I have been working in this industry since 1971, and I have a love/hate relationship with

Lincoln Electric. I admire their engineering, particularly the design of the older DC machines. These machines were created in a time when calculations were made by hand, without the aid of computers, and I’m sure a lot of guesswork was involved in the process. They worked!

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The basic technology of a standalone alternator, producing constant-current AC

voltage, rectifiers, and is fed into a shunt coil to produce current using an engine-powered dynamo. The arc voltage has two "controls": 1) the "fine current control" (misnamed, but it still works!) and the arc length of the welding rod to the metal, controlled by the welder.