 In 1800 , Sir Humphry Davy discovered the short @-@ pulse electrical arc and presented his results in 1801 . In 1802 , Russian scientist Vasily Petrov created the continuous electric arc , and subsequently published " News of Galvanic @-@ Voltaic Experiments " in 1803 , in which he described experiments carried out in 1802 . Of great importance in this work was the description of a stable arc discharge and the indication of its possible use for many applications , one being melting metals . In 1808 , Davy , who was unaware of Petrov 's work , rediscovered the continuous electric arc . In 1881 – 82 inventors Nikolai <unk> ( Russian ) and Stanisław Olszewski ( Polish ) created the first electric arc welding method known as carbon arc welding using carbon electrodes . The advances in arc welding continued with the invention of metal electrodes in the late 1800s by a Russian , Nikolai Slavyanov ( 1888 ) , and an American , C. L. Coffin ( 1890 ) . Around 1900 , A. P. Strohmenger released a coated metal electrode in Britain , which gave a more stable arc . In 1905 , Russian scientist Vladimir <unk> proposed using a three @-@ phase electric arc for welding . In 1919 , alternating current welding was invented by C. J. <unk> but did not become popular for another decade . 
