“The History of Welding"
as told by Jesse A. Grantham

The primal elements of our planet have always existed, ever since the creation of the world.  By divine intervention the elements were revealed to man. Alchemists long ago discovered how to make metals from the ores of the earth.   Mankind spent thousands of years unlocking the mysteries of welding metals together.

TWO PIECES OF METAL BECOME ONE PART.

People studied the heat from a fire or watched lightning touch the earth and later discovered numerous pieces of a hard substance (metal) were fused into a single part.   From the earliest times, mankind recognized improvements to survival when welding created usable parts from smaller pieces.  From these beginnings were the “seeds” of welding.  Blacksmiths were among the first artisans to use routine methods to safely initiate, control and terminate welding with minimal personal injury or property damage.   

For centuries, craftsmen on all the continents applied the art and science of welding to meet their needs.  During the early ages few individuals had the motivation, intellect, persistence or command of resources to accomplish controlled melting of metals and welding.   Similar to glass blowing, metal alloys and welding originated a long time ago. 

History reveals that the military who masters metallurgy and welding wins the war.   Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight.  Successful warfare relies on superior metals to overcome a lesser armed opponent.

The Stone Age period of history transitioned into the Bronze Age.  The progress of daily life improved dramatically when mankind learned to weld.   Sand cast metal became versatile, usable shapes by welding 2 pieces. The welded metal part was more valuable.  Bronze contains copper and tin, zinc or aluminum that melt at relatively low temperatures.  About 1400 B.C., people in Egypt and the Eastern Mediterranean area began using welded alloys to make weapons and tools.  This was the beginning of the Iron Age of civilization.  During the Middle Ages, the art of hammer-forging was utilized.  Many useful items of iron were produced by forge welding. 

Iron alloys melt at higher temperatures than bronze. Forge welding united the surfaces of very hot iron pieces together into a useful part.   Later, more suitable means and methods were developed to make intricate metal castings and forgings to improve the welded joint strength.  Forge welding was limited because the two parts were not always completely fused together.  For complete fusion, both metals must melt for a thorough blending of the material in both pieces, which hardens upon cooling into a single part.  In the 19th century, arc welding, as we know it today, was invented.

The Europeans were credited with many discoveries of heat sources and techniques to melt iron alloys and weld. These included acetylene by Edmund Davy in England (early 1800s), and an electric arc between 2 carbon electrodes using a battery by Sir Humphry Davy in France (mid 1800s).   Within the same timeframe, the electricity generator was invented and electric arc lighting.  During this period, gas welding and cutting of metals was invented.  Electric arc welding steel with a carbon arc and a metal arc were developed. With electricity readily available, resistance welding became a practical welding process.

Electric arc welding was first patented in France (mid 1800s), by a Russian scientist, Nikolai N. Benardos who was working in the Cabot laboratory with Auguste De Meritens.   Later, Benardos and his colleague Stanislaus Olszewski patented an electrode-holder in Britain, and in the USA (late 1800s).  This was the beginning of commercial, carbon arc welding. 

With the advancement of electric motors as a source of mechanical force, practical understanding developed about electric current control for welding power supplies.   Leading welding equipment manufacturers in the USA and abroad originally started in business as electric motor manufacturers.

C.L. Coffin of Detroit obtained the first USA patent (early 1900s) for using a consumable, metal electrode in the electric arc welding process.   During the 1900’s welding progressed with inventions of coated wire electrodes that were wrapped in newspaper and covered with lime or clay to direct and stabilize the arc.  Techniques evolved for consumable electrode wires dipped in admixtures of carbonates and silicates, then dried before use, to improve welding arc characteristics and add alloying constituents to the weld metal.  At the same time, the resistance welding process for spot welds and thermite welding processes for railroad rails were invented.  Early gas welding and cutting used hydrogen, coal-methane and acetylene gases with oxygen.  

In the last one hundred years, welding processes have proven vital to the economical fabrication of almost all metal items.  World War I (1914 to 1918) instigated welding processes for quick, reliable, repetitious methods of joining scarce metals for implements of warfare in Europe.   Later, World War II (1939-1945), a worldwide conflict, saw armed forces from over 70 nations engaged in aerial, naval and ground-based combat using all types of welded ships, airplanes, trucks, tanks and other arms. Spanning much of the globe, World War II efforts greatly advanced modern welding applications and processes. 

As technical communications improved, welding was described within the basic context of all the engineering disciplines using the fundamentals of chemistry, physics, material science and mathematics.  Welding involved many natural phenomena that are accelerated by heat input, fluxes and slags.  Several of these activities are electron flow, gravity, surface tension, gas shielding and metallurgy.  Welding occurs rapidly with intimate contact, cleanliness and electron-sharing between metal surfaces.   When welding, long-term personal safety and property safety are always, foremost considerations.  

The American Welding Society (AWS) defined “welding” as a joining process that produces coalescence of materials by heating them to the welding temperature, with or without the application of pressure or by the application of pressure alone, and with or without the use of filler metal.  Coalescence means to grow together or unite into a whole.   A classic definition of welding is, “metals become welded when clean, flat surfaces are close enough to share electrons and atoms fit in the shared atomic matrix”.   Asperities and oxides prevent intimate contact and interfere with the welding process.  

Electric arc welding was the result of manipulating electricity flow to complete the welding circuit, with or without a consumable filler metal electrode.  Common, commercial electric arc welding processes are shielded metal arc, submerged arc, gas tungsten arc, flux-core arc, gas metal arc, and capacitor discharge arc welding.   These processes utilize the largest volume of welding equipment and consumables.  Welding processes may be utilized by methods that are manual, semi-automatic, automatic, or robotic.  There are hundreds of welding processes. Several examples are electric arc, gas, inertia, electron beam and laser beam welding. 

There are many welding “authorities having jurisdiction” dictating acceptance criteria of welds.  The acronyms for several of these entities are the AWS, ASME, API, ASTM, ANSI, ISO, SAE, DIN, and IIW. 

Terms and definitions are vital in descriptions of metal joining processes and are occasionally used indiscriminately and interchangeably. 

COMMON DEFINITIONS ARE:   

• Welding occurs when the temperature exceeds the melting temperature of the base metals.
• Brazing is a group of joining processes that use a filler metal with a liquidus above 450˚C (840˚F) and below the solidus of the base material.  When brazing, the base material is not melted. 
• Soldering is a group of joining processes that produces joining of base materials by heating to the soldering temperature and using a filler metal with a liquidus not exceeding 450˚C (840˚F) and below the solidus of the base materials.  When soldering, the base material is not melted.

Welding effects almost every aspect of modern life.  Worldwide standards of living are improved from the meager beginnings of the earliest welding experiences by a campfire. 

As with many human endeavors, welding is only bounded by imagination and manifested in human frailty, economics, resource management, material availability, trained labor, suitable workplace and proper tools. 

Welding is an engineered science that involves design, materials, processes and quality standards.  Engineers apply their knowledge and numbers to welding, an occurrence that happens in nature.