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WELDING
PROVIDES A GOOD RIDE
By: R. Carlisle "Carl" Smith
Quality Manager & Welding Coordinator
Kanawha Manufacturing
Company
Welding Department Head
West Virginia
University - Parkersburg Campus
Reprinted from Spring 2001.
I
received my very first welding training at Hobart in the early
sixties. I attended every distributor workshop that was
available. My very first week was spent learning welding
technology from Howard Cary. I still have my textbooks. In those
days the distributor I worked for (Virginia Welding Supply in
Charleston, WV) believed in training sales technicians to weld,
perform minor repairs, train welders and setup new equipment. If
only our distributors had that kind of training today!
Most of the instructors I had there are gone but not forgotten.
George Flory taught welding electricity the "hands on"
way. He would have us repair a feeder and bring it to his
worktable when we were finished. When we were not looking he
would disconnect a wire or pull a brush out of the motor to
cause us to look again.
George Palmer, Jerry Pfister, Ron Fast, Charlie Brown, Ross
Blair and others taught us the basics of setting up the machines
and welding with them. Each person had his or her own favorite
process and machine. All these people were totally dedicated to
the job at hand and we all felt that we were the most important
people in Troy.
The day JFK was killed I was in a classroom at Hobart. A fellow
named Emory Dixon was the person who monitored the tests. He was
always joking and when he told us about JFK we waited for the
punch line. The school closed immediately.
I was with Virginia Welding for several years until I went to
work for a bridge fabricator. Fortunately I knew more about
"Hobart Portaslag" welding than anyone in our area. As
far as I know we were the first in our state to use it and one
of the first in the industry. The technology was so new that we
added the flux with a Dixie cup. We were able to weld 4"
thick flanges in about 1/4 of the time required by the submerged
arc process.
I worked with some pipeline people and did iron work for several
years until the New
River Gorge Bridge was finished. I am now Quality Manager
and Welding Coordinator for Kanawha
Manufacturing Company,
the oldest and largest fabricator in WV. I am also Welding
Department Head at West
Virginia University-Parkersburg Campus.
We have used Hobart training material since I have been at the
school for nearly twenty years (come May 2001). I am a CWI, CWE
and NDE Level III. I serve on the AWS
education committee as a resource person. Welding has been a
good ride for me and I couldn't have done it without Hobart.
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