Electric Welding Machine

The first successful attempt at arc welding that is known to have been carried out on Earth occurred twelve years before the Battle of Waterloo, although the event was scarcely noted at the time. A Russian scientist named Vasily Vladmirovich Petrov discovered electrical arcs when he built a primitive Voltaic pile in his laboratory. He used his newfound electric arc to carry out a single, very simple welding, and published his results in 1803, describing how his invention could be used for larger, more complex welding work also.

Although the arc welding process had been discovered in the lifetime of Napoleon, it was not until the end of the 19th century that arc welders were finally developed into a useful form. Americans, Englishmen, and Russians all contributed to the creation of the arc welder in the form that is known today, and the coming of World War I expanded its use greatly in the construction of iron-hulled ships and early fighter aircraft. Arc welding was a successful competitor against several other types of welding that were also in use at the time.

The 1920s saw further advances that made arc welding machines even more similar to those used today. Continuously-fed electrode wire was invented in 1920, and the World War II era saw the introduction of shielding gases to ensure that the molten metal at the weld site did not instantaneously oxidize or rust, as such heated metal has a strong tendency to do. Further refinements have been made since, but the electric arc welding machine has changed little in basic principle for nearly a century.

The Modern Electric welding machine

The electric welding machine of the modern era, or arc welding machine as it is more accurately called, works by creating a continuous electric circuit that runs through itself, the workpiece being welded, and the welding bench or other support that the workpiece rests on. The electric welding machine completes the circuit by being in contact with the workpiece and welding bench at two points – the handheld electrode that the welder uses for welding, and a grounding clip attached to either the workpiece or the bench.

The electrode, contained in the welding gun, is the point where the electric current forms an electrical arc. The arc produces enough heat to melt either the metal being welded itself, or filler metal that is supplied to the welding point in one of several different ways. Some electric welding machines (MIG) feed filler metal to the welding gun as a continuous wire that also serves as the electrode, while others (TIG) make use of a permanent tungsten electrode and a separate supply of filler metal wire, either hand-fed by the user or fed from a spool in almost the same way as on MIG machines.

Arc welding is efficient for both automatic and manual welding applications, and can be used to fuse nearly any kind of metal solidly together. From its obscure beginnings as a little-known experiment by a Russian scientist from the Kursk region, to today’s range of electric welding machines – ranging from huge industrial devices to portable welders suitable for home users – the arc welding machine has come a long way and become the centerpiece of much of the world’s metal fabrication and repair.