GB562690A - Improvements in methods of and apparatus for soldering wires, strips and the like - Google Patents

Abstract

562,690. Soldering; uniting by fusion. RAKOS, A., and TECHNOTHERM, Ltd. Dec. 9, 1942, No. 17542. [Class 83 (iv)] In soldering or uniting by fusion wires, strips, or stranded conductors to each other or to tags or terminals, the parts of the wires &c. to be joined are introduced into a small chamber formed in a body of a material of low electrical and heat conductivity and high melting point, such as carbon, graphite or a metallic carbide, and are rapidly heated therein by passing an electric current through the body to fuse the parts or melt additional metal when such is introduced with the wires. The volume of the chamber is preferably the same as that occupied by the parts to be joined. The chamber may consist of a groove 34 across the end of a carbon or like electrode 22, which co-operates with a similarly grooved or flat end of a carbon &c. electrode 20. The electrodes are connected to the opposite terminals of an electric circuit. The electrode 20 is secured in a clamp 19 on a rod 10 which is movable in a hollow arm 3 projecting from a column 2 provided with a base 1, by a pedal 13 hooked to a rod 4 connected by an arm 9 to the rod 10 and raised by a spring 5. The electrode 22 is secured in a clamp 24 carried by a slide which may be adjustable in the direction of the column and secured in position by a screw at each side so that a lateral adjustment may also be provided. To the clamps 24 are secured a U-shaped strip 29, which is secured to and insulated from a plate 30 having a slot through which the electrode 22 projects and having an ear 38 in which is pivoted at 31 a bifurcated member 32 pressed by a spring 33 so as to clamp the parts to be joined at each side of the electrodes. The rod 10 carries a rotatably adjustable link 40 provided with adjustable rods 39 for raising the member 32 when the pedal is depressed so as to permit the insertion of the parts and the pedal is then released to clamp the parts in position. The link 40 is then moved aside and the pedal again depressed to bring down the electrode 20 into contact with the electrode 22 and complete the electric circuit to effect the soldering or welding. In another form the electrodes 56, 57 are carried in the short arms 52, 54 of a tongs which are pressed open by a spring 581, a spring closed bifurcated clamp 63 being carried by one limb and being opened when required by a trigger member 68. A further form resembling a small furnace may consist of one or more small chambers in a block of carbon through which an electric current is passed. The soldering material may consist of copper, silver, or phosphor bronze and may be in the form of a stick or of a wire twisted together with the wires to be joined or applied as a sleeve on the parts or as part of a tag to be joined to a conductor. Insulated wires may be joined without stripping the insulation which is burned off during the joining operation, and a flux is dispensed with, the heating of the carbon electrodes providing a reducing atmosphere.