The
History of Propane
The Discovery
In 1910 Dr. Walter
O. Snelling, a chemist and explosives expert for the U.S. Bureau of Mines, was
contacted to investigate vapors coming from a gasoline tank vent of a newly
purchased Ford Model T. Dr. Snelling filled a glass jug with the gasoline from
the Ford Model T and discovered on his way back to the lab that volatile vapors
were forming in the jug, causing its cork to repeatedly pop out. He began
experimenting with these vaporous gases to find methods to control and hold
them. After dividing the gas into its liquid and gaseous components, he learned
that propane was one component of the liquefied gas mixture. He soon learned
that this propane component could be used for lighting, metal cutting and
cooking. That discovery marked the birth of the propane industry.
The Growth of an
Industry
1912 Dr. Snelling and some colleagues
established the American Gasol Co., the first commercial marketer of propane.
1913 Dr. Snelling sold his propane patent
for $50,000 to Frank Phillips, the founder of Phillips Petroleum Company.
1918 Propane was primarily used for
cutting metals. J. B. Anderson of Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania developed the first
propane-fueled pumpless blowtorch.
1922 The Bureau of Mines began to keep track
of propane sales throughout the United States; national sales totaled 223,000
gallons.
1925 Propane sales reached 404,000
gallons-nearly doubling sales in just three years.
1927 Phillips Petroleum Co. began the
research and development of domestic appliances and gas equipment. The Tappan
Stove Company began producing gas ranges.
1928 The first bobtail truck was built,
and Servel produced the first propane refrigerator.
1929 Aggressive sales promotions and
marketing pushed national sales to 10 million gallons. The propane industry
asset value was approximately $22 million.
1931 H. Emerson Thomas, George Oberfell,
and Mark Anton founded the first propane industry trade group called the
National Bottled Gas Association in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
1932 At the 1932 Olympics in Los
Angeles, all the cooking and water heating at the Olympic Village was done with
propane.
1933 A propane odorant was
developed to promote easy leak detection.
1934 National sales
reached 56 million gallons, due in great part to rapid industrial growth.
1936 Twenty pound
cylinders were first introduced to enhance portability.
1945 The end of World
War II brought great industrial development. The propane industry enjoyed its
so-called Golden Years, and sales reached 1 billion gallons.
1947 Sixty-two percent
of all U.S. homes were equipped with either natural gas or propane ranges.
Water heater sales rose 261 percent, and the first propane-fueled clothes dryer
entered the marketplace. The first oceangoing tanker built for propane, the SS
Natalie Warren owned by Warren Petroleum Corp., was also launched; total
capacity was 1.4 million gallons.
1950 The Chicago
Transit Authority ordered 1,000 propane-fueled buses, and Milwaukee converted
270 taxies to run on propane. In addition, an estimated 7.5 million propane
installations occurred on farms and in suburbs.
1955 Propane
containers, equipment and appliances were exposed to an atomic explosion at a
federal test site in Nevada. After the explosion, all were in perfect working
order, and the ranges were used to cook meals for the test personnel.
1958 National propane
sales reached 7 billion gallons.
1961 Propane
installations in the United States totaled 13 million.
1962 The propane
industry celebrated its 50th anniversary at its national convention in May at
the Conrad Hilton in Chicago.
1963 The first
50,000-gallon tank car was built, and hot-air balloons began using propane.
1965 GATX built the
world's largest propane tank car, with a 60,000-gallon capacity. Chevrolet
introduced four new truck engines designed for propane.
1973 Propane price
controls were instituted in the wake of the Arab oil embargo. The propane
industry trade association, now called the National Propane Association, opened
its first Washington D.C. office.
1977 The U.S.
Department of Energy was established, and the Federal Energy Administration
(FEA) began investigating propane pricing practices, which were then controlled
by the U.S. government.
1981 President Reagan
eliminated price controls on propane, gasoline and crude oil.
1987 The National
Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association (NLPGA) changed its name to the National
Propane Gas Association (NPGA), the national trade association representing the
propane industry.
1990 Propane was
listed as an approved, alternative clean fuel in the 1990 Clean Air Act and two
years later was listed again in the National Energy Policy Act of 1992.
1996 The Propane
Education & Research Council was authorized by the U.S. Congress with the
passage of Public Law 104-284, the Propane Education and Research Act (PERA),
signed into law on October 11, 1996. The mission of the Propane Education &
Research Council is to promote the safe, efficient use of odorized propane gas
as a preferred energy source.
2000 Today, propane
gas is an $8 billion industry in the United States and is still growing. The
United States consumes more than 15 billion gallons of propane annually for
home, agricultural, industrial and commercial uses.
Source: Paul K. Haines,
President, Trexler Haines Gas, Inc.; President, Pennsylvania Propane Gas Association,
1961; State Director, Pennsylvania Propane Gas Association, 1972-1976; District
9 Director, National Propane Gas Association, 1976-1996
The archives of the
National Propane Gas Association