The Manitowoc Company, Inc.

John D West

James G Morrow, Sr

James D Karman

James E Trainor

A method and apparatus for welding hollow elongated beams wherein the plates forming the beam are tack-welded together in proper relationship and all corners of the beam are simultaneously and continuously welded by moving a multiple head welding carriage along the length of the beam in order to minimize warpage and longitudinal deflection of the beam due to the welding heat.

Method and apparatus for welding hollow elongated beams

A submerged arc welding machine in which the edges of plates to be butt welded are supported on a channel fixed on a long rigid foundation beam. The plates are otherwise held on inverted caster wheel assemblies. A long rigid bridge spaced above the beam carries a track on which the arc welding apparatus carriage rides. The plate edge portions are held by vertically movable electromagnets, and the channel forms a magnetic shield so that the magnets do not affect the welding arc. Vertically movable rollers allow the plates to be positioned without interference from the channel. A copper backup bar in the channel has a groove that is filled with flux, and the bar is raised to hold the flux under the weld line. A shoe on the carriage lays flux in the groove when the carriage returns after a welding pass, and a vacuum pickup head cleans the groove for the shoe flux delivery. During the welding pass, the pickup head removes flux on opposite sides of the weld.

Large plate arc welder

A rotational drive assembly including a pair of pinion gears journalled on idler shafts disposed laterally on either side of a drive shaft and meshing with the teeth of a drive gear and a ring gear. The drive shaft is universally journalled for rotation and for permitting a limited range of movement of the drive gear toward and away from the ring gear to substantially equalize tooth contact between the drive gear and each of the pinion gears as the drive shaft is rotated. A slotted bearing may be provided to preclude excess lateral movement of the drive shaft.

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Manitowoc, WI, United States of America

John D West