Page 3 - HIWT Winter 2013 World of Welding

hiwt@welding.org HOBART INSTITUTE OF WELDING TECHNOLOGY

FROm PEGBOARDS TO SImULATORS TO VIRTUAL
REALITY WELDING

By Andre A. Odermatt, President
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology

Around 1890, the United
States Government established
the United States Employment
Service (abbreviated as
USES). It was assisting job
seekers and employers and
was particularly helpful Fig. 1. 1951 Stromberg manual dexterity aptitude testing
during the depressions of
the late 19 and early 20 In the same year of 1967, I was visiting the Paton Institute in
th
th
century. It began designing Kiev, USSR and witnessed a demonstration of a weld simulator
the General Aptitude Test for pipe welding. It was an electromechanical device using DC
Battery (G.A.T.B.) in 1942 motors, sensors, light and acoustic signals actuated by relays,
and completed it in 1945. when the welder reached established parameter limits. This
The test was used for career was probably one of the earliest weld simulators for aptitude
assistance and work screening up to the 1990’s. An aptitude testing and possibly training welders.
test can determine if a person is likely to succeed
in a particular line of work.

In March of 1964, Ohio State Employment Service,
affiliated with the United States Employment
Service, requested that Hobart Institute participate
in a research study to develop an aptitude test for
welding. Sixty-eight (68) Hobart Institute students
participated in the test during 1965. As a result,
the U.S. Employment Service in cooperation with
Ohio State Employment Service issued a report
in May, 1966, followed by a U.S. Employment
Service Technical Report issued by W. Willard
Wirtz, Secretary of Manpower Administration,
Bureau of Employment Security, Washington, DC.

This cooperative venture concluded that with this
research it became clear that much more work
needed to be done on the subject of aptitude testing
for welders. General learning ability, special
aptitude, form perception, motor coordination,
and manual dexterity were found to be important
in aptitude testing for prospective welders.
Manual dexterity testing was accomplished Fig. 2. Henry Cave 1918 Autogenous-Welding Trainer Patent
using a pegboard wherein a student picked up each peg, Number 1,286,529
turned it end-for-end, and placed it back in the same hole. In 1917, Henry Cave of Elizabeth, NJ, was probably one of the
It was a timed test. One of the earlier dexterity tests using a first to apply for a patent covering a welder training device. He
pegboard was developed in 1951 by Eleroy L. Stromberg of was granted patent number 1,286,529 on December 3, 1918
the Psychological Corporation, New York, NY. (See Fig 1) for an Autogenous-Welding Trainer. (See Fig 2.) The Naval
A paper was presented on the subject of aptitude testing for Personnel and Training Research Laboratory in San Diego
welders by Howard B. Cary, Director of the Hobart Technical
Center, at the AWS National Fall Meeting in Houston, TX, (Continued on page 5)
held October 2-5, 1967.

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