The Torch

Series D follows tools from hand to power to computer. The torch shows the same path in metalwork: forge, flame, arc, plasma, CNC.

Forge welding

Blacksmiths joined iron by heating two pieces white-hot in a forge and hammering them together. It worked for small pieces; it was slow, and it could not join large plates in place.

Oxy-acetylene

Acetylene, first identified by Edmund Davy in 1836, burns very hot when mixed with pure oxygen. In 1903 the French engineers Edmond Fouché and Charles Picard developed a torch that mixed the gases safely, producing a flame hot enough to melt steel. The same torch with an extra oxygen jet cuts steel by oxidising it. Portable cylinders put cutting and welding anywhere: shipyards, railways, demolition sites, farms.

Arc and plasma

Electric arc welding, developed from the late nineteenth century, became the dominant joining method; shielded metal arc (stick), gas metal arc (MIG) and gas tungsten arc (TIG) are taught in the Welding program. Plasma cutting, developed from the 1950s, forces gas through a constricted arc to cut conductive metal quickly; CNC plasma tables cut parts from drawings.

The torch today

Oxy-fuel still does work the arc cannot: cutting thick steel in the field, heating to bend or free seized parts, brazing copper in HVAC and plumbing. Cylinders must be secured upright, hoses checked, flashback arrestors fitted, and the hot-work permit signed.

Programs

Welding, Shipbuilding / Marine Fabrication, HVAC/R (brazing), Plumbing & Pipefitting, Auto Body.