Open faced trailing welding shield

Abstract

An open faced trailing weld shield for constraining an inert gas to a welding puddle area and a solidifying weld area of a joint of abutting metal members that are reactive in the atmosphere at an elevated temperature while permitting viewing of such weld areas as a welding torch to which the shield is attached traverses the joint in a welding operation and permitting viewing of such weld areas to monitor the weld procedure and changing weld parameters as may be required. The shield includes a U-shaped tube member having closed end leg portions and a plurality of spaced downwardly opening aperture. A frame member closely surrounds the U-shaped tube member and is provided with a flared downwardly extending opening so that an inert gas that is introduced into the tube member flows downwardly to shield the weld puddle and the solidifying weld area until it has cooled sufficiently to be nonreactive with the atmosphere. The frame member is separably attached to a welding torch in alignment with the joint the torch is traversing in a welding operation so that the weld puddle and the solidifying weld area may be monitored by being viewed through the framed opening provided by the attachment of the frame member to the welding torch.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.