The sub., 1945-09-13

uGC0 IkOb DC Out VA A(0SAAs w ASNA sN~A the new houses needed in this country here is a busy and profit able field all ready to open up as soon as materials are available, and you can be sure that the opponents of better methods of building will be swept, aside as they always have been in the past.
 Bridge building is a fairly new field to the welding trade. It is no job for anyone with the morning after shakes, of course. A bridge of steel, taking full advantage of the possibilities offered by welding, can be a thing of beauty and rather than a clumsy and expensive mon- Strosity. There will be plenty of bridge building after the war, es- pecially on secondary roads. All though the superhighways get the headlines, their mileage is small in comparison to that of secondary and back roads. Probably nine tenths of the bridges over rivers, brooks and gullies are on these lat ter roads. And nine-tenths of these could be pre-fabricated, the only limit being transportation facilities. About ten models would be needed. Although not spectacular, these small bridges amount up to lot of business, and also lot of tax-pay- ers' money. South of the Rio Grande are several clusters of bridgeless countries, with plenty of bridges needed and not very much dough to buy them with. Mass pro- duction would bring the cost down to their level. Some enterprising concern with quite bit of capitol could have a fine business here. Welding is just what the doctor ordered for pre-fabrication of bridges.
 The floating piers or portable harbors used in this war may mark the start of a great change in wa ter-front construction at least in fresh. water ports. They can be moved, for one thing, and placed where the deep water is thus eliminating lot of costly dredging. It is a development worth keeping an eye on.
 The light weight alloys used in aircraft construction present quite a challenge to the welder. The stuff is so thin, and melts at such a low temperature, that weld ing is not always practicable. How ever, the greatest problem the plane builders have to figure out is; will it be both strong and light? As usual, welding is the answer, and really practical method of produc- ing all-welded planes will be devel- oped. The welder who becomes an expert in aircraft welding will be pretty popular guy, whether or not he has B. O.
 An all-around welder must know the possibilities of an acetyline torch. The man who can take the blueprints, cut the pieces, fit them, and weld them up, having a well built product when finished, will always have job.
 Cutting is only one of the uses of the torch. Bronze-Surfacing is probably it's biggest use. Bronze is an excellent metal where sliding friction is concerned. Pads of bronze are built up on steel where there will be friction, and it ma chimes beautifully. Bronze-surfac- ing is used in new machines, and also to build up worn parts in old ones. It gives fine service under most conditions, but will not stand much heat without softening.
 @Iard-surfacing is along this same line, done either with the arc or the torch. This means depositing special Super-hard alloys on surfaces sub- ject to severe wear and tear, such as the teeth on power shovel bucket There are many angles, some hardly explored, to this divi- sion of the trade, and it is sure to increase in importance. All parts of a machine can be made of tough, cheap, mild steel, except those sur faces subject to abuse. either im- pact or abrasion, which can be sur faced with the special alloys and