weld

Today I was looking through my archives looking for stuff that I might be able to pitch to a market and might have missed. Two years ago I photographed workers welding new steel rails near my home and documented the process. I uploaded the shots to my website today and then e mail picthed to a couple of big companies to see if they might be interested in buying licences to use some of the shots.

 

The Heath-Robinson process involves "aluminothermic welding".

 

A granular mixture of aluminium metal and powdered ferric oxide is ignited in a kind of movable coldron. The reaction generates amazing heat and the molten result is poured into a clay mould over the joint gap between the rails to be welded. The mould is broken away and the weld is then ground smoothe while still red hot.

 

To see more shots of the process check out my latest addition to my website gallery here :-

www.johncoxon.com/gallery/Aluminothermicwelding

 

 

If you are interested in finding out more about the process in prose check out this detailed explanation

irfca.org/docs/thermit-welding.html#background

Done