Autogenous Welding of Metals, 1908

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The oxygen and hydrogen used in the oxyhydric burner may be obtained from the tanks in general use in the trade, in which these gases are compressed under a pressure of 300 to pounds per square inch. They may also be generated on the spot by the electrolysis of water, and then compressed under a pressure of 300 pounds, to be then distributed to the burners through appropriate pipe lines. In general, this latter principle is not applied because of the costly apparatus, the experienced personnel and the expensive maintenance which it requires. Moreover, the decomposition of the water into its elements and the fact that the hydrogen and oxygen pipe lines must of necessity run close to each other, constitute a source of danger and render impossible the production of these gases in the consumer's plant. As a rule all the oxyhydric burners in use are supplied from ordinary tanks containing the gases under pressure. The actual average prices are: oxygen, 4 cents per cubic foot(deg) hydrogen, about I cent per cubic foot.