The world’s first apparatus for the production of inert gases (oxygen-argon unit, 1913). |
First, however, they had to service the flourishing oxygen market almost exclusively. To that end, the Linde Company joined forces in 1904 with its two major German competitors in the chemical production of oxygen to form Vereinigte Sauerstoffwerke GmbH (VSW). This company held the exclusive right to sell oxygen produced by its member companies at an agreed price. By 1910, the Linde Company had gradually acquired all of the shares in VSW and brought them into the Sauerstoffwerke GmbH company in Berlin. |
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| Untermaubach oxygen plant (west of Cologne, approx. 1920). |
Since transportation costs had to be kept low, Linde built its own oxygen plants in major regional centres of the iron industry starting in 1904 - often directly on the grounds of major customers’ facilities or adjacent to the companies’ own refrigerated buildings. By the start of the First World War, Linde had built 20 of its own oxygen plants in Germany alone. These were in addition to plants ordered by major customers. These customers had to agree to sell any oxygen produced beyond their own requirements exclusively to the monopolistic trading company.