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WEDMORE—WELDING

nence as a pioneer of the open-air treatment for tuberculosis, and himself spent many winters in Switzerland in charge of patients. In 1899 he was appointed a delegate to the Berlin congress on the prevention of tuberculosis, and the same year was knighted. He retired from practice at the age of 80, but retained his health and vigour till his death, which took place in London Nov. n 1918, in his 9$th year.


WEDMORE, SIR FREDERICK (1844-1921), English art critic and man of letters (see 28.466), was knighted in 1912. He pub- lished that year his Memories, a book of reminiscences, social and literary. He also published Painters and Painting (1913) and a novel, Brenda Walks On (1916). He died at Sevenoaks Feb. 25 1921. His daughter, MILLICENT WEDMORE (b. 1879), herself the author of two volumes of verse, helped him to edit during the World War Poems of the Love and Pride of England.


WEEKS, JOHN WINGATE (1860- ), American public official, was born at Lancaster, N.H., April u 1860. He grad- uated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1881, served two years as midshipman, then resigned from the navy and became a civil engineer. From 1886 he was assistant land commissioner of the Florida Southern Railroad. In the latter year he helped to organize the banking and brokerage firm of Hornblower & Weeks, Boston, Mass., of which he was a member until 1912. His interest in the navy meanwhile continued. In 1890 he joined the Mass, naval brigade, was made captain, and during the Spanish-American War commanded the second division of the auxiliary U.S. naval force on the Atlantic coast. From 1894 to 1900 he wasamemberof the Mass, military advisory board and of the military board of examiners; in 1896 he was a member of the board of visitors of the U.S. Naval Academy. He was elected alderman of Newton, Mass., in 1900, was nelcctcd for two terms, and then elected mayor (1903-4). In 1905 he was chairman of the Mass. Republican State Convention. During 1905-13 he was a member of the national House of Representa- tives and as a member of the committee on banking and cur- rency took an active part in framing the Aldrich-Vrecland Cur- rency bill. In 1913 he entered the U.S. Senate, succeeding Winthrop Murray Crane, but was defeated for reelection in 1919. As a member of the Senate committee on military affairs during the World War he took part in investigations which resulted in a reorganization of the ordnance and quartermaster departments as well as the aircraft production board. In 1921 he entered the Cabinet of President Harding as Secretary of War.


WEISMANN, AUGUST (1834-1914), German biologist (see 28.499), died at Freiburg-in-Baden Nov. 6 1914. His latest publications were an estimate of Darwin's work and Die Sclcctionstheorie, both published in 1909.


WEISS, BERNHARD (1827-1914), German Protestant New Testament scholar (see 28.499), died in 1914.


WEKERLE, ALEXANDER (1848- ), Hungarian statesman (see 28.500), was again appointed prime minister on Aug. 20 1917, and resigned in a public sitting of Parliament in 1918 (see HUNGARY). At the time of the Bolshevist rule in Hungary he was held prisoner as a hostage.


WELBY, REGINALD EARLE, 1ST BARON (1832-1915), English civil servant, was born at Harston, Lcics., Aug. 3 1832. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and accepted a Treasury clerkship in 1856. There his financial ability soon showed itself and his rise was rapid, especially after W. E. Gladstone became Chancellor of the Exchequer. Finally in 1885 he became permanent secretary to the Treasury. He was made K.C.B. in 1882, G.C.B. in 1892, and a peerage was bestowed on him on his retirement. After that event he became an alderman of the London County Council and in 1899 was elected its chairman. He died in London Oct. 30 1915.


WELDING (see 28.500). This article discusses Electric Welding and Gas- Torch Welding. For Thermit Welding, see the separate article THERMIT AND THERMIT WELDING.

(1) ELECTRIC WELDING. An important development known as Spot Welding has taken place in recent years. It is a modification of the Thomson process, peculiarly applicable to

uniting overlapped sheets of metal by welded " spots " or localized areas of union of the sheets in place of riveting them. It has the merit of leaving little or no projection or deformation on the outer surfaces of the sheets so united.


FIG. i.

FIG. 23.


FIG. zb.

The machine for such work is called a " spot welder," and usua..,, has two electrodes arranged in a vertical line, one above the oilier. The electrodes consist of short, heavy, blunt copper bars, E f (fig. i) (water-cooled in the larger machines); the upper electro E is made movable up and down under control of a manua operated pressure lever, L, or by a piston actuated by air or \ pressure controlled by a valve. The opposed ends of the electr_ n which bear upon and form contact with the sheets to be united, i usually chamfered or given the form of frustums of shallow cot This reduces resistance loss in t he electrodes and adds to their rigid-.. and durability. The electrodes, as in other resistance welders, an. made the terminals of the heavy secondary circuit of a \M I transformer, T, the usual single turn of large section. The cu is large, but is delivered to the work at low voltage. The weld which unites the sheets is a spot, usually round in form, confined in extend to the area covered by the ends of the electrodes. The opposed faced of the sheets are thus locally and quickly heated to welding tem- perature, and the pressure of the electrodes causes complete union: such welded spots are successively made at intervals over anyi extent of surface of the sheets, as in riveting (see fig. 2, a and hi. While spot welding has been found to be best adapted to the union ol overlapped sheets or edges of comparatively thin metal, plates of 1 in. or more in thickness may be spot-welded by heavy welders com structed for the purpose. In some of these, for mechanical and elecl trical reasons, two spot welds are made simultaneously by the sameji current passed in series through two spots covered by two pairs ol opposed electrodes connected in series in the welding circuit. An-; other form of welding, known as " projection " welding, is akin tr spot welding, differing therefrom, however, in the use of elect rod< faces which do not in themselves determine the welded area or spot i and in permitting the instantaneous union of plates or pieces a! many parts of their surfaces. This is accomplished by forming raised] spots or projections on one or both pieces, which when brou;J gether form the paths for current and consequent development ol welding heat irrespectively of the other parts of the plates, and ir- respectively also of the electrode contact with the sheets, such cpn-( tact covering a wide extent of the pieces to be welded, and serving to press them together as the projections between them becorm heated and softened.

Roller Welding. Roller welding, applicable to forming contii lapped seams in sheet metal work, has attained in late years considerable importance. In this operation the overlapped ed. the sheets to be united are passed steadily between an upper co roll with an edge of the width of seam weld desired, and a condimandrel, plate, or similar copper roll forming the under electrode The weld so formed is a line or strip of a width determined by tin width of the contact surface of the welding roll. Thin steel tube; with lap welds are made by this method, and it has also found application in the construction of thin metal containers such as stee thermos bottles, the parts of which are united without solder.

Snap Welding. This term is now commonly applied in connex ion with the Thomson resistance process to welds made by contact of the pieces during heating, followed by quick applicatior