A process used for the production of aluminium alloys from aluminium ores (bauxite). The ores are reacted with carbon in the form of charcoal in an electric furnace, together with the metal used to form the alloy, which is usually copper. Another metal is required in the process, since without it, the product would result in the formation of aluminium carbide. The process is named after its American inventors, the Cowles brothers: Alfred H. Cowles (1858–1929) and Eugene H. Cowles (1855–92).