Revere Copper Company

Copper was desired for this process because it reacts with seawater to create an oxide coating that prevents the build-up of barnacles, weeds, and other detritus, in addition to physically stopping shipworms from burrowing into and degrading the wood.

In fact, “British Navy Comptroller Charles Middleton estimated that copper sheathing might double the number of ships at sea at any time”.

Benjamin Stoddert, a successful businessman and ardent Federalist, recognized the importance of a powerful Navy in preserving the economic and political independence of the new United States.

Revere saw the Navy's desire for copper sheathing as an opportunity to increase both his income and social standing, so he rose to the challenge presented by Stoddert.

While Revere admitted that Britain had superior rollers, the difficulty of purchasing equipment related to copper rolling forced him to produce his own.

One of the many insights Revere had gleaned from his son's espionage mission was a rolling mill design with both rollers mechanically coupled and powered by the same source.

Eventually, Paul Revere's copper sheets would provide sheathing for more ships in the American fleet, cover the original wooden dome of the Massachusetts State House, and even be used for the boilers of one of Robert Fulton’s early steamboats.

Revere Copper and Brass ranked 96th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.