The object of this invention is a welding cover that has a boxlike shelter and that is meant to guard the protective gas in the spot of welding when welding a tube, a sheet, or some other object. The object of the invention is also the method to use the men- tioned welding cover.

Advantageous usage for the invention is the protective gas welding under windy con- ditions. The invention is especially suitable for TIG welding. Using the invention it can be secured that the flow of air, like wind, does not remove the protective gas away from the welding spot during the welding. The invention helps also under non-windy circumstances to make more effectively the protective gas remain in the welding spot during the welding. The usage of the invention is especially advantageous when welding the tubes. The spot of the tube to be welded can be placed inside the welding cover and thus the close surrounding of the welding spot is isolated from other outside place or room air. Thanks to the welding cover the wind or other air flow cannot affect the welding spot and the protective gas that is fed to it remains in place and protects the welding.

The invention can also be used when welding a sheet or some other object and then the spot to be welded is placed inside the welding cover.

There are many known welding covers in the market to keep the protective gas in the welding spot. In the Korean utility model publication KR 20150000839U, it has been presented a cover to be used when welding a large tube. This cover is by construction boxlike and it is composed of two parts that are pressed together around the tube. In the center position of the cover there are openings to place the tube to be welded in them so that the actual spot to be welded remain inside the cover. According to the publication, upon the support structure of the cover a casing is installed.

In the Korean patent publication KR 20040057326 A, it has been presented to have a wind cover to weld a sheet The cover is a framework of four sides that is placed around the spot to be welded. All the known wind covers for welding tubes or sheets are very alike of the structure so that one of their sides is open to put through the hand and the weld tool, like burner, to the welding spot

The greatest disadvantages of the known technology are just there that inserting the hand and the tool to the welding spot requires that one side is open and thus the flow of air (mostly wind) can come that way to the welding spot and remove protective gas. Using the known solutions, the drawback in the field cannot be avoided that the pro- tective gas that is used in the protective gas welding, e.g. argon, is able to get out in the windy conditions. For instance in the harbors, power station sites and construction sites etc. it is necessary to weld for instance tubes all the time under windy conditions Using protective gas welding. Mainly the welding method is the TTG welding but also others, like MIG welding.

The aim of this invention is to obtain such a welding cover and a method to use it that disadvantages of the known technology can be avoided. It is characteristic for the so- lution according to the invention what has been presented in the characterizing parts of the claims 1, 2 and 10.

The greatest advantage of the invention is that the effect of the wind to the protective gas can be avoided even totally. The welding cover according to the invention is ca- pable of keeping the protective gas in the welding spot around the seam at least essen- tially fully during the whole necessary time so that the full benefit of the protective gas is obtained. The mentioned benefit is obtained in TIG wending with and without additive and also in MIG welding. The advantage is obtained when welding tubes, sheets or other objects.

In this document, the terms “cap” and “bottom” of an essentially six sided welding cover are two certain opposite sides regardless of in what position the object is.

The invention is described more closely in the enclosed drawings, where fig 1 presents one ready to be used welding cover 3D according to the invention, fig 2 presents the same object seen from the view A in the fig 1, fig 3 present the mentioned object seen from the view B of the fig 2, fig 4 presents the welding cover according to the invention being opened, figs 5 and 6 present more precisely the hand routes of the mentioned object, figs 7- 13 present some other applications of the invention.

Next, the construction and the operation of a favorable application of the invention will be presented referring to the mentioned figs.

