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History Of Welding

History of Welding Timeline

Unknown BC

     There are three metals consistently around the sites of early man are:

Gold (Au) - Latin - Aurum- for 'shining Dawn'
Copper(Cu) - Latin - Cuprum translated as 'from the island of Cyprus'.
Silver (Ag) - Latin - Argentum meaning silver.

3500 BC

     Tin was discovered.

3000 BC

     The Sumerians, during the Bronze age in Ur (Iraq), made swords which were joined by hard soldering.
     A gold Goblet, found in the tomb of Queen Pu-abi, was double walled with a braze fillet around the periphery.
     Also from the tomb of Queen Pu-abi, was a gold bowl with a wire twisted handle that was brazed to the outside wall.
     The Egyptians heated iron ore in a charcoal fire to reduce it to sponge iron; the particles were then welded together by hammering. This "pressure" welding or "solid-phase" welding was the first recorded.

2250 BC

      Cobalt has been in use since at least 2250 B.C., when Persians used it to color glass.

1500 BC

      Mercury was discovered.
      Lead was discovered.

1475 BC

      At the tomb of Vizier Rekh-mi-re at Thebes, a wall painting depicts a brazing operation.

1000 BC

      Iron and bronze items found in the excavations near the pyramids in Egypt were found to be forge welded.
      Lead was discovered.

1000-500 BC

      Four gold sheetmetal boxes were found in County Roscommon, Ireland and were assembled by pressure welding (hammering) lapped joints.

60 AD

      Pliny writes about Gold Brazing and the salts that were concocted for the flux. Descriptions are given describing the color (oxides) of the metal and whether it would braze easy or with difficulty.

310 - 400 AD

      Iron Pillar of Delhi, India was made of iron billets forge welded by blacksmiths. The pillar measured 23-25 feet high, 12 inches at the top and 16 inches at base and weighed 6 tons. Similar items found in Rome, Scandinavia and England. Iron was first only available in small amounts from meteors. Native iron is distinguished from meteor iron by having 6-8 percent nickel in its composition. Iron is rarely found in its native state.

     Natural gas was piped from springs and transported to the sea through bamboo poles for use in evaporating seawater in china.

11th Century

      A German Monk, Theophilus, also describes in his manuscript, "De Diversis Artibus", a method for mixing together a flux for brazing silver using Potassium Tarpate and Sodium Chloride and flowing an alloy of approximately 66 percent Silver-Copper.

1374

      Zinc was discovered.

1568

      The great Italian goldsmith, Benventuto Cellini, understood the concept of brazing, writing "you must introduce a fresh alloy of silver and copper so as to prevent the solder form of the before from running".

1599

      WELD, V, 1599 Alteration of the well - to Boil, Rise influenced by welled; past participle. n,1831 from the verb. (More etymology of the word can be found)

1735

      Platinum was first used by the pre-Columbian Indians of Ecuador, who made articles from the pure metal as well as from a crude platinum-gold alloy.