Oscar Kjellberg

Who was Oscar Kjellberg?

Oscar Kjellberg was a Swedish inventor and industrialist. Founder of ESAB, in 1904, and Kjellberg Finsterwalde, in 1922. He invented the coated electrode used in manual metal arc welding, by dipping a bare iron wire in a thick mixture of carbonates and silicates. The purpose of the coating is to protect the molten metal from oxygen and nitrogen present in the atmosphere. His pioneering of covered electrode development paved the road during the next twenty years in the research of reliable flux coated electrodes.