1890.] on Welding hy Electricity. 195 



made at Fanshawe Street by two electricians, who, not being smiths, 

 of course worked at a disadvantage ; but the competent smith who 

 is now before you was then taken to the machine, and at the fourth 

 attempt he made a satisfactory weld, and has been working the 

 machine ever since. You see that the two pieces of steel have been 

 welded together, and then bent at an acute angle, thus showing roughly 

 the satisfactory nature of the weld. As time is running short, I will 

 ask the smith next to show you the welding of a tube. These are 

 two pieces of ordinary steel tube which will now be welded in the 

 machine. I do not know whether I can manage to direct this machine 

 so as to be seen by every individual in the room ; but I hope that I 

 shall succeed in enabling most of you to see completely through the 

 tube when it has been welded, and thus to show you that the internal 

 circularity of the tube has in no way suffered by the welding. 



Though I believe that the function of this machine will not be 

 the performance of ordinary work, but that it will be applied to 

 welding difficult sections or difficult metals, I thought it well to have 

 it tested, by making 80 welds in l^th inch round iron bars. These 

 were made, as I have said, by two electricians, not smiths, and 

 they took an average of 2j minutes to make each weld, equal to 135 

 seconds, and the time was roughly divided thus : — Fixing the iron 

 and heating up to full heat at one operation, 26 seconds ; full heat 

 to taking out of jaws, 11 seconds ; work on anvil, 15 seconds ; 

 re-putting in to full hot, 21 seconds ; full hot to taking out again, 

 10 seconds ; retaking out to completion, 32 seconds ; completion 

 and putting in next piece, 20 seconds ; making a total, as I have 

 said, of 135 seconds. Then two smiths were put to make welds 

 in the ordinary manner, that is to say, scarf welds in an ordinary 

 smith's fire. They made 44 welds in three hours and a little 

 over, or practically the same time as was taken in making the 80 

 welds (nearly twice the number) in the machine. Then all the 

 welds were sent to a well-known tester of metals, Mr. Kirkaldy, 

 and he tested about one-half of them, with the following results, which 

 I think it important you should hear : — 



Kestjlts of Mr. Kiekaldy's Tests. 



Per Square Inch of 

 Original Sectional 

 Area. 

 Average strength of the bars before wekling . . . . 52 , 642 lbs. 

 Average strength of those which broke at the weld 



when welded electrically 48,215 „ 



Average strength of those which broke at the weld 

 when the welds were made by hand .. .. .. 46,899 „ 



From these tests we thus have a right to say that this electrical 

 butt welding gives at least an equal tensile strength with the scarf 

 welding done by hand. 



It is probable, as I have said, that the great value of this inven- 

 tion will not be for common work, but for difficult sections and for 

 refractory metals. I have shown you the butt welding of wire rope 



o 2 



