Arc welding
Soldadura por arco eléctrico
- Date
- 1881–1890 · confidence medium
- Place
- Saint Petersburg, Russia
- Credited to
- Nikolai Benardos (carbon electrode, 1881); Nikolai Slavyanov (metal electrode, Perm, 1888); C. L. Coffin (US patent, 1890); Oscar Kjellberg (coated electrode, Gothenburg, 1907)
- People
- 👤 Nikolay Slavyanov1854–1897
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Joining of metals by melting them with the heat of an electric arc. It replaced riveting and enabled continuous metal structures.
Priority shared between Benardos, Slavianov and Coffin; Kjellberg (ESAB) made the process practical.
What it led to
- Rapid shipbuilding (Liberty ships) and tanks
- Bridges, pipelines and pressure vessels
- Automation of metal fabrication
Built on
- Electric generator and self-excited dynamo1832-1867
- Arc lamp
- Bessemer steel