Patent GB-781793-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to a method of arc welding, apparatus therefor and to the making of bimetallic billets
IPC: B23K9/23
Filed: 1955-03-02
Abstract: 781,793. Making compound billets; welding by fusion; bending. SUPERIOR STEEL COR. PORATION. March 2, 1955 [March 11, 1954], No. 6161/55. Classes 83 (2) and 83 (4). [Also in Group XXX] Members assembled in face-toface contact with contacting faces substantially vertical are arcwelded together by melting a zone completely through one of the members and into the other. In making a bi-metallic billet which is subsequently to be heated and rolled, a backing member 20, Fig. 2, e.g. of carbon steel, and facing plates 19, 21, e.g. of 90 per cent copper, 10 per cent zinc, copper, aluminium or stainless steel are placed on a roller conveyer 1, Fig. 1, and are located by opposed hydraulic rams 13. The assembly is conveyed to the entrance of a welding unit 2 and channels 215 are clamped on to the sides of the assembly. As the assembly is fed by vertical rollers through the welding units, the clamps are removed and the channels 215 are welded by longitudinal welds 216, 217, passing completely therethrough to the backing member 20. The welded assembly is then fed by a roller conveyer 3 to a machine 4 having rollers which press the flanges 218 of the channels 215 against the facing members 19, 21. The welding unit, Figs. 4A and 6, has two pairs 40, 42 of entrance feed rollers and one pair 90 of exit feed rollers. Each pair of rollers is mounted on opposed hydraulic rams 28 interconnected by gearing to ensure that the rollers are equidistant from the centre line of the unit and all the rollers are driven through variable speed drives by an electric motor. The rams 28 are operated by switches 188, 201 actuated by the workpiece to cause the rollers to bear against the channels 215. On each side of the welding unit, a support 100 is slidably mounted in the frame 27 and is manually adjustable transversely of the unit by a rack-and-pinion mechanism 93, 95. Vertically slidable brackets 134, 126, Figs. 4A, 14 and 16, are carried by each support 100 and are manually adjustable by rack-and-pinion mechanism. On each bracket 126, 134 one of four welding heads W is secured, each having rollers to feed a consumable electrode 161. Upper and lower continuous belts 106, 112 supporting flux supplied from a hopper through pipes 172, 173 are mounted on the brackets 126, 134, respectively and are inclined towards the workpiece to heap flux against the channels 215. Plates 154 fixed to the brackets 126, 134 prevent flux falling off the sides of the belts and have apertures 155 providing access for the electrodes 161. A motor 101 on the support 100 drives the driving pulley 156 supporting each belt and the other pulley is resiliently mounted to tension the belt. The upper portions of the belts 106, 112 are supported by members 152 adjustably secured to the bracket 126, 134. One side of the welding current supply is connected to the workpiece through brushes engaging the conveyer rollers 12, 177 positioned near the welding unit. The welding current is controlled by switches such as 193, 197 actuated by the workpiece, and the arcs are initially struck between the electrodes and tabs tack-welded to the channels 215. The machine has a pair of rolls 207, 208, Fig. 11, with milled projecting portions 207a, 208a which engage the flanges 218 of the channels 215. The upper roll 207 is adjustable vertically by an electric motor 214.