In fig 1 it has been shown a welding cover 50 according to the invention in 3D ready to be used and in figs 2 and 3 in 2D from different directions. The welding cover at hand composes of a rectangular first part 10 the walls of which are composed of the first and the second heads la and lb, the first and the second sides lc and Id, and the bottom le and the second part 20 the walls of which are composed of the first and the second heads 2a and 2b, the first and the second sides 2c and 2d and the cap 2e. When the welding cover 50 is ready to be used its first part 10 and the second part 20 have been placed against each other so that they are forming together with their walls a welding cover casing 50.1 that limits inside a closed space 30. The mentioned space is formed between the bottom le, cap 2e and the heads between them la, lb, 2a, 2b and between the sides lc, Id, 2c, 2d. The first part 10 and the second part 20 have been connected to each other by a joint 3 between them. To the mentioned heads, there have been made round openings 4 so that half of them are in the first part 10 and half of them are in the second part 20 so that the joint 3 cuts the openings 4 in half. A tube 100 has been put to the openings 4 in such a way that the spot to be welded W is in- side the welding cover in the closed space 30. There has been installed hinges 5 to the joint 3 between the first part and the second part 10, 20 in the welding cover 50 and a latch 6 that locks the parts. The joint 3 gets essentially gaslight with a tightening organ 7. The joining locations of the openings 4 and the tube 100 have been tightened essen- tially gastight with a gasket 8. The cap of the second part has a visual check glass 9. The hand route openings 11 have been made to the second part heads 2a, 2b and to the first side 2c and around each mentioned opening to their borders the first head of a sock 12.1 has been fixed and the other end of the sock reaches to the space 30. The mentioned sock is meant to seal the hand route opening 11 and through it inside in- serted hand and the burner cable of the burner in the hand. The hand route opening 11 and the around it fixed first end of the sock 12.1 have been made considerably larger than the space needed for the hand and the burner and the other end of the sock 12.2 has been made tight around the hand and the burner cable. The sock 12 that is getting smaller towards the space 30 has been made of an elastic material so that the hand that has been inserted through it can me moved in the hand route opening 11 m all direc- tions, e.g. width/height, length, depth, (the arrows in the fig 5) as each welding session requires.

To the heads of the second part 20 and to the first side, the openings 13 have been made to insert the welding additive wire. In this invention application, they have been located above the with the sock furnished hand route openings 11. A connection 14 has been installed to the first part 10 to be able to feed protective gas to the space 30.

The above presented welding cover 50 is used so that it is opened as shown in the fig 4 and placed around the tube 100 to be welded so that the spot W to be welded comes between the first and the second heads la, lb. Then the second part 20 is turned around the hinges 5 against the first part 10 and locked with the latch 6. The joint 3 tightening organ 7 and the gaskets 8 between the openings 4 and the tube tighten the welding cover in these joint locations essentially gas tight and those hand route open- ings 11 with socks 12 and additive wire openings 13 that are not used in the welding at hand are closed with closing organs 15 essentially gas tight. In this invention appli- cation the closing organs are flaps to be fixed or moved to the openings. After this, the welder insets a gloved hand and a burner in it through a certain hand route opening 11 and sock 12 in it into the space 30 and with the other gloved hand through a certain other hand route opening 11 and the sock 12 in it and grasps the additive wire that has been put in the opening 13 in use. The other ends 12.2 of the socks 12 get tightened around the hands of the welder and the elasticity and the shape of the socks allow the movements of the welder’s hands during the welding session. The welding cover 50 has been put into such a position that the visual check glass is between the area of the spot W to be welded and the welder’s eyes and so there is a visual connection between the welder and the spot to be welded. The protective gas that comes from the burner cable to the closed space 30 remains around the spot W to be welded during whole the welding session. The protective gas can also be fed to the space 30 through the con- nection 14. When the mentioned connection is not in use it can be closed. Alternatively, the welder can insert through the sock 12 into the space 30 only the bum» or a part of it and thus the hand remains inside the sock or outside it and the other end of the sock 12.2 gets tightly around the welding tool e.g. a burner.

The welding cover 50 can comprise only one opening 4 in such a case where the tube 100 or other object 300 to be welded goes through it only in one place. If the tube or other object to be welded fits completely inside the space 30 the openings 4 are not needed.

Favorable materials for the casing 50.1 are for instance steel and aluminum. It can also be made of any other material that is suitable for the conditions that have been de- scribed above when it tolerates heat and sparkling. There is at least one combination of hand route opening 11 and a sock 12, that is hand route, in the welding cover according to the invention. In such a case when there is on- ly one hand route only from the burner fed additive wire is used or additive wire is not used at all. When welding around a tube or an object the welding cover 50 can occasionally be turned around the tube or object so that all the seams can be welded inside the cover. The welding cover can also be moved when welding for instance a lengthwise or ver- tical seam of a tube. Depending on the spot to be welded of a tube or of an object the hand routes that are the most favorable can be used. In this example, the hand route in the side 2c is suitable to be used with the hand route in either head for instance when welding a tube lengthwise or vertical seam.

