History - the early days

AGA - The Early Days - the emergence of an international industry

.	Svenska Carbid- och Acetylen AB which was formed in Gothenburg, Sweden, by Axel R Nordvall in 1899, marked the very beginning of the AGA Group. Acetylene gas had recently been discovered and the company worked to provide rural areas, small towns, industries, etc., with modern acetylene lighting.

In 1901 the Carbid company bought the Scandinavian patent rights to acetylène-dissous (acetylene dissolved in acetone). In the same year the enterprise moved to Stockholm where it was already represented by the engineering company Dalén & Celsing. Gustaf Dalén was employed as chief engineer and workshop manager. In 1902, at Stockholm's Finnboda Shipyard, Gustaf Dalén demonstrated acetylene welding for the first time in Sweden. Eventually, welding was to become a revolutionary technology for joining parts together in engineering workshops and shipyards. Epoch-Making Lighthouse Technology
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.	In 1904 operations, including the dissolved acetylene gas factory in Saltsjö Järla, outside Stockholm, were taken over by recently formed AB Gasaccumulator (AGA), under its president Aron Andersson. The total workforce of 16 people included Gustaf Dalén who was employed as a consultant engineer.

Initially, production mainly comprised railway lighting using acetylene gas. The first export order in AGA's history came in 1904 when Sydfryenske Jernbaner in Denmark ordered railway lighting. Automobile lighting was also added to the product program, but it was Gustaf Dalén's inventions within lighthouse technology (the flashing apparatus in 1905, the AGA compound in 1906, the sun valve in 1907, the Dalén mixer in 1907) which were to dictate the company's future.
Dalén became employed full time at AGA as chief engineer at the beginning of 1906. The Swedish Pilotage Service began buying lighthouses from AGA and the first international lighthouse order was signed in Amsterdam. Sales successes led to the transfer of the production of flashing apparatus to more spacious premises on Maria Prästgårdsgata on the Stockholm island of Söder.
AGA also started to sell equipment and accessories for welding and cutting using acetylene dissolved in acetone.

AGA reached a new level as a company by establishing subsidiaries abroad, the first one in Norway 1908 (later sold).
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Rapid Expansion and Nobel Prize

Operations expanded at a tremendous rate. The company suffered a serious financial crisis in 1909 and new funds were provided by a wealthy consortium from Lidköping with a strong belief in Gustaf Dalén’s inventions. AGA was reorganized and its name was changed to Svenska AB Gasaccumulator. Gustaf Dalén became president. A successful sales campaign directed at South America was initiated. By 1910, exports accounted for 80% of AGA’s sales.
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The ownership base was broadened and AGA's shares were listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange in 1911. A boom followed and the value of the shares increased several times over in a single year.
Railway traffic and the rapid rise in road traffic created a market for traffic signals using acetylene flashing lights.
AGA bought a large area of land on Lidingö, in the outskirts of Stockholm, which then only had a pontoon bridge link with the mainland.
In 1912 the entire operations moved to a large, newly built factory complex with an export harbor at Lilla Värtan on the Baltic sea. The company employed 150 people. Floor space in the new premises was 16,000 square meters. AGA published its first welding handbook.
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In 1912 the company won a huge order in the face of fierce competition. The entire Panama Canal was to be provided with AGA lighthouses.
In September Gustaf Dalén was badly injured in an explosion which left him blind for life. He was still convalescing when the Swedish Royal Academy of Sciences awarded him the Nobel Prize in Physics. At the beginning of 1913 he returned as president, a position he was to hold for another 25 years.
AGA not only became a company in the forefront of technical development but also a social pioneer through its considerable efforts on behalf of its employees.
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Blockades and Increased Diversification

World War I brought blockades and shortages of gasoline and kerosene. To meet its lighthouse deliveries, AGA was forced to manufacture parts which it had previously imported such as lenses, mirrors and acetone.

Demand for dissolved acetylene gas equipment such as movie theater lamps and film projectors increased and acetylene welding technology achieved a significant breakthrough.

In 1916 AGA took over its rival AB Lux. In 1917-1918 AGA transferred from being an export company to producing for the domestic market. In 1918 half the Lux shares were sold to Axel Wenner-Gren, following which the company merged with the vacuum cleaner company Electron, and Electrolux was formed. AGA sold its remaining shares in 1923.

Gustaf Dalén was interested in a wide range of different technical problems and was glad to invest in companies and individuals seeking new paths.

In 1919 AGA entered the growing automobile industry, with manufacture in Germany, and in the same year AGA formed Svenska Radio AB with LM Ericsson and ASEA in order to develop radio technology apparatus. The aviation industry