Chapter II: Introduction

(=1=) When choosing a life vocation, one generally views the possibilities it has to offer and delves deeply into these, previous to making a decision. It is therefore thought advisable at this time to present the student with an idea of what is meant by oxy-acetylene welding and cutting; how it is applied; the possibilities and advantages attached to such an art.

(=2=) Acetylene gas, when burned with a proper portion of oxygen gas, produces an extremely hot flame, in fact, the hottest flame known. Its temperature is over 6000 degrees Fahrenheit. With this flame it is possible to bring any of the so-called commercial metals, namely: cast iron, steel, copper, and aluminum, to a molten state and cause a fusion of two pieces of like metals in such a manner that the point of fusion will very closely approach the strength of the metal fused. If more metal of like nature is added, the union is made even stronger than the original. This method is called oxy-acetylene welding and differs from what the average layman considers welding in the blacksmith’s forge, insomuch that there is no blow struck to assist fusion in this process. And while the forge method is limited to wrought iron and steel which is detachable and of restricted size and shape, the oxy-acetylene process has, practically speaking, no such limitations.

(_Courtesy of Acetylene Journal Publishing Co._)

FIG. 1.--Welders on an Ordnance Mobile Repair Unit in Action.]

(_Courtesy of the Oxweld Acetylene Co._)

FIG. 2.--In Enameled Products for the Kitchen the Weld is Fast Replacing the Riveting, Brazing, and Soldering of the Light Sheet Metal Seams.]

(=3=) Manufacturers in the metal-working world were very slow to grasp the real significance of this important process, until the operators began demonstrating some of its possibilities. At the present time, however, there is hardly a metal barrel or tank manufacturer who has not discarded the old method of producing costly leaky, riveted drums and containers, for this modern fusing process. The manufacturers of fire-proof doors and windows, cooking utensils, seamless pipe and tubing, office furniture and what not, are now virtually dependent upon the welding torch at every turn.

(=4=) As a repairing agent, the welding torch has no rival. Whether it is a casting of iron, steel, brass, or aluminum that has broken; a boiler or tank that has worn away in spots, or an error on the part of engineer, foundryman or machinist, the part can generally be reclaimed and made stronger than originally. To-day practically no manufacturing concern that is dependent upon metallic machinery could think of being deprived of its oxy-acetylene apparatus, once having learned its worth. In the not far distant past, were a gear or some casting to break, it probably meant closing down the entire plant until a new part could be obtained, which, whether the source of supply were near or at a long distance, would mean costly delay. With oxy-acetylene equipment and an efficient operator on hand, almost every emergency is provided for.

(_Courtesy of the Oxweld Acetylene Co._)

FIG. 3.--Welding Broken Frame of 5-ton Automobile Truck.]

(=5=) If an automobile owner breaks a frame, he does not consider replacing it with a new one, as the labor alone for stripping his machine and setting it up again, not to mention the cost of the new frame and the time required for this operation, is prohibitive. Rather, he has his car taken to the nearest welder or his portable apparatus to the car and the job is completed within thirty or forty minutes, with the frame at the point of the break made stronger than ever. Locomotive frames are handled in much the same manner, only more time is required and perhaps extra operators, but the important point to be brought out is the fact that on many jobs no dismantling is required and the repair is permanently and quickly executed.

(=6=) An interesting example of the true worth of welding was brought to the attention of the public when the United States entered the European War, and all the interned German vessels, which had been greatly damaged by the orders of their commanding officers, were restored to working condition with the oxy-acetylene and electric welding process. This was considered impossible by many engineers not familiar with the process, insomuch as they looked upon oxy-acetylene welding as applicable only to small parts and here some of the sections which had been blown or struck out of the cast cylinders, etc., weighed many hundreds of pounds. In many instances the ribs of these same vessels were cut most of their depth, but these were restored to working order in a remarkably short time and the results were more convincing than any words.

(=7=) Cutting with the oxy-acetylene process is just the opposite from that of welding. The latter might be considered constructive and the former destructive. In the case of welding, two parts are brought to a molten condition along the line to be joined and both fused together. Whereas in cutting, one piece of metal, when brought to a red heat, is cut in two by an oxidizing flame. Cutting has not the wide scope that welding has, for it can only be applied successfully at the present day to wrought iron, rolled and cast steel. While it is limited in its scope, the speed of this process in severing large masses of metal is very spectacular and appeals forcibly to the observer.

(=8=) Probably the world’s first awakening to the real meaning of oxy-acetylene cutting came when the U. S. battleship “Maine,” was being taken from Havana Harbor. All the heavy armor plate and seemingly immovable wreckage was cut into small sections which could be handled easily. This was all accomplished with the cutting torch, which seems to eat its way through metal with the same ease that a hot knife goes through butter.

(_Courtesy of the Oxweld Acetylene Co._)

FIG. 5.--Fireman Cutting ¹⁄₄-inch Steel Fire Door with Portable Apparatus.]

