United Welding Services, Inc. history

Workable and practical electrical generating devices were invented and developed by 1850.

Issued a process patent in 1865.

The first documented use of fusion welding was in 1881 by Auguste de Meritens where he welded lead battery plates together with a carbon electrode.

The invention of resistance welding (RW) with the first patents going to Elihu Thompson in 1885.

Two students of Augeste de Meritens, N. Benardos and S. Olszewski continued his work, and were issued a patent for a welding process that used carbon electrodes (carbon arc welding) and an electric power source in 1887/88.

Slavianoff is credited by most historians for discovering the use of bare metal electrodes for arc welding. It was introduced in 1888 by N.G. Slavianoff.

1889: received patent for flash-butt welding, equipment and process

Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) had its beginnings from an idea by C.L. Coffin to weld in a nonoxidizing gas atmosphere, which he patented in 1890.

1892: patent for bare metal electrode arc welding process is awarded

Around 1900, A. P. Strohmenger developed a coated metal electrode in Britain, which had a more stable arc.

In 1903, a German named Goldschmidt invented thermite welding that was first used to weld railroad rails.

Up to 1910 approximately 367 spot and seam welding machines are produced.

Immediately after the war in 1919, 20 members of the Wartime Welding Committee of the Emergency Fleet Corporation, under the leadership of Comfort Avery Adams, founded the American Welding Society as a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of welding and allied processes.

In their patents applied for in 1926, arc welding utilizing gas supplied around the arc was a forerunner of the gas tungsten arc welding process.

The heavy-coated electrodes, which were made by extruding, were developed by Langstroth and Wunder of the A.O. Smith Company and were used by that company in 1927.

In 1929, Lincoln Electric Company produced extruded electrode rods that were sold to the public.

By 1930, arc welding was lower in cost than riveting and gas welding.

Submerged arc welding was used during the defense buildup in 1938 in shipyards and ordnance factories.

The gas tungsten arc welding process has become one of the most important. It was perfected in 1941, patented by Meredith, and named Heliarc welding.

Welding replaced riveting as the main method of assembly for ships with 5,171 vessels constructed through 1945.

Gas metal arc welding followed in 1948 (GMAW superseded earlier terms of metal inert gas (MIG) and metal ative gas (MAG)), allowing for fast welding of non-ferrous materials, but requiring expensive shielding gases.

In 1953, Lyubavskii and Novoshilov announced the use of welding with consumable electrodes in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide gas.

Gage invented plasma arc welding in 1957.

The process was perfected, and equipment was developed at the Paton Institute Laboratory in Kiev, Ukraine, and also at the Welding Research Laboratory in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. It was announced in December 1959 for the fabrication of welded diesel engine blocks.

Following the invention of the laser in 1960, laser beam welding debuted several decades later, and has proved to be especially useful in high-speed, automated welding.

The Arcos Corporation introduced another vertical welding method, called Electrogas, in 1961.

Central Welding Supply: A History of Service Central Welding Supply was born in a very small building in Lynnwood, Washington in 1975.

Founded in 1998, the company is a leader in the industrial sector.

Humans started working with bronze between 3000 and 2000 B.C. During the bronze age, small gold circular boxes were made by pressure welding lap joints together.

In June of 2009 Central Welding Supply acquired Compressed Gas Western Inc of Seattle WA, which had a proud 35+ history of service in this region.

The momentum continued deep into 2010, when Central opened a new location in Anacortes, WA in west Skagit County.

On September 6, 2016, Central Welding Supply announced the acquisition of United Welding Supplies Inc, located in Portland, OR. The new business represented Central Welding Supply's first location in Oregon State.