TO SHIP CONSTRUCTION. 227 



to the shipbuilding and engineering professions, there is an impelHng reason why the 

 subject of this paper should at least command the sympathetic attention of all in- 

 terested in the future of those men who, in the defense of civilization, have sacrificed 

 their physical fitness to return to their former means of livelihood. 



In the application of electric welding to ship construction a vast field of useful 

 and honorable employment is opened up for temporarily or permanently disabled 

 men on their discharge from the service or hospitals. We have seen that welding is 

 not an arduous task; a man maimed by the loss of an arm or a leg can weld as well 

 as the physical giant. It may be that he will weld better, for such work demands the 

 conscientious application usually found among those whose occupations are limited 

 as a result of physical impairment. In developing the welded ship, with all its eco- 

 nomical possibilities, we may therefore be helped not a little by the consciousness 

 of directly assisting in the solution of this greater problem of our national indus- 

 trial economics in particular and of humanity in general. 



DISCUSSION. 



The President: — This paper, No. 13, entitled "The Application of Electric Welding 

 to Ship Construction," is now before you for discussion. I am very sure there should be 

 some interesting discussion on this paper. It is a very vital question for shipbuilders to 

 follow up, and we shall be glad to hear from any one on the floor, whether a; member or not. 



Mr. H. a. Hornor, Visitor: — Unfortunately I have not been able to peruse Mr. Cox's 

 paper, and I have just been able to get here. But I can say, regarding the paper, without 

 having read it, that there is nothing in it that has not been thoroughly investigated by 

 him, because I know he has been following up closely all the work of the Welding Com- 

 mittee of the Emergency Fleet Corporation. He was collaborating with me for some time 

 regarding the design which he mentions in his paper prepared by Mr. Jack, and also in look- 

 ing over other designs which would make electric welding applicable to ship construction. 



Without wasting your time or adding anything to his paper, I would like to have your 

 attention rivetted to one point in regard to this application. In all of the investigations that 

 have been made regarding the process, it was discovered, and very early, that this particular 

 process was introduced into the field, and it has been applied by steel men up to the present 

 time. 



Those of us who have had occasion to look up other processes in engineering have dis- 

 covered, naturally, that a certain amount of work and time has to be devoted in transferring 

 stich a process from the field into higher and greater things, and also to make it practicable 

 for the purposes intended. This work, or course, under the stress of war has been done in- 

 tensively, and possibly for that reason there are certain engineers who are in doubt as regards 

 its applicability, but I want to call your attention to the fact that intensive work has been 

 done in moving this particular application from the field to the higher services, and the crux 

 of the situation rests in the operator. 



