WW2 USA Welding Supplies

[IainA]

Sorry, not sure if this is the right place for this. I'm trying to find a definitive list/examples for the colours of CO2, Oxy, Argon etc compressed gas cylinders. I appreciate that, for the most part, they are various shades of "drab", I was just wondering what a) the underlying (civvy) colours were and b) what was used to differentiate what gas was in what cylinder. And yes, I have been Googling without much joy! 🤪

 

Many thanks for any links etc.

[tank152]

I can tell you what colour the  Air Products bottles are here in the uk.

CO2- black cylinder.

Oxygen-black cylinder with white around the top.

Argon-Blue cylinder

Argon/Co2 mix-blue cylinder with white top.

Acetylene-maroon cylinder

Propane-orange cylinder. 

Whether they were those colours in the forties I don't know but they have been for as long as I  can remember. 

Tim. 

[Kingsman]

I believe I have seen images showing an overall colour with the contents stencilled on in a contrast colour.  Now of course I can't find them............  An overall colour with the domed section of the cylinder coloured to show contents is another possibility, but we come back to what colours.

 

Were such things even colour-coded in the 40's??  Did they just rely on labelling?  Also, what were they using in those days?  Welded manufactured products really only took off during WW1, although the process is very much older.  So Argon seems unlikely. Noting that electric arc welding was also in widespread use by WW2 and the use of Argon in conjuction with electic arc had been patented in the 20's, but was then extremely expensive.  Oxy-Acetylene seems most likely for WW2 gas welding.  In period pictures the gas tanks appear to be noticeably different sizes, one much fatter than the other.  Was this relied-upon to differentiate the contents?  Thin for oxy, fat for acetylene.

 

While looking for the origins of welding in the WW1 context I found this useful history of welding site. https://www.millerwelds.com/resources/article-library/the-history-of-welding.  No help with colours, though. 

 

I notice that the (now) Linde Air Products Company bought a US welding patent in the 30's, presumably for cylinder manufacture.  At the time they would have been called Union Carbide in the US as the US Govt expropriated the German-owned company in 1917.  Linde are still going and have since re-joined with the US company.  Perhaps someone there may be able to tell you what colours they used in the past??  I imagine they were key suppliers to the US military.  There are POCs on the company website.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Das Abteilung
correction

[IainA]

Thanks for the input folks. I found an interesting document purporting to be from the WW2 US Navy "Blue Jackets" manual showing these colours, so it would appear that this branch of  the US services had colours to indicate content. Would it be too much of a stretch to imagine that this would be the case across the board?

 

https://images4.sw-cdn.net/product/picture/710x528_19295812_11225063_1523447847.jpg

Edited August 20, 2019 by IainA

[Kingsman]

US Services had separate supply chains and separate standards, so it doesn't necessarily read across.  USN would have purchased separately from US Army (inc of course USAAC).  But if that was the commercial standard of the day then it is logical that both services would have used it.

[s.e.charles]

On ‎8‎/‎20‎/‎2019 at 9:59 AM, IainA said:

Thanks for the input folks. I found an interesting document purporting to be from the WW2 US Navy "Blue Jackets" manual showing these colours, so it would appear that this branch of  the US services had colours to indicate content. Would it be too much of a stretch to imagine that this would be the case across the board?

 

https://images4.sw-cdn.net/product/picture/710x528_19295812_11225063_1523447847.jpg

"... Don't let the chemical nature of a gas bother you …"

 

holy smokes!