History of Industrial Gases

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. History of Gases

   • Ebbe Almqvist

   Pages 1-6

3. From Aristotle to the Birth of Modern Chemistry

   • Ebbe Almqvist

   Pages 7-45

4. Industrial Gases

   • Ebbe Almqvist

   Pages 47-135

5. The Development of Industrial Gas Technology

   • Ebbe Almqvist

   Pages 137-185

6. Development of the Industrial Gas Business

   • Ebbe Almqvist

   Pages 187-302

7. Expansion of the Industrial Gas Business

   • Ebbe Almqvist

   Pages 303-342

8. How New Gas Applications were Developed

   • Ebbe Almqvist

   Pages 343-439

9. Back Matter

   Pages 441-472

   PDF

Starting at the dawn of science, History of Industrial Gases traces the development of gas theory from its Aristotelian roots to its modern achievements as a global industry. Dr. Almqvist explores how environmental protection, geographical areas, and the drive for higher purity and efficiency affected development in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and how they will influence the future of this rapidly expanding industry. The roles of major contributing companies are also discussed to provide an informative and thought-provoking treatise valuable to anyone who studies or works in this fascinating field.

• Acetylen
• alchemy
• combustion
• distribution
• environmental protection
• gas technology
• theory

"This 450-page pastiche of well-researched and well-documented vignettes, anecdotes, thumbnail sketches, and priceless illustrations and drawings is, as advertised, a marvelous excursion into the history of industrial gases. Embedded between the end papers of what might at first seem only to interest a precious few specialists are the essence of stories on hydrogen, including lighter-than-air craft and ballooning; dry ice and refrigeration; acetylene and illumination; gaslight and limelight; noble gases and the quest for absolute zero; industrial helium, superconductivity, and superfluidity; cutting and welding; rocket fuels, buzz bombs, and space travel; cryogenics, cyngas, and LPG. On and on. An impressive scientific and engineering retrospective... References are properly annotated, accurately displayed, and well represented; illustrations are appropriate and often original; the engineering drawings are more than window dressing. Empedocles and Paracelsus would be pleased... Put this in your library. It's a gas! Summing up: Essential."
(L.W. Fine, Columbia University in Choice, December 2003)
"Almqvist's book is a tour de force, which gives insight, not only into the historical development of the gas production industries, but also in new technologies, such as gas welding and cutting, rocket propulsion, biological and medical applications. In addition the author lets us meet the scientists and entrepreneurs whose worl lies behind all this. A well researched book in the best tradition of the Newcomen Society."
(Jan Hault)

 

 

• Ebbe Almqvist Consulting, Sweden

  Ebbe Almqvist

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