(=9=) Before and since the time of the “Maine,” the cutting torch has been accomplishing wonderful feats. In every scrap yard, old boilers and the like are being cut into furnace size; speeding up the production in answer to the world’s cry for more metal. The wreckage on railroads and buildings using steel reinforcements is being cleared in hours, with the aid of the cutting torch, where it required days by other methods. Most of the fire departments in the larger cities now carry the cutting torch as part of their equipment, and to it has been credited the saving of many lives, by its timely cutting away of steel doors, bars or barriers which prevented escape. Much of the plate in this country’s shipbuilding yards is being cut to size right on the job, and the function of this torch in cutting off risers measuring from one to thirty-six inches in diameter in the foundry seems only to be of secondary importance in comparison with some of its other uses. In order to transport some of the largest inland lake boats which were much too long to pass through the locks, to the sea, they were cut in parts, transported, and later welded together and placed in service.

(_Courtesy of the Acetylene Journal Publishing Co._)

FIG. 6.--Welders of the Signal Corps, U. S. Army, in Action.]

(=10=) It is not only possible to keep a cutting torch burning under water, but it can also be made to cut. Contracting companies are cutting off their piling under water and it has been known that in European ports cutting has been successfully accomplished at a depth of thirty feet. A special torch is employed by submarines to cut nets under water.

(=11=) In reviewing the oxy-acetylene welding and cutting process, we find that its growth is one of the most remarkable the world has ever witnessed. About 1907 saw its industrial birth and since that time it has advanced by leaps and bounds, rivaling the automobile industry in its progress, despite the opposition and criticism levied at it by workers of other trades and its careless and unskilled manipulation.

(_Courtesy of the Acetylene Journal Publishing Co._)

FIG. 6_a_.--Welders of the Signal Corps, U. S. Army, in Action.]

(=12=) It is quite impossible to present anything like a complete list of the applications of this process, but a few of its general uses are here enumerated:

(A) _Airplane Construction._--Welding of frames, sockets, water and gasoline tanks, water jackets and valve cages to cylinders, intake and exhaust manifolds and connections, spark plug thimbles and the repair of aluminum crank cases, etc.

(_Courtesy of the Oxweld Acetylene Co._)

FIG. 7.--Welding a 2-foot Length of New Shafting on the End of a Motor Shaft 2 Inches in Diameter.]

(B) _Automobile Manufacture._--Welding of steel and aluminum bodies, transmission and rear axle housings, crank-shafts, cylinders, gears, manifolds, pinions, crank cases, valves, rims, mufflers, frames, fenders, wind-shield tubings, and uprights, etc.

(C) _Boiler Shops._--Welding and building up worn spots around hand-hold plates, repairing cracks and checked portions of fire boxes, retipping flues, connections, etc.

(D) _Brass and Copper._--Welding kettles, vats, tanks, stills, floats, cooking utensils, manifolds, water jackets, electrical and chemical wares, etc.

(E) _Commercial Welding._--Reclamation service on all kinds of metals, quick and permanent repairs on all broken parts of machinery.

(F) _Electric Railway._--Welding air receivers on air-brake systems, building up shafts, bonding the rails, motor housings, worn boxes, reclaiming gears and broken trucks, steel trolley wires, etc.

(_Courtesy of the Torchweld Equipment Co._)

FIG. 8.--This is a Steel Tank, Made of ³⁄₈-inch Plate, which Measures 30 Feet Long and 8 Feet in Diameter, Fused into One Piece by the Welding Torch.]

(G) _Forge Shop._--Welding complicated parts which can not be conveniently handled in the forge.

(H) _Foundries._--Welding up blowholes, porous spots, and reclaiming castings in general. The cutting off of risers, gates, and heads on steel castings.

(I) _Lead Burning._--Lead pipe joints, storage battery connections and repairs, lead linings in vats, etc.

(_Courtesy of Ben K. Smith, U. S. Welding Co._)

FIG. 9.--Locomotive Cylinder to be Welded in Place.]

(J) _Lumber Mills._--Building up worn shafts, repairing gears, chains, and broken parts.

(K) _Machine Shops._--Rectifying errors on part of machinists and engineers. A “putting-on” tool in every respect.

(L) _Manufacturers._--Welding spouts and handles on cooking utensils, fire-proof doors and window sashes, office files and furniture, chains, etc.

(M) _Mines._--Repairing pipe lines, boilers, broken shafts, gears, and building up worn parts on dippers, etc. The cutting torch is used for clearing away wreckage in case of accidents.

(N) _Pipe Work._--Welding of water, gas, and oil, steam and air lines. High-pressure refrigeration systems are cut and welded in place.

(_Courtesy of the Oxweld Acetylene Co._)

FIG. 10.--Steel Roll Top Desk--all Joints and Seams Welded. An Excellent Example of High-grade Welded Metal Furniture.]

