Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-13
FERRaNTIs CONDUCTOR
TWO THIRDS@ SI7r-

supply at moderate prices Of aluminium and
other alloys of the utmost value in the arts.
The metal worker is further indebted to
the electric current. By methods perfected
through the labors Of Prof Elihu Thomson
electric heat is now in wide acceptance for
welding. So much is the operation simpli-
fed that machine all but automatic per-
forms it with great rapidity. The opera
tors care is limited to feeding the machine
and disconnecting the current the instant II
has finished its work.
Application OF Electric Welding.
The machine Yields the tires of the wheels
for bicycles, carriages and wagons, and it
Joins pipes and band saws with bond not
only stronger than that made Dy the black
smith, but stronger than the metal itself
proves at any other point. In uniting wires
for the telegraph service it overcomes the
loss of current taking place in the old-fash-
ioned form of splicing; binding the wire
wound around guns, it gives them added
strength; in joining whole breadth of steel
cable for the standing rigging of ship, it
has performed feat otherwise impossi-
BILE. 1t brings ship chains and anchors
to be one piece, and it makes a railroad
chair one with its rail- In delicate work,
as in fine brass or wrought iron grills. cleo
trio welding produces no dirt, tarnish or
discolorations. Moreover. in the field OF
repair, it fills a place of its own creation,
A broken propeller blade OF engine shaft
can be easily brought to welding heat at the
point of fracture. There is an important
saving of time and money when the re-
pairer can thus be taken to its work, in
stead OF the work having to 60 to the re-
pairer. In minor direction this new
method is applied IN lumber mills, where
teeth accidentally broken from saw are re-
placed in a minute or two
In every task to which the current is thus
applied its effectiveness is fastened by
peculiarity of electrical conduction.
When two pieces of metal touch each other
at any point where their contact is imper-
feet, the current is resisted, as the phrase
goes, and resistance means heating effect.
Proceeding from a point or two, contact
spreads until the fusion in which Welding is
accomplished takes place.
Tying Kuots in Steel Rods.
Sometimes the metal worker employs
electric heat at a temperature much below
that necessary in welding. He uses 1t to
soften q strip, bar or rod which has to be
bent, twisted or coiled. In this branch of
his art he is wont to excite the on-looker's
wonder by tying knot in o length Of stout
steel By new process ne softens rlvet
with electric heat, securing lit by extreme
pressure In another application OF the
current he cuts away sheet metal as If 1t
were wax Taking the electric arc, such as
serves for out-of-door illumination, he has
an agent more effective than the blow-pipe
and only one-fourth as costly. Were 1t not
for its binding glare its field would be much
more extensive than it is.
Copper for conductors should be of the
most possible purity, for pure copper means
economy of the most important kind to the
electrician, especially at a time when long
distance transmission is to the fore. At this
point one line of electrical advance pro