<PAGE>

                                                                    Exhibit 4(g)

                                 AMENDMENT NO. 4
                                       TO
                          THE LINCOLN ELECTRIC COMPANY
                              EMPLOYEE SAVINGS PLAN
                          (EFFECTIVE NOVEMBER 1, 1994)

                  The Lincoln Electric Company, an Ohio corporation, hereby
adopts this Amendment No. 4 to The Lincoln Electric Company Employee Savings
Plan (Effective November 1, 1994).

                                       I.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, Section 1.1(12) of the Plan
is hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows:

                  "(12) Company Stock: Voting Common Shares, without par value
         and non-voting Class A Common Shares, without par value, of the
         Company."

                                      II.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, Section 1.1(13) of the Plan
is hereby deleted and the following Subsections are substituted therefor:

                  "(13) Company Non-Voting Stock Fund: An Investment Fund
         invested primarily in non-voting Class A Common Shares, without par
         value, of the Company.

                  (13A) Company Voting Stock Fund: An Investment Fund invested
         primarily in voting Common Shares, without par value, of the Company."

                                      III.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, Section 1.1(36) of the Plan
is hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows:

                  "(36) Matching Employer Contribution Percentage: Twenty-five
         (25) percent or such other percentage as the Company shall establish
         for a Plan Year on or before the date or dates on which Matching
         Employer Contributions, if any, are made for such Plan Year, to apply
         against Members' Before-Tax Contributions to determine the Matching
         Employer Contributions for such Plan Year."

<PAGE>

                                       IV.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, Section 3.2 of the Plan is
hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows:

                  "3.2 Payments to Trustee. Before-Tax Contributions shall be
         transmitted to the Trustee as soon as practicable, but in any event not
         later than the 15th business day of the month following the month in
         which such Contributions would otherwise have been paid to the
         Members."

                                       V.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, the first sentence of Section
4.1 of the Plan is hereby amended by deleting the second parenthetical phrase
set forth therein and substituting therefor the following:

         "(not in excess of 6% of Compensation or such other percentage
         specified by the Company before the beginning of the Plan Year)."

                                       VI.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, Section 4.3 of the Plan is
hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows:

                  "4.3 Allocation of Matching Employer Contributions. Each
         Employer's Matching Employer Contributions made for a Plan Year shall,
         subject to the provisions of Sections 3.5(3), 3.6(5) and 3.7(3), be
         allocated and credited to the Account of each Employee of the Employer
         who is entitled to receive a Matching Employer Contribution and for
         whom Before-Tax Contributions were made during such Plan Year, with
         each such Employee being credited with a portion of such Employer's
         Matching Employer Contribution equal to the Matching Employer
         Contribution Percentage of the Before-Tax Contributions (not in excess
         of 6% of Compensation or such other percentage specified by the Company
         before the beginning of the Plan Year) made for him pursuant to 3.1. An
         Employee of the Employer for whom Before-Tax Contributions are made
         shall be entitled to receive an allocation of Matching Employer
         Contributions in accordance with the preceding sentence, unless such
         Before-Tax Contributions are made for any period while he was an
         Employee of the Harris Calorific Division or Sealseat Division of the
         Company."

                                       2

<PAGE>


                                      VII.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, the second sentence of
Section 5.1 of the Plan is hereby amended to read as follows:

         "Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Investment Committee shall direct
         the Trustee to establish and maintain a Company Voting Stock Fund and a
         Company Non-Voting Stock Fund as two of the Investment Funds."

                                      VIII.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, the first sentence of Section
5.5 of the Plan is hereby deleted and the following new sentences are
substituted therefor:

         "Each Member may, pursuant to rules and procedures adopted by the
         Administrative Committee, direct that Before-Tax, Rollover and Employer
         Contributions, other than Matching Employer Contributions, made by or
         for him shall be invested in any or all of the Investment Funds.
         Matching Employer Contributions shall be invested in the Company
         Non-Voting Stock Fund (or in such other Investment Fund as the
         Investment Committee shall designate for such purpose) and shall not be
         subject to the Members' investment directions."