In figs 5 and 6 two different kinds of hand routes have been presented. They differ from each other mainly that their hand openings 11 are different in size. Fig 5 presents a hand opening located in side 2c and a sock and the fig 6 a hand opening in sides 2a, 2b and sock. All the different hand openings that tighten the welder’s wrist or arm, that is hand, hand and burner cable or a welding tool and a hand route opening 11 es- sentially gas tight and allow the movement of the welder’s hand in 3D belong to this invention. The elasticity of the sock 12 can be achieved for instance by gathers or the stretching ability of the material.

The hand routes and the openings 13 for the additive wire can be made in a desired way and desired amount in the welding cover according to the invention.

The sock 12 is made of a fireproof, heat resistant material. It can be leather, fiber cloth or other for the purpose suitable material. Fig 7 presents how different size tubes can be welded in the welding cover 50 accord- ing to the invention. The welding cover can be made for instance so that its openings 4 are suitable like that for certain size of tube and when to a certain limit smaller diame- ter tubes are welded in it adaptation organs 16 are used to close the space between the tube 100 and the opening 4. As an example of this, it can be mentioned that when the openings 4 of a welding cover 50 are suitable as they are for a tube DN 100 and they can be welded without adaptation organs and all the smaller tubes in the same welding cover using adaptation organs. For larger tubes, a suitable welding cover can be made for each or in a certain range diameters using the adaptation organs 16 welding covers. The adaptation organ 16 can be a ring, a flange with a hole, or other piece that is suit- able for the situation. It can be made of one or a number of pieces and it can be fixed to the casing 50.1 in any known method. It is possible to use gasket 8 with the adapta _¬ tion organ or it can be self tightening. As an example of this, a flexible and heat re- sistant silicone rubber adaptation organ can be mentioned. The openings 4 can also be sealed altogether when the tube 100 or Other object 300 to be welded fits completely in the space 30.

Fig 8 presents the welding of a bent part 100a to a tube 100 using the welding cover 50 according to the invention. In this example, it has been done using in the end of the bent par an adaptation organ 16 with opening other than round and in the other end an adaptation organ with a round opening. Another method is to form the welding cover so that no adaptation organ is needed or that both adaptation organs have a round opening. The joint 3 is favorable to place to the same level with the diameters of the openings 4 and it can be of the direction of the bottom 1 e and/or cap 2e or differ from their direc- tion. The joint 3 can also be located in some other favorable place. The welding cover 50 according to the invention can also be made without the hinges 5. It is central for it that the first part and the second part 10, 20 can be repeatingly and easily put together and the use of hinge/s is one favorable method. So instead of the hinges some corresponding organs can be used. Likewise the welding cover 50 according to the invention can in some cases be made without the locking latch 6. It is characteristic for the invention that the joint 3 is es- sentially gas tight during the use of the invention and that the first and the second part 10, 20 are kept together in any known way. It can be mentioned as an «cample that tile gravity is used when the second part 20 is above the first part 10.

The gasket organ 7 can be a separate gasket or it can be composed of shapes of the joint 3. As an example, a lap can be mentioned.

The gasket 8 can be a separate part or be composed of separate parts or to be fixed to the edge of the openings 4 or the adaptation organs 16. In some cases, it is possible to use the welding cove according to the invention without the mentioned gasket.

The joint of the welding cover 50 ready to be used and the sock 12 to the welder’s hand and the burner cable does not require absolute gas tightness. The essential gas tightness means that all the protective gas that is fed into the space 30 remains in the mentioned space during all the time of the certain welding session.

