Abstract: Contact beads of noble metal are welded to a substrate of less corrosion-resistant metal in an apparatus in which one electrode formed with a receptacle is moved cyclically between a welding position adjacent another, stationary electrode and a remote feeding position. A gap between the electrodes receives the substrate, and blanks of contact bead material are fed into the laterally open receptacle through a stationary guide aligned with the receptacle in the feeding position of the movable electrode in a direction transverse to the direction of electrode movement.