Old Hobart 4 cylinder portable welder

[Sparkie1957]

Dave,
I’m pretty sure that Airco Hornet from 1959 was made by P&H. Pure DC like an SA200.


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[Welder Dave]

I've seen a bunch of newer Airco made by Miller but never saw another Hornet Special. It was pure DC and had 6 current ranges if I remember right. Had an F140 Continental and was shorter than an SA200. It was a good machine. I sold it when I got the TB 55D. Did P&H build for other companies?

[Sparkie1957]

Not sure about other companies Dave. I was really surprised about the Airco. I found this out from a YouTube channel digginok. Frank, the channel owner sent me a email about the Continental firing 180 degrees out of time. He bought it from a guy that tore it down for rebuild and never could get it to run. He got that fixed ( wrong timing marks used), and I assumed it was a rebadged Miller but it turned out to be a P&H. I'm sure it's a great machine as they made good stuff. I've messed with some of their transformer machines but no engine drives.


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[Welder Dave]

Yes, I saw that video and that was what mine looked like. Judging by the serial number of another Hornet Special you could be right about it being made by P&H. At the time Airco was still in business and the dealer told me it was made in May of 1959. Looking online it's interesting to note that some models had the range selector on the left and some had it on the right. Airco had machines made from a few different companies and were the first to introduce Mig in 1948. I had a brochure about and it said Mig was largely introduced with the introduction of 2 patents by Airco . There were several companies involved in developing Mig but Airco was the main sponsor. It would be interesting to know why Airco sold out. They were right up there with Lincoln, Miller, Hobart , Linde, etc. and were also a large gas distributor. They had the best cutting machines too. Several years ago someone on the forum pointed out the Airco bought the rights to the company that designed the cutting machines. The Radiagraphs were the best on the market for 65 years and then Koike discontinued them.

"The gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process was successfully developed at Battelle Memorial Institute in 1948 under the sponsorship of the Air Reduction Company. This development utilized the gas shielded arc similar to the gas tungsten arc but replaced the tungsten electrode with a continuously fed electrode wire. One of the basic changes that made the process more usable was the small-diameter electrode wires and the constant-voltage power source. This principle had been patented earlier by H.E. Kennedy. The initial introduction of GMAW was for welding nonferrous metals. The high deposition rate led users to try the process on steel. The cost of inert gas was relatively high, and the cost savings were not immediately available."

[Sparkie1957]

This video is the history of P&H. Very interesting story, they got into building welders because they were not satisfied with commercially available welding machines of the day. Their own engineers designed them and they built welders up until the 1960’s. They were almost custom built and I have not seen any that were exactly alike. I restored a 295 amp AC machine and while the case looks similar I’ve never seen another. They are extremely well built machines. Some of their old monster TIG machines were state of the art in the day. I’m sure the selenium button rectifiers would be hard to locate but I’m sure you could update to the new style if you wanted to spend the time.


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[MilitiaMetals]

1500 RPM, similar to a Lincoln. I think the switch on the left could be a polarity switch and the switch for the motor would have been on the right where there is something different on your machine. Maybe be a power DC outlet for tools?

You're correct, the switch on the left is indeed polarity and the one on the right is a 110v DC outlet.

[Welder Dave]

Aha. I found this P&H that looks very similar to the Airco. It says Ford engine but the pics. say Continental. Not sure if the video is the same machine or not but could be.

Also found this that someone posted on a different forum:

The P&H Welding business, along with all the technical engineering drawings and documents supporting the line, was sold in 1968. The firm that bought the P&H Welding business later on discontinued this product line.

https://www.auctionsinternational.co...er-96199/basic



And another one.

https://smithauctions.hibid.com/lot/...q=&ref=catalog

[MilitiaMetals]

24 hours soaking in my special rust eater concoction, managed to get everything loose except the butterfly, giver another 24 hours. I wonder how many decades it’s been since this carburetor was apart?!

[MilitiaMetals]

Carb is pretty pooched, ordered an offshore replica

[MilitiaMetals]

Carb, came today, will tosser on tomorrow.