IIW History 1948-1958

CHAPTER IV

THE IMPACT OF THE WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE OF WELDING ON THE DIFFERENT MEMBER COUNTRIES The IIW would-not have achieved its objectives if it had not been the cause of further progress and new developments in welding within the different countries which have collaborat ed with it . The const ant expansion of welding must , of course, be attributed prima rily to intrinsic reasons such as the superiority of its methods a nd the obvious advan– tages which industry derives from it. H owever, the exist ence of an international organi sation fo r the study of t he problems raised by welding has , in various ways , greatly contributed t o stimulating new developments and t o coordinating them. The undoubted prest ige which the IIW enj oys in all indust rial countries seems t o have contributed greatly t o promoting present-clay convictions with rega rd t o the reliab ility of welded constructions, convictions which result from a sure k nowledge of the mat eri als t o be used and of the most suitable methods of construction. In addit ion, the IIVV const itutes a driving fo rce which extends, coordinat es and reinforces t he action of the already est ablished national institutes of welding and imila r societies. In the industrial countries where such organisations clicl not exist, one of the first effect s of the IIVV vvas t o stimulat e their fo rmation , the newly creat ed institutions becoming in their turn successful promot ers of welded construction at a national level. The scientific and t echnical network thus fo rmed by old a nd newly est ablished societies has resulted in each of the national constituent elements receiving exhaustive information on t he general stat e of research in all its aspect s. On its side, the IIW has, since it· formation, acted as a clearing house in which the discove ries of each are put at t he disposal of all. To the advantages resulting from t he meetings of specialists wit hin the IIW must be aclclecl those flowing from the action of the tech nical committees, corres– ponding t o the commissions of the IIW, which th e national institutions have generally set up. These committees have proved themselves most useful a t a national level, in particula r because each of t hem has a general v iew of the matters already investigat ed within its own sect or of activity; this means that overlapping of work can be avoided and that when a committee st arts work on a new subj ect it can, without preliminary investigation , draw upon all the results so fa r achieved in that subject . These committees are thus able t o keep t hemselves const antly up t o elate.