| 1941: |
Company sells its first oxygen generator, to a small steel company in Detroit. |
| 1945: |
Weirton Steel Company leases company equipment to generate oxygen. |
| 1947: |
Weirton Steel Company has Air Products build an air separation plant that produced 450 tons of oxygen a day, more than one fourth of the total production capability in the U.S. up to that time. |
| 1951: |
Air Products builds its international oxygen marketing ability with the acquisition of what was to become Air Products Limited. |
| 1958: |
Air Products installs two single oxygen generators at Creighton, Pa. These generators, the additional product from piggyback capacity, and the new types of on-site supply contracts revolutionized the tonnage and merchant gas businesses, significantly lowering costs. |
| 1960–1965: |
New furnace technology fueled the increase of oxygen consumption in the steel making over 140 percent. Air Products' market share grew from 5 to 20 percent. |
| 1972: |
Because of its reactivity, most materials are flammable in pure oxygen, and as a result, the components of a system (valves, regulators, pipe, etc) can ignite and burn. Air Products internally formed the Oxygen Compatibility Committee to help select materials for oxygen service. Today the team exists as the Oxidizer Safety Committee and has been expanded to include materials compatibility for fluorine, NF3, and other oxidizers. |
| 1975: |
Air Products, working with BOC, was instrumental in forming ASTM committee G-4 on oxygen compatibility. Committee G-4 is the primary public forum for oxygen compatibility issues in the world. It has grown over the years and is very active today. |
| 1987: |
A 60-ton-per-dayplant was sold to supply oxygen and nitrogen for the Ariane rocket operations of the European Space Agency. (European equivalent to NASA) |
| 1997: |
The Rotterdam plant (ASU3) opened. ASU3 is one of the biggest single Air Separation Unit in the world. At full capacity, it produces O2 as well as nitrogen and argon. It was built to supply oxygen for a specific oil and gas project, which produces fuels using a more efficient and environmentally friendly process. |
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