Elihu Thomson
Inventor of Resistance Welding
Elihu Thomson was born 29 Mar 1853 in Manchester, England, His family moved to New York in 1858 and then on to Philadelphia where his father would find work.
In 1876 while setting up an experiment, he fused some copper wires together. Quickly thinking and making a note "better luck next time" he questioned whether metals could be welded at will. The fusing of the copper wires was an initial discovery of welding.
1885, Elihu set forth to develop electric resistance welding. "All that was required was a transformer with a primary to be connected to the lighting circuit and a secondary of a few turns of massive copper cable. The ends of this cable were fitted with strong clamps which grasped the pieces of metal to be welded and forced them tightly together. The heavy current flowing through the joint created such a high heat that the metal was melted and run together, That was - and still is - the whole principle"
General Electric Company, which was formed in 1892 by the merger of Thomson-Houston with the Edison General Electric Company.
Elihu Thomson died 13 Mar 1937 at Swampscott, Mass.
