Other gases have been and are now being used in the torch. None of them, however, produce the heat that acetylene does, and therefore the oxy-acetylene process has proved the most useful of all. Hydrogen was used for many years before acetylene was introduced in this field. The oxy-hydrogen flame develops a heat far below that of oxy-acetylene, namely 4500 Fahrenheit. Coal gas, benzine gas, blaugas and others have also been used in successful applications, but for the present we will deal exclusively with the acetylene fuel.
It was only with great difficulty that the obstacles in the way of successfully using acetylene were overcome by the development of practicable controlling devices and torches, as well as generators. At present the oxy-acetylene process is the most universally adaptable, and probably finds the most widely extended field of usefulness of any welding process.
The theoretical proportion of the gases for perfect combustion is two and one-half volumes of oxygen to one of acetylene. In practice this proportion is one and one-eighth or one and one-quarter volumes of oxygen to one volume of acetylene, so that the cost is considerably reduced below what it would be if the theoretical quant.i.ty were really necessary, as oxygen costs much more than acetylene in all cases.
While the heat is so intense as to fuse anything brought into the path of the flame, it is localized in the small "welding cone" at the torch tip so that the torch is not at all difficult to handle without special protection except for the eyes, as already noted. The art of successful welding may be acquired by any operator of average intelligence within a reasonable time and with some practice. One trouble met with in the adoption of this process has been that the operation looks so simple and so easy of performance that unskilled and unprepared persons have been tempted to try welding, with results that often caused condemnation of the process, when the real fault lay entirely with the operator.
The form of torch usually employed is from twelve to twenty-four inches long and is composed of a handle at one end with tubes leading from this handle to the "welding head" or torch proper. At or near one end of the handle are adjustable c.o.c.ks or valves for allowing the gases to flow into the torch or to prevent them from doing so. These c.o.c.ks are often used for regulating the pressure and amount of gas flowing to the welding head, but are not always constructed for this purpose and should not be so used when it is possible to secure pressure adjustment at the regulators (Figure 16).
Figure 16 shows three different sizes of torches. The number 5 torch is designed especially for jewelers" work and thin sheet steel welding. It is eleven inches in length and weighs nineteen ounces. The tips for the number 10 torch are interchangeable with the number 5. The number 10 torch is adapted for general use on light and medium heavy work. It has six tips and its length is sixteen inches, with a weight of twenty-three ounces.
The number 15 torch is designed for heavy work, being twenty-five inches in length, permitting the operator to stand away from the heat of the metal being worked. These heavy tips are in two parts, the oxygen check being renewable.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 16.--Three Sizes of Torches, with Tips]
Figures 17 and 18 show two sizes of another welding torch. Still another type is shown in Figure 19 with four interchangeable tips, the function of each being as follows:
No. 1. For heavy castings.
No. 2. Light castings and heavy sheet metal.
No. 3. Light sheet metal.
No. 4. Very light sheet metal and wire.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 17.--c.o.x Welding Torch (No. 1)]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 18.--c.o.x Welding Torch (No. 2)]
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 19.--Monarch Welding Torch]
At the side of the shut off c.o.c.k away from the torch handle the gas tubes end in standard forms of hose nozzles, to which the rubber hose from the gas supply tanks or generators can be attached. The tubes from the handle to the head may be entirely separate from each other, or one may be contained within the other. As a general rule the upper one of two separate tubes carries the oxygen, while this gas is carried in the inside tube when they are concentric with each other.
In the welding head is the mixing chamber designed to produce an intimate mixture of the two gases before they issue from the nozzle to the flame.
The nozzle, or welding tip, of a suitable size are design for the work to be handled and the pressure of gases being used, is attached to the welding head and consists essentially of the pa.s.sage at the outer end of which the flame appears.
The torch body and tubes are usually made of bra.s.s, although copper is sometimes used. The joint must be very strong, and are usually threaded and soldered with silver solder. The nozzle proper is made from copper, because it withstands the heat of the flame better than other less suitable metals.
The torch must be built in such a way that it is not at all liable to come apart under the influence of high temperatures.
All torches are constructed in such a way that it is impossible for the gases to mix by any possible chance before they reach the head, and the amount of gas contained in the head and tip after being mixed is made as small as possible. In order to prevent the return of the flame through the acetylene tube under the influence of the high pressure oxygen some form of back flash preventer is usually incorporated in the torch at or near the point at which the acetylene enters. This preventer takes the form of some porous and heat absorbing material, such as aluminum shavings, contained in a small cavity through which the gas pa.s.ses on its way to the head.
