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Brothers Arthur and Leon Brin took out the first of their patents on a chemical process for separating oxygen in 1880, as they began refining and commercialising the barium oxide process for large-scale oxygen preparation.
Five years later, the brothers showed a demonstration machine at the Inventions Exhibition in South Kensington, London, and in Henry Sharp, a stoneware manufacturer, they found someone who was sufficiently interested to persuade friends and members of his family to help form a company to develop the Brins' process. |
Brin's Oxygen Company Ltd was founded in January 1886 and the following year, the company produced 142,116 cu ft (4,024m3) of oxygen.
An early success was the thirst for oxygenated water as a tonic drink but transporting oxygen was still a problem, until the introduction in 1890 of the mild steel cylinder – which was adopted around the world. Although new oxygen-related products sprang up, such as valves and fittings, and machines for making soda water in siphons and bottles, there were no real advances in industrial uses for oxygen. |