Welding During The Middle Ages

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During the time from the Bronze Age, throughout the Middle Ages, up until the dawn of the 19th century, the welding method of hammering two heated pieces of metal together to weld them was used. One of the earliest examples of welding includes welded golden boxes found from the Bronze Age, though several of the Egyptians’ iron tools were also made by welding. Acetylene was discovered in 1836 by Englishman Edmund Davy, marking an important milestone in the history of welding through the use of open flames. These open flames allowed much more intricate and sturdy metal tools and equipment. Sir Humphrey Davy invented a battery operated tool which could make an arc between carbon electrodes in 1800, and this tool was the grandfather …show more content…
Around this time, an American named C.L. Coffin secured a patent for metal electrode welding, and N.G. Slavianoff of Russia used the same method for casting metals. In 1900, stick welding became more popular through the use of a coating of lime on the welding stick to make the arc much more stable. CJ Holstag invented the alternating current in 1919, but it wasn’t commercially used by the welding industry until the 1930’s. In 1920 though, P.O. Nobel introduced automatic welding, which integrated the use of arc voltage and bare electrode wires, and there were also several types of electrodes developed during this decade. In 1930, stud welding, smothered arc welding, and submerged arc welding were introduced. The New York Navy Yard was the one who developed stud welding, while the National Tube Company developed smothered arc welding. Although the New York Navy Yard developed stud welding, it was later replaced by the more advanced submerged arc welding in the sector of shipbuilding, while it was still widely used in the construction industry. Another historic milestone was hit in 1941 when a new process was created by Meredith. This process was used for seamlessly welding aluminum and magnesium, and was called gas shielded metal arc