A brief history of compressed gas cylinders
The industrial gas industry would be nothing were it not for cylinders. An assortment of colors and materials has codified and packaged an otherwise invisible and intangible product over the years—making industrial gases like oxygen, argon and helium as salable as brick and mortar.
The first “cylinders” were animal bladders used in the 18th century to contain gases as they were studied in laboratories. The method was slightly upgraded with gas bags made of oiled textile or silk with gilt paint. The first glimpse of cylinders as we know them today came from Germany in 1886, when Max and Reinhard Mannesmann developed a production method for manufacturing seamless steel tubes by extrusion. The method was soon adapted to the manufacture of gas cylinders, marking a significant step toward the dawn of the industrial gas business.
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In 1891, Harrisburg Pipe and Pipe Bending Works received an onslaught of requests for shipping containers to hold anhydrous ammonia gas, the activating agent for making dry ice. The container needed to be able to withstand temperature changes without cracking. Workmen used a discarded piece of pipe measuring 51 inches long to make a cylinder for the anhydrous ammonia. Soon after, the company filled an order for 20-pound carbon dioxide cylinders, using the same pipe length. The measurement proved to be ideal, and 51-inch long by 5-inch wide cylinders became the standard dimension of industrial gas cylinders for the next 30 years.
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In 1897, French engineer Georges Claude and colleague Albert Hess developed a method to safely compress acetylene—just two years after the inherently unstable gas began to be manufactured for commercial use. Claude and Hess discovered the gas was highly soluble and could be safely transported when dissolved in acetone and stored in a cylinder with porous mass filler material.
Inspired by German imported cylinders made using the billet-piercing method, Harrisburg Steel Corporation installed two new furnaces and used the plate process to produce America’s first seamless gas cylinders in 1902.
Two years later, a prominently placed carbon dioxide cylinder would further advance the cylinder business, when the Anheuser-Busch Brewery displayed a carbon dioxide cylinder from Harrisburg Steel Corporation to pump draft beer at the St. Louis Fair. Beer on tap became so popular that many saloons were renamed taprooms—giving carbon dioxide cylinders a starring role in watering holes across the nation.
The gas shipping industry continued to grow through the recession of 1907, with an increased demand for cylinders of pure oxygen in 1908. Two years later, Germany began exporting low-carbon, lightweight cylinders. Not to be outdone, Harrisburg Steel Corporation developed a quenched and drawn, heat-treated cylinder that reduced gas containment weight by a third. Consequently, the company dominated the market in all cylinder production through the end of World War I. Global competition in cylinder manufacturing led to the formation of the American Compressed Gas Manufacturers Association (CGA) in 1913—its mission to promote the safe manufacture, transportation, storage, transfilling and disposal of industrial and medical gases and their containers. For years, high-pressure gas cylinders were made only of steel, making them heavy to lift and use, susceptible to rust and corrosion, and expensive to transport. In 1958, British manufacturing facility Luxfer Gas Cylinders developed a process using cold-indirect extrusion to offer an alternative: aluminum high-pressure gas cylinders, weighing 30 percent less than their steel predecessors. These cylinders were initially used to carry the carbon dioxide required for commercial beverage dispensing.
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In the early 1960s, NASA contracted rocket propulsion company Aerojet General to design and manufacture a lightweight composite cylinder for space application. In 1972, Aerojet principals in the project opened Structural Composites Industries (SCI) and used their research to develop a high-pressure cylinder for use in Fireman’s Breathing Air System, now known as a Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA). Around this time, SCI also pioneered the development of lightweight composite fuel tanks for natural gas and hydrogen with its fuel cylinders.
The oil embargos and petroleum fuel price escalation in the 1970s put pressure on the industrial gas industry to trim the costs of shipping gas. Taylor-Wharton was among the first to respond, developing 4,500 and 6,000 psi cylinders in conjunction with the Linde Division of Union Carbide Corp. in 1985. The ultra-high pressure cylinders provided two to three times the capacity of standard pressure cylinders.
Cylinders continued to evolve through the 1990s, and are available today with specialized coatings and improved threads, and in varying sizes and weights for an array of applications. Whether treating a patient in the hospital with medical gases, supplying hydrogen cylinders to power fuel cell generators, or enjoying a game of paintball on a Saturday afternoon, cylinders are with us when we work and play—providing a full “tank” of gas for the challenges of the future.
