What is "latten"

Latten \Lat"ten\, n. [OE. latoun, laton, OF. laton, F. laiton, prob. fr. OF. late lath, F. latte; -- because made in thin plates; cf. It. latta a sheet of tinned iron, tin plate. F. latte is of German origin. See Lath a thin board.]

1. A kind of brass hammered into thin sheets, formerly much used for making church utensils, as candlesticks, crosses, etc.; -- called also latten brass.

   He had a cross of latoun full of stones.
   --Chaucer.

2. Sheet tin; iron plate, covered with tin; also, any metal in thin sheets; as, gold latten.

   Black latten, brass in milled sheets, composed of copper and zinc, used by braziers, and for drawing into wire.

   Roll latten, latten polished on both sides ready for use.

   Shaven latten, a thinner kind than black latten.

   White latten, a mixture of brass and tin.

n. 1 (context archaic or historical English) An alloy of copper and tin, similar to bronze, with a sufficient portion of tin to make it a pewter-like color with yellowish tinge (rather than the brownish-gold color of bronze of higher copper content), once used in thin sheets and for domestic utensils and light-duty tools. 2 Sheet tin; iron plate, covered with tin; also, any metal in thin sheets.

n. brass (or a yellow alloy resembling brass) that was hammered into thin sheets; formerly used for church utensils

The term latten referred loosely to the copper alloys such as brass or bronze that appeared in the Middle Ages and through to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It was used for monumental brasses, in decorative effects on borders, rivets or other details of metalwork (particularly armour), in livery and pilgrim badges or funerary effigies. Metalworkers commonly formed latten in thin sheets and used it to make church utensils. Brass of this period is made through the calamine brass process, from copper and zinc ore. Later brass was made with zinc metal from Champion's smelting process and is not generally referred to as latten. This calamine brass was generally manufactured as hammered sheet or " battery brass" (hammered by a "battery" of water-powered trip hammers) and cast brass was rare.

"Latten" also refers to a type of tin plating on iron (or possibly some other base metal), which is known as white latten; and black latten refers to laten-brass, which is brass milled into thin plates or sheets.

The term "latten" has also been used, rarely, to refer to lead alloys.

In general, metal in thin sheets is said to be latten such as gold latten; and lattens (plural) refers to metal sheets between 1/64" and 1/32" in thickness.