326 



National Resources Planning Board 



welding ha^ taken an important place as a substitute 

 for the riveting of pressure vessels and conduits, as a 

 means for fabricating machine frames instead of using 

 castings, in ship building, and in other operations. 



The status of the electrical engineer in the welding 

 field is peculiar because electrical energy and its appli- 

 cation are only a small part of the whole problem. 

 There has seemed to be less interest by the metallurgist, 

 the chemist, and the mathematical physicist in the 

 complex problems involved in welding research. It has 

 remained for the electrical engineers and the mechanical 

 engineer to coordinate this work in the promotion 

 of better electric welding, although much electric- 

 welding research is carried on outside of the scope of 

 electrical engineering and is not referred to here. 



In the general field of application, research in electric 

 welding has followed the following closely related lines: 



1 . Residual stress studies. 



2. Transient heat flow. 



3. Chemistry of steel through the critical zone 



4. Means for assuring the integrity of welds. 



Still more knowledge is required to permit a wider 

 application in pressure vessels such as high-pressui-e 

 steam boUers, where code authorities have set various 

 limitations to avoid chances of failure. The accimau- 

 lated knowledge of the reliability of results from electric 

 welding has made possible savings in the costs of 

 structures such as pressure vessels, high-pressure steam 

 piping, stainless-steel rail cars, automobile bodies, 

 elements of airplanes, ship frames and huUs. 



In the equipment aspect of arc-welding, the most 

 important project is that of improving the electrodes 

 used in the processes. This is required not so much 

 from the standpoint of adaptability, as because it is 

 extremely important that the chemical reaction in the 

 arc-welding process shall be that of reduction and not 

 oxidation of the welding metal. This necessitates close 

 control of the atmosphere around the welding arc, 

 particularly to prevent the hot metal which has passed 

 through the arc from coming in contact with the air 

 until it has had time to cool. These electrode researches 

 have resulted in an increased specific gravity of welds 

 and tensile strength above that of the parent metal, 

 and in a better control of the materials from which 

 the wire welding-rods are made. Other means of 

 preventing the welding area from being affected by 

 oxidation have been invented for circumstances where 

 the work can be brought to the plant instead of the 

 welding equipment being taken to the work. An 

 example is in what is known as atomic-hydrogen welding 

 which was itself derived from an industrial research 

 laboratory. 



In the field of apparatus associated with electric 

 welding, considerable research has been, and is being, 

 carried on to improve the sources of welding currents 



through the use of electronic tubes of higii power to 

 replace the more cumbersome motor-generator units. 



Future Promise 



In each of the divisions heretofore discussed, it will 

 be noted that important results from continuous re- 

 search have been and are being achieved. It is im- 

 portant now to observe that in most of the fields 

 the possibilities of industrial research are by no means 

 exhausted. Indeed, greater results may be anticipated 

 in the future than heretofore, as a consequence of con- 

 tinued prosecution of active research in the wide fields 

 of electrical engineering. As labor-saving machinery 

 is introduced to a greater and greater extent in the old 

 industries for the purpose of reducing the cost of prod- 

 ucts, and the laboring population also perhaps increases 

 somewhat, the encouragement of research as a national 

 resource for developing new industries and new aspects 

 of old industries becomes of emphasized importance. 



The past and present cost of industrial research in 

 the electrical-engineering field has been repaid to the 

 users of electrical equipment and service in multiple 

 degree by the reduced prices of products and services, 

 their greater adequacy for their purposes, and the 

 conveniences therefore confeiTed on the population 

 of the couatry. With the conditions of increasing use 

 of labor-saving machinery and the growth of the 

 laboring population just referred to, the contributions 

 which industrial research may make to national welfare 

 are broadened in importance and the extension of such 

 research deserves a generous national attitude which 

 will reestablish the readiness of manufacturers to enter 

 upon new industries and new aspects of old industries 

 as a matter of adventure, supported by the hope of 

 establishing permanent advanced steps from which 

 additional opportunities for employment may arise and 

 some financial profit may result. 



Suitable industrial research also notably contributes 

 through its results to the stability of existing manu- 

 facturing and operating industries, which gives a 

 stabilizing influence on employment. Moreover, it is 

 usual for industrial research laboratories to make early 

 publication of novel results secured, resting reliance on 

 the patent laws to protect the reasonable rights of the 

 originators in the field of commercial development. 

 For such publication there are journals of national pro- 

 fessional societies in the electrical-engineering field and 

 of societies associated with various special sciences. 

 These journals are hospitable to research articles and to 

 articles relating to science and to engineering inventions 

 which originate with men of the staffs of research 

 laboratories. The meetings of the societies provide 

 forums for the discussion of research and the develop- 

 ment of inventions. In some instances, the laboratory 

 itself publishes a periodical journal with a high scientific 