_High Pressure Torches._--Torches are divided into the same cla.s.ses as are the generators; that is, high pressure, medium pressure and low pressure. As mentioned before, the medium pressure is usually called the high pressure, because there are very few true high pressure systems in use, and comparatively speaking the medium pressure type is one of high pressure.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 20.--High Pressure Torch Head]
With a true high pressure torch (Figure 20) the gases are used at very nearly equal heads so that the mixing before ignition is a simple matter.
This type admits the oxygen at the inner end of a straight pa.s.sage leading to the tip of the nozzle. The acetylene comes into this same pa.s.sage from openings at one side and near the inner end. The difference in direction of the two gases as they enter the pa.s.sage a.s.sists in making a h.o.m.ogeneous mixture. The construction of this nozzle is perfectly simple and is easily understood. The true high pressure torch nozzle is only suited for use with compressed and dissolved acetylene, no other gas being at a sufficient pressure to make the action necessary in mixing the gases.
_Medium Pressure Torches._--The medium pressure (usually called high pressure) torch (Figure 21) uses acetylene from a medium pressure generator or from tanks of compressed gas, but will not take the acetylene from low pressure generators.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 21.--Medium Pressure Torch Head]
The construction of the mixing chamber and nozzle is very similar to that of the high pressure torch, the gases entering in the same way and from the same positions of openings. The pressure of the acetylene is but little lower than that of the oxygen, and the two gases, meeting at right angles, form a very intimate mixture at this point of juncture. The mixture in its proportions of gases depends entirely on the sizes of the oxygen and acetylene openings into the mixing chamber and on the pressures at which the gases are admitted. There is a very slight injector action as the fast moving stream of oxygen tends to draw the acetylene from the side openings into the chamber, but the operation of the torch does not depend on this action to any extent.
_Low Pressure Torches._--The low pressure torch (Figure 22) will use gas from low pressure generators from medium pressure machines or from tanks in which it has been compressed and dissolved. This type depends for a perfect mixture of gas upon the principle of the injector just as it is applied in steam boiler practice.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 22.--Low Pressure Torch with Separate Injector Nozzle]
The oxygen enters the head at considerable pressure and pa.s.ses through its tube to a small jet within the head. The opening of this jet is directly opposite the end of the opening through the nozzle which forms the mixing chamber and the path of the gases to the flame. A small distance remains between the opening from which the oxygen issues and the inner opening into the mixing pa.s.sage. The stream of oxygen rushes across this s.p.a.ce and enters the mixing chamber, being driven by its own pressure.
The acetylene enters the head in an annular s.p.a.ce surrounding the oxygen tube. The s.p.a.ce between oxygen jet and mixing chamber opening is at one end of this acetylene s.p.a.ce and the stream of oxygen seizes the acetylene and under the injector action draws it into the mixing chamber, it being necessary only to have a sufficient supply of acetylene flowing into the head to allow the oxygen to draw the required proportion for a proper mixture.
The volume of gas drawn into the mixing chamber depends on the size of the injector openings and the pressure of the oxygen. In practice the oxygen pressure is not altered to produce different sized flames, but a new nozzle is subst.i.tuted which is designed to give the required flame. Each nozzle carries its own injector, so that the design is always suited to the conditions. While torches are made having the injector as a permanent part of the torch body, the replaceable nozzle is more commonly used because it makes the one torch suitable for a large range of work and a large number of different sized flames. With the replaceable head a definite pressure of oxygen is required for the size being used, this pressure being the one for which the injector and corresponding mixing chamber were designed in producing the correct mixture.
_Adjustable Injectors._-Another form of low pressure torch operates on the injector principle, but the injector itself is a permanent part of the torch, the nozzle only being changed for different sizes of work and flame.
The injector is placed in or near the handle and its opening is the largest required by any work that can be handled by this particular torch. The opening through the tip of the injector through which the oxygen issues on its way to the mixing chamber may be wholly or partly closed by a needle valve which may be screwed into the opening or withdrawn from it, according to the operator"s judgment. The needle valve ends in a milled nut outside the torch handle, this being the adjustment provided for the different nozzles.
_Torch Construction._--A well designed torch is so designed that the weight distribution is best for holding it in the proper position for welding. When a torch is grasped by its handle with the gas hose attached, it should balance so that it does not feel appreciably heavier on one end than on the other.
The head and nozzle may be placed so that the flame issues in a line at right angles with the torch body, or they may be attached at an angle convenient for the work to be done. The head set at an angle of from 120 to 170 degrees with the body is usually preferred for general work in welding, while the cutting torch usually has its head at right angles to the body.
