2iO THE APPLICATION OF ELECTRIC WELDING 



TRAINING OF WELDERS. 



We have seen that skilled workmanship is essential to good welding and, in the 

 absence of any definite means of testing finished work in the field, conscientious 

 workmanship is equally important. A skilled and properly trained welder knows in- 

 stantly whether or not he is making a good weld. He can tell this by the smooth- 

 ness of the flow of metal, the uniformity of the sound and light of the arc, and by 

 the lack of "spattering" or deposition of "beads." When his arc is not welding 

 he should immediately cease work, remedy the cause, whether it be unsuitable cur- 

 rent control or faulty electrode, and, before proceeding again, should chip out the 

 bad work, especially where the arc was broken. Thus it will be seen that the welder 

 should possess some knowledge of the elements of electricity, how it is generated, 

 conducted and controlled, the melting point of the metals employed, and the prop- 

 erties of the particular electrode in use. In ship work he should understand the 

 correct methods of preparing the various joints and their relative importance, 

 together with the best methods of building them up. It is therefore a sine qua non 

 of welding the main structure of a vessel that only skilled operators be used. 

 Recognizing this, the Emergency Fleet Corporation has established a separate train- 

 ing and education department for electric welding and has opened schools for the 

 training of operators and instructors at New York, Newport News, the Great Lakes, 

 Schenectady, San Francisco and other centers throughout the country, where selected 

 men may be sent from the various shipyards and engine works to undergo a course 

 of intensive training as operators or instructors. On the satisfactory completion of 

 this course, and when possessing the required degree of skill, these men are certi- 

 fied and returned to their places of employment. 



Owing to the great shortage of welders it is hoped that in time each shipyard 

 will have its own school with a competent instructor in charge who has been trained 

 at one of the E. F. C. schools, and a force of efficient welders may gradually be built 

 up in this manner. 



A photograph of one such school, as established at the plant of the General 

 Electric Company, Schenectady, is shown in Plate 140. 



INSPECTION. 



This subject may be considered under three headings: — 



1. Inspection and testing of the electrodes being used. 



2. Inspection of the work before and during welding. 



3. Inspection of the completed welds. 



We have already seen that the chemical composition and quality of the elec- 

 trodes used have an important bearing on the quality of the weld produced, and 

 care should be taken to see that only electrodes of the correct chemical composi- 

 tions are used ; that the wire is of proper size and. of uniform homogeneous 

 structure, free from segregation, oxides, pipes, seams, etc.; that the surface is 



