A great variety of tools, appliances, and parts are welded in some stage of their manufacture. Where pieces of metal are to be joined, welding is the first resort, soldering a poor alternative. As welding is itself a simple process, the chief difference lies in the machinery necessary for different work. In a work of limited scope it will not be necessary to go into the details of the stock welds, but a number of the most important will be mentioned.

The processes of manufacture are in many cases adaptations of the recently discovered processes of welding. The electric process is far ahead for repeat or "stock" welding. The hot flames are best for job work, but are beginning to compete with electricity for "stock" work. Thermit is used mostly for job welding or repairing, but can also be applied to continuous rail or pipe joining.

1 The Metal Industry, Aug., 1904.

Miscellaneous

Other stock welds of importance are carriage tires, frames, hub and axle, and also spoke-and-hub. The carriage industry is founded on the weldability of iron.

Cap screws have larger heads of tough steel welded on by electricity. There are children's hoops, printers' chases, three-ply skate blades, garden rakes, boiler tubing, axe-blades, shotgun barrels, iron rings, wire fences.

The best grade of American anvils are made of a hard quality of steel plate welded on to the top of the block, while the anvil horn is also welded on. The best plows have welded steel points to resist the wear.

Besides these older products, many of the industries which have recently sprung up are using welding apparatus for making minor parts of apparatus and machinery - the joining of a durable well-wearing metal on a softer body, one metal to another, or one special casting to another, so as to avoid the use of intricate patterns. Ship-builders weld constantly, though it is bad practice to weld a vital part. Smith welding is used much less than formerly on manufactured articles. The patent welding processes are cheaper, quicker, and safer and are superseding the old hand method.