First of all what are brasses? Brasses are copper alloys in which the principal alloying

constituent is zinc. Their properties depend primarily upon

the proportion of zinc present but can be usefully modified

by the introduction of additional elements to further

improve specific characteristics such as strength,

machinability or resistance to particular forms of corrosion.

Brass is usually the first/best choice material for many of the components for equipment made in the general, electrical and precision engineering industries. Brass is specified because of the unique properties, matched by no other material, that make it indispensable where a long, cost-effective service life is required. many Navy's even wear brass belt buckles because brass will not spark if scratched, as some other metals do.

There are many types of brass witch have all sorts of uses everything from

radiators
valves/taps
munitions shells
musical instruments
jewellery
wire
door knobs
mailboxes
And many more too many to list........

In the Naval/marine field brass is valued for its very high corrosion resistance replacing other conventional metals like steel or cast iron and even shows considerably greater tarnish resistance then copper or aluminium in salt water conditions.