                                       IX.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, the last sentence of Section
5.7(1) of the Plan is hereby amended to read as follows:

         "Each loan shall be charged against the Member's Vested Interest in his
         Sub-Accounts as follows: first, against the Member's Rollover
         Contributions Sub-Account, if any; second, to the extent necessary
         against the Member's Before-Tax Contributions Sub-Account; third, to
         the extent necessary against the Member's Qualified Nonelective
         Contributions Sub-Account, if any; fourth, to the extent necessary,
         against the Member's Matching Employer Contributions Sub-Account, if
         any; and fifth, to the extent necessary against the Member's Profit
         Sharing Contributions Sub-Account, if any."

                                       X.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, Section 6.7 of the Plan is
hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows:

                  "6.7 Withdrawals on Account of Hardship. (1) Upon not less
         than 30 days prior written notice filed with the Administrative
         Committee, effective as of any Valuation Date, a Member who is an
         Employee and who has obtained all distributions and withdrawals (other
         than for Hardship) and all nontaxable loans then available under all
         plans maintained by the Controlled Group, may request, on a form
         provided by and filed with the Committee, a withdrawal on account of
         Hardship of all or a part of his Vested Interest in the following
         Sub-Accounts: Rollover Contributions Sub-Account, Before-Tax
         Contributions Sub-Account (excluding any earnings allocated thereto),

                                       3

<PAGE>

         Qualified Nonelective Contributions Sub-Account, Matching Employer
         Contributions Sub-Account and Profit Sharing Contributions Sub-Account.
         Upon making a determination that the Member is entitled to a withdrawal
         on account of Hardship, the Committee shall direct the Trustee to
         distribute to such Member the amount requested and charge the amount of
         the withdrawal to the Member's Sub-Accounts in the order set forth in
         the preceding sentence, provided, however, that the amount of the
         withdrawal shall not be in excess of the amount necessary to alleviate
         such Hardship. If a withdrawal on account of Hardship is made by a
         Member pursuant to this Subsection, the following rules shall apply
         notwithstanding any other provision of the Plan (or any other plan
         maintained by the Controlled Group) to the contrary: (a) the Member's
         Before-Tax Contributions to the Plan (or any comparable contributions
         to any other plan maintained by the Controlled Group) shall be
         suspended for a period of 12 months following receipt of the Hardship
         withdrawal; and (b) the amount of the Member's Before-Tax Contributions
         (and any comparable contributions to any other plan maintained by the
         Controlled Group) for the Member's taxable year immediately following
         the taxable year of the Hardship withdrawal shall not be in excess of
         the applicable limit under section 402(g) of the Code for such next
         taxable year less the amount of such Member's Before-Tax Contributions
         (and any comparable contributions to any other plan maintained by the
         Controlled Group) for the taxable year of the Hardship withdrawal. A
         Member who has made a withdrawal pursuant to this Section and who
         desires to resume having Before-Tax Contributions made for him may do
         so, as of any Valuation Date after the expiration of the suspension
         period specified in this Section, if he is then an Eligible Employee
         and he again enrolls as a contributing Member pursuant to Sections 2.2
         and 3.1.

                  (2) Withdrawals from a Member's Sub-Accounts made pursuant to
         this Section shall be allocated among the Investment Funds in the same
         proportion as the value (determined as of the Valuation Date which is
         the effective date of such withdrawal) of such Member's Sub-Accounts
         invested in each such Investment Fund bears to the total value
         (determined as of such Valuation Date) of such Sub-Accounts."

                                       4

<PAGE>

                                       XI.

                  Effective as of January 1, 1997, Section 6.11 of the Plan is
hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows:

                  "6.11 Distribution of Company Stock. Notwithstanding the
         preceding provisions of this Article, a Member or Beneficiary who is
         eligible to receive a distribution pursuant to this Article VI (other
         than pursuant to Section 6.7) may elect to receive that portion of his
         distribution which is attributable to his interest in the Company
         Voting Stock Fund or in the Company Non-Voting Stock Fund in the form
         of whole shares of the Company Stock invested in such Fund, with any
         fractional shares of such Stock in cash."

                  EXECUTED at Cleveland, Ohio, this 31st day of December, 1996.

                                     THE LINCOLN ELECTRIC COMPANY

                                     By /s/ Frederick G. Stueber
                                        ----------------------------------------
                                     Title: Senior Vice President, General
                                            Counsel, and Secretary

                                     And________________________________________
                                     Title:

                                       5