With welding being so intrinsic to modern metal fabrication, few give attention to the history of welding and how we got here. Welding is now a thing of sophistication, with tools and endless design options, and creative applications. But it was not always that way.
Historical facts are always fascinating and the route each civilization took to work out how to fuse metals does not disappoint. On the contrary, it is an intriguing tale that began way before you’d imagine it did.
The History of Welding – Ancient Roots
We find a start in the rather appropriately named Bronze Age. Said to be pre-historic, circa 3300 – 1200 BCE (Before the Common Era) when time was still counting down to start again at 1 in a new era called CE – Common Era. Archaeologists uncovered circular gold boxes made by pressure welding lap joints together.
The Egyptian civilization began to take shape in what is called the Early Dynastic period, which is also part of the prehistoric category but more toward 2 680 BCE and crossing into the Iron Age. It is right there that the history of welding finds iron tools that have been welded together.
The Middle Ages, saw blacksmiths take up the cudgels who welded various types of iron tools using heat and hammering pressure, then everything seemed to hang for centuries.
In the 19th Century, Edmund Davy an Englishman, discovered acetylene (circa 1836), which was utilized to weld metals together using an open flame. His cousin Sir Humphrey Davy, had used a battery to create an arc between two carbon electrodes – you get where this is going? Arc welding with the carbon arc and metal arc was developed and resistance welding became a practical joining process.
The details from then till now cut across many discoveries and developments, which add to the tale. Today, we have robotic welding, which would blow the minds of welding’s intrepid pioneers, were they able to see it.
Contact the Steelmor team for welding requirements, questions, and projects, we have great respect for our forefathers in the industry and are proud to offer technology’s worthy advancements.