoog|year=1857|publisher=Robertson, Brooman, and Company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mechanicsmagazi54unkngoog/page/n617 607]–}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
Category:Food packaging