Weekly journal-miner., 1909-04-07
UNITED VERDE FIRST IN COLD
 AND SILVER, THIRD IN COPPER
GREAT INNOVATION
 IN WELDING STEEL

l IN
 Since Bessemer revealed to the world his process of making cast steel there has been constant innovations in the manufacture and treatment of iron from the crude ore to the finished steel product.
 The latest and one of the most val Gable processes yet evolved by the in- ventive genius of man is the Thermit process of welding. This process will revolutionize locomotive and other heavy repairing. .......
 A practical test of this discovery or invention was made this week by the Santa Fe railroad at its shops in Albuquerque, \. M., in the presence of some 200 officers and employees of the road. Included among the num- Der of interested railroad men were Master Mechanic George of Albuquer- que, and Master Meenanic Daze of Winslow.
 The use of the Thermit process will save hundreds of thousands of dollars to railroads annually. According to the Albuquerque Democrat the process works tremendous saving in time, labor and expense. Under the old system it was necessary for the repair of a fracture of a locomotive frame to strip the locomotive, detaeh the fractured part and take it into the blacksmith shop for treatment with fire and hammer, long and expensive process.
 With the Thermit process the weld ing may be done without stripping the locomotive or detaching any of the parts other than are necessary to give access to the broken part.
 The demonstration was made hy H. s. Mann, representing the Golischmidt Thermit Company of New York, the American corporation having the rights in this country to the Thermit process discovered and introduced by the German scientist of that name.
 The work was done upon a fracture of an engine frame, the frame being undisturbed. and was entirely success ful. The entire operation covered only about four hours; whereas, under the old system the repair of a similar frac- ture would have occupied several days.
 TherInit is finely divided mixture of aluminium and iron oxide, which when ignitcd results ill a combustion throughout the entire mass without supplied heat or power from outside, and produces superheated liquid steel. The process is almost miraculOusly rapid, requiring only about thirty sec ends from the time of ignition until the liquid steel is pouring into rhe fracture to be welded. The reaction results. in this brief period in produc- ing a liquid mass attaining more than five thousand degrees Fahrenheit. The application of the process IS extremely interesting, and the speed of the Op- eration is almost beyond belief. Tne fracture to be welded is first widened to allow the free access of the Ther- init steel and then encased in mould of sand and fire clap. The part to be welded is then brought to an intense heat and the Thermit process applied, pouring the Thermit steel through the mould into the fracture
 Thermit steel is approximately twice as not as ordinary molten steel and as it comes in contact with the heated ends of the fracture, dissolves the metal and amalgamates with it to form a solid mass when cooled. After the preparatory steps, the application of the process is but a matter of few minutes The same system IS used by the Huntington electric ear lines in Los Angeles, Cal, for uniting the rails.