Removable nozzles have various size openings through them and the different sizes are designated by numbers from 1 up. The same number does not always indicate the same size opening in torches of different makes, nor does it indicate a nozzle of the same capacity.
The design of the nozzle, the mixing chamber, the injector, when one is used, and the size of the gas openings must be such that all these things are suited to each other if a proper mixture of gas is to be secured. Parts that are not made to work together are unsafe if used because of the danger of a flash back of the flame into the mixing chamber and gas tubes. It is well known that flame travels through any inflammable gas at a certain definite rate of speed, depending on the degree of inflammability of the gas. The easier and quicker the gas burns, the faster will the flame travel through it.
If the gas in the nozzle and mixing chamber stood still, the flame would immediately travel back into these parts and produce an explosion of more or less violence. The speed with which the gases issue from the nozzle prevent this from happening because the flame travels back through the gas at the same speed at which the gas issues from the torch tip. Should the velocity of the gas be greater than the speed of flame propagation through it, it will be impossible to keep the flame at the tip, the tendency being for a s.p.a.ce of unburned gas to appear between tip and flame. On the other hand, should the speed of the flame exceed the velocity with which the gas comes from the torch there will result a flash back and explosion.
_Care of Torches._--An oxy-acetylene torch is a very delicate and sensitive device, much more so that appears on the surface. It must be given equally as good care and attention as any other high-priced piece of machinery if it is to be maintained in good condition for use.
It requires cleaning of the nozzles at regular intervals if used regularly.
This cleaning is accomplished with a piece of copper or bra.s.s wire run through the opening, and never with any metal such as steel or iron that is harder than the nozzle itself, because of the danger of changing the size of the openings. The torch head and nozzle can often be cleaned by allowing the oxygen to blow through at high pressure without the use of any tools.
In using a torch a deposit of carbon will gradually form inside of the head, and this deposit will be more rapid if the operator lights the stream of acetylene before turning any oxygen into the torch. This deposit may be removed by running kerosene through the nozzle while it is removed from the torch, setting fire to the kerosene and allowing oxygen to flow through while the oil is burning.
Should a torch become clogged in the head or tubes, it may usually be cleaned by removing the oxygen hose from the handle end, closing the acetylene c.o.c.k on the torch, placing the end of the oxygen hose over the opening in the nozzle and turning on the oxygen under pressure to blow the obstruction back through the pa.s.sage that it has entered. By opening the acetylene c.o.c.k and closing the oxygen c.o.c.k at the handle, the acetylene pa.s.sages may then be cleaned in the same way. Under no conditions should a torch be taken apart any more than to remove the changeable nozzle, except in the hands of those experienced in this work.
_Nozzle Sizes._--The size of opening through the nozzle is determined according to the thickness and kind of metal being handled. The following sizes are recommended for steel:
Davis-Bournonville. Oxweld Low Thickness of Metal (Medium Pressure.) Pressure 1/32 Tip No. 1 Head No. 2 1/16 2 5/64 3 3/32 3 4 3/8 4 5 3/16 5 6 1/4 6 7 5/16 7 3/8 8 8 1/2 9 10 5/8 10 12 3/4 11 15 Very heavy 12 15
_Cutting Torches._--Steel may be cut with a jet of oxygen at a rate of speed greater than in any other practicable way under usual conditions. The action consists of burning away a thin section of the metal by allowing a stream of oxygen to flow onto it while the gas is at high pressure and the metal at a white heat.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Figure 23.--Cutting Torch]
The cutting torch (Figure 23) has the same characteristics as the welding torch, but has an additional nozzle or means for temporarily using the welding opening for the high pressure oxygen. The oxygen issues from the opening while cutting at a pressure of from ten to 100 pounds to the square inch.
The work is first heated to a white heat by adjusting the torch for a welding flame. As soon as the metal reaches this temperature, the high pressure oxygen is turned on to the white-hot portion of the steel. When the jet of gas strikes the metal it cuts straight through, leaving a very narrow slot and removing but little metal. Thicknesses of steel up to ten inches can be economically handled in this way.
The oxygen nozzle is usually arranged so that it is surrounded by a number of small jets for the heating flame. It will be seen that this arrangement makes the heating flame always precede the oxygen jet, no matter in which direction the torch is moved.
The torch is held firmly, either by hand or with the help of special mechanism for guiding it in the desired path, and is steadily advanced in the direction it is desired to extend the cut, the rate of advance being from three inches to two feet per minute through metal from nine inches down to one-quarter of an inch in thickness.