Carl Rickard Nyberg, born in Arboga May 28, 1858, died . Founder of Max Sieverts Lödlampfabrik, then one of the largest industries in Sundbyberg. After school he started working for a jeweller and later he moved to Stockholm and worked with various metalworks. He later got work at J. E. Eriksons mekaniska verkstad (later renamed to "Mekanikus").
It was while working there he got the idea to the blowtorch. He later worked on the idea and created a blowtorch with stong, directed heat and also with several safetey masures built in. He quit his work at Mekanikus in 1882 and set up a workshop at Luntmakargatan in Stockholm making blowtorches. It didn't work well because it took to long time to make and sell them.
For a time he made a living selling rings supposedly for curing gout. In l884 he moved his workshop to Sundbyberg. In 1886 he met Max Sievert at a country fair and Sivert became interested in Nyberg's blowtorch and started selling it. After encouragment by the owner of Sundbyberg går he started AB Alpha and after encouragement from L. M. Ericson he started producing wire.
After Primus had started moving to producing blowtorches he decided to also make parafin oil/kerosene cookers. The first model, called Viktoria, wasn't very sucessfull, but the later Svea did better. He delivered many to Russia and soon he produced 3000 per week. In 1906 the company was changed into a stock company. He was quite generous towards his workers and often gave them stock in the company. The workers became known as "Nybergs snobbar" (Nyberg's snobs) because they were generally better of than those who worked in other places. In 1922 the company was sold to Max Sievert who continued to own it until 1964 when it was bought by Esso.
Nyberg also worked on many other inventions, for instance steam engines, aeroplanes, boat propellers and various other machines. His main claim to fame was as an aviation pioneer and he became known as "Flyg-Nyberg". Outside his home in Lidingö he from 1897 and onward built and tested his Flugan (The Fly). It only managed a few short jumps and he was often ridiculed. The width was 5 meters, and the surface area of the wings was 13 m2. The engine was a steam engine heated by four blowtorches and it produced 10 hp at 2000 rpm. The total weight of the plane is 80 kg.
