Oxy-acetylene Welding Manual

Oxy-acetylene Welding Manual is by Lieut. Lorn Campbell, Jr., Officer in Charge of Welding Instruction, Ordnance Department, U. S. Army. The preface says the oxy-acetylene method of welding and cutting metals has of late been receiving considerable attention. The preface adds that the demand for operators, skilled in the manipulation of this apparatus, which always has been far in excess of the supply, now knows no limit.

The text says a flux is not used, as many suppose, to cement the filler-rod to the metal, but purely as a cleansing agent that may be likened to the acid used in soldering. The text says a cast-iron flux is always used in welding cast iron, to break up the oxide, because the cast iron itself will melt before the oxide. When a substitute flux must be obtained at once, equal parts of bicarbonate of soda (cooking soda), and carbonate of soda (ordinary washing soda), may be purchased from any grocery in the powdered form and mixed together thoroughly.