The visual check glass 9 can be made in many ways, hi the «cample of the figs it is essentially covering the whole cap 2e but it can only be apart of it. The most favora- ble material of it is glass but it can also be made of some other heat and welding spar- kles resistant and transparent material. The mentioned visual check glass is favorable to be made so that it is easy to change because it comes under great wear during the welding. Fig 9 presents the welding cover SO according to the invention used for welding sheet 200 with the protective gas welding method. This welding cover is of one part and its casing 50.1 is composed of heads a, b and sides c, d and the cap e. The visual check glass 9 has been installed to the cap and to the heads and one side hand route openings 11 have been made and socks 12 have been installed to these openings like described in above presented application of the invention. In this application, the bottom is not needed or the head openings for the tube to be put into the welding cover but the open side edge of the casing 50.1 has been made essentially gas tight against the sheet to be welded so that the spot W of the sheet to be welded has come inside the welding cover essentially gas tight space 30. In the situation of the fig 9 the sheet 200 is level but al- so bending sheets are suitable to be used with the invention. It is essential that the joint 3a between the sheet 200 to be welded and the welding cover 50 is made or/and tightened using gasket 8a essentially gas tight The welding cover according to this application can be equipped with additive wire openings 13, connection 14 and/or if necessary latch organs 15 that close certain openings. The welding cover that is in- tended for welding sheet can be fixed to the sheet 200 either only by its own weight or some known way, like magnets, pressures, screws etc. This application of the inven- tion can be used when welding a horizontal or vertical seam. The ceiling welding us- ing the invention is not excluded.

Fig 10 presents an application of the invention where the hand route opening 11 sock 12 has been equipped with a glove 17. The glove that can have separate places for fin- gers or not has been fixed to the other end 12.2 of the sock so, that it is essentially a gas tight continuation of the sock 12. In this application of the invention, the welder puts Ms hand through the hand route opening 11 and the sock 12 inside the glove and grasps with the glove 17 the welding tool or additive wire that has been inserted to the space 30 through some other opening

When the welding cover 50 according to the invention is used in titan welding (TIG, MIG), securing that the protective gas remains in the space 30 protecting the seam so long that the temperature of the weld decreases under the required 300°C can when necessary be obtained by feeding protective gas through connection 14 into the space 30. That prevents the oxidizing of the welding and that way its corruption. Figs 11- 13 present some other applications of the invention. In fig 11 the welding cover 50 is adapted against a large tube 100 so that the spot W to welded is inside the welding cover in the space 30. The side of the welding cover against the tube 100 has been formed so that the joint 3a between ja tube and the welding cover is essentially gas tight or to be made so using the gasket 8a. This welding cover can be fixed to its place using for instance fixing ropes that go around the tube 100 or chains or magnets or suck cups. The welding cover in the fig has been equipped with the wheels 18, in this example two per side that is total four. It is possible to install them in any case a suitable amount of them and their meaning is to facilitate the moving of the welding cover on the tube 100. The wheels 18 can also be installed to the direction of the circle so that it is easier to move the welding cover in this direction. The arrows in the fig indicate that the wheels 18 can be put in such a position that the welding cover gets off the surface of the tube 100 and it is easier to move it. The welding cover 50 in fig 11 and the method can also be used to weld bent sheet 200. hi that case the spot W to be welded is located inside the space 30. The wheels 18 can also be used to weld a level sheet.

Figs 12 and 13 present welding covers 50 according to the invention to be used in bat- ten welding. Fig 12 presents a situation where the flange 201 to be welded to a sheet 200 reaches over the side a of the welding cover so that in addition to side x the whole side a is open and the joint 3a and possibly used gasket 8a are as large as these two sides. The spot W to be welded is located in the space 30 in the joining point of the sheet 200 and the flange 201. In the situation of the fig 13, the flange 201 reaches only a part of the side a scope so that the other part of the side is Closed. Correspondingly, the joint 3a and possibly used gasket 8a are of the same scope as the side x and side a open parts.

The welding cover 50 according to the invention can also be equipped with other things that make its use easier, e.g. a handle to guide and move it

The welding cover according to the invention can be rectangular of shape, oblique etc. It can consist of at least one bent surface and no usable shape is excluded when mak- ing the welding cover 50. Its size can be any suitable to the situation. It should be noticed that even though this explanation sticks to one type for the inven- tion favorable realization example this does by no means want to limit the usage of the invention only to tins kind of usage but many variations are possible as defined in the claims the idea of the invention.