Show FIND ATOMIC FLAME WILL FUSE METALS hydrogen with electric VC vc proves success schenectady N Y methods of welding metal together will bo be revolutionized lut by two now new inventions of tho the research laboratories of the general electric company for after years yeara of sea search ach it la Is now possible to weld so BO that tile the fused metal Is us its strong and its as ductile as if it were never llover in two pieces previous methods using an ar arc c to furnish the intense necessary heat resulted lit in tho formation of compounds of the metal with oxygen so that the weld was not as strong Ls is th the rest of the piece As tile tho nitrogen and oxygen which unite with tho the metal come from the air in these now processes the air la Is excluded when tho the weld Is being made by a bath of hydro gwi gm water gas wood alco libl vapor and others which do not easily form ine tattle compounds eight hundred volts used ono one of the methods was developed badr irving langmuir assistant director of tile the schenectady laboratory and makes uso use of what liu lie calls flames of atomic hydrogen n based on a discovery of dr it II W V wood professor ft f experimental eri mental physics at johns alop kins university electric currents of 20 amperes and at voltages ranging from to were passed through two tungsten rods so as to form an are arc similar to the are arc between carbon rods lit in a street are arc light by passing a stream of hydrogen gas into the are arc from a small tube an intensely hot flamo flame Is produced because the molecules of hydrogen ore broken up tip by tile the tempe temperature baturo of the tire arc into their constituent atoms ai the ordinary form of hydrogen is that of molecules the atoms nit almost immediately recombine lne but in doing so they liberate great amounts of heat about half ltaif again as much as the name flame iron rods an eighth of an inch in diameter melt within a n few seconds when held about an inch above the arc says doctor langmuir metals ew even harder to melt than iron such as tun tungsten gaten and molybdenum one of the most refractory substances known melt with case quartz however melts with more difficulty than molybdenum which boctor langmuir suggests as being due to the fact that the metals act as a or a substance which speeds up a chemical change the use of hydrogen under these conditions condition for melting metals has croci ee have ninny many advantages docto srauly said iron can be melted welded without tion bs bi c arbon oxygen or nitrogen because of the powerful powei ful reducing action of the atomic hydrogen liy drogen alloys containing chromium aluminum silicon or manganese can be welded without fluxes or surface surf nce oxidation tho rapidity with which such metals as aa iron can be melted seems to exceed that of the acetylene oxyacetylene lamp flame so that the process promises to be particularly valuable for welding another method found tile the other method of producing buc ductile welds was developed at the thomson research laboratory of tile the general electric company nt at lynn linn moss by peter ieter alexander independently of doctor work the electric arc Is passed between the metal to bo be welded and nn an iron electrode and the gaseous atmosphere Is sup plied lu the form of n stream around around tile are arc so ns as to leep it entirely awry away from air pure hydrogen water gas methanol or wood alcohol vapor apo or dry ani ammonia can be used as well as a 01 mixture of hydrogen liy drogen and nitrogen tor for it Is found that the alio nitrogen Is not harmful unless oxygen is also present all of these mixtures contain hydrogen and doctor langmuir suggests that tills this method also alo depends in part for its efficacy on the disintegration of hydrogen molecules into their atoms |