(O) _Plate Welding._--Tanks for oil, steam driers, digesters, vats, chemical receivers, generators, etc.

(P) _Power Plants._--Welding of steam, air, and water-lines, of pump castings, cylinders, pistons, worn or broken parts, etc.

(Q) _Railroad Work._--Reclaiming bolsters, couplings, slotting forged engine rods, building metal cars, repairing fire-boxes, patching and replacing side sheets, flue welding, building up frogs and crossings, cutting off rails, mud rings, welding cracked cylinders, cross-heads, steam-chests, building up worn spots on wheels, rims and pins, welding spokes and locomotive frames, etc.

(_Courtesy of the Oxweld Acetylene Co._)

FIG. 11.--Office Chair. Welded at all Joints.]

(R) _Rolling Mills._--Fabricating “open-hearth,” water jacket doors, cutting up “lost heats,” scrap plates and bar stock billets. General repairs of furnace equipment, hot beds, rolls, gears, engines, plates, etc.

(S) _Sheet Metal._--Manufacture of tubing, oil-storage barrels, metallic furniture, range boilers, etc.

(T) _Shipyards._--Cutting off plates and irregular shapes of steel, channels, special sections. Building up of worn shocks, building and patching hulls, stringers and the reclamation of propellers, posts and broken parts of machinery, etc.

(U) _Structural Steel._--Cutting holes for rivets, gussets and splice plates, and wrecking. Welding up misdrilled holes and machinist’s errors. Cutting channels, I beams, and other shapes for coping, splicing and fitting rails, welding reinforcing rods for concrete work of any desired length and structural parts where bolting and riveting is difficult or impossible.

(_Courtesy of the British Oxygen Co._)

FIG. 12.--Cutting Armor Plate by the Oxy-acetylene Process.]

(V) _Scrap Yards._--Cutting up scrap boilers, tanks and other large work to mill size, wrecking structural buildings, and reducing to small size, reservoirs, tanks and boilers, which are housed in buildings to remove them without damage to the structures.

(W) _Tractor Industry._--Cutting and welding frames, track and wheel guards, water, gasoline, and oil tanks; welding up of blowholes, porous spots and misdrilled holes in castings of all kinds.

(_Courtesy of the Davis-Bournonville Co._)

FIG. 13.--Here is Illustrated an Oxy-acetylene Machine for Cutting Holes in the Web of Rails, or in Structural Iron, of not more than ³⁄₄ Inch in Thickness. It can be Quickly Attached and Accurately Adjusted to Pierce through the Iron Instantly, without any Previous Drilling, and it will Cut Smooth Round Holes, from ¹⁄₂ to 2 Inches in Diameter in from 30 to 60 Seconds. It is Particularly Adapted for Railroad Work, and Enlarging or Cutting Holes in Building and Bridge Work.]

(=13=) The foregoing, as previously stated, is but a partial list of some of the applications of the oxy-acetylene welding and cutting process to various industries. What has the future in store for it? Almost daily, some new application is found for it and at the present time experiments are under way in boiler construction, the results of which are not difficult to foresee. Giant hulls of seagoing vessels are being fused together by welding and the limits of this wonderful process which is now practically in its infancy are difficult to forecast.

(=14=) During the World War many manufacturers of non-essentials shut down and others turned their entire production over to the government, changing their machinery and in most instances their entire plant. What, then, are those who are operating machines and apparatus, produced by these firms before the war, going to do for replacements? There is but one answer, have their broken or worn out parts welded.

(=15=) Oxy-acetylene operators have always numbered far less than the demand, a point which was clearly brought out by the government when its immense Army and Navy were being formed. There were so few men familiar with the oxy-acetylene process that it at once took measures to establish its own schools where men could be trained, a thing that the commercial world had been THINKING of doing for some years. As the demand for operators continues to increase, it behooves a man, even though he is not a metal worker, to think and apply himself, in order that he may “carry on,” to the best advantage when opportunity knocks.

(=16=) The methods of instruction herein set forth are very simple and while differing in many respects from those used by the trade, have been most successfully employed in producing efficient operators. Certain principles are instilled in the beginner and some of the exceptions which are of minor importance are overlooked to avoid confusion. Criticism is expected from those who have never engaged in instruction of this kind on a large scale. There are many differences to be expected on account of this very fact, for there are few who have gone further than the instruction of very small classes where individual attention may be given.

(=17=) All history of the process, gas manufacture and the like have been omitted in order to give greater detail to the actual shop practice and to have the operator become familiar with his apparatus and thereby operate it with all due respect and intelligence.

(=18=) Oxy-acetylene welding cannot be learned by watching others work, although observation may at times assist the beginner. Actual torch practice, brain work and a power of “I will,” produce the most efficient operators. For those who earnestly apply themselves to the instructions which follow, there is every reason to believe that success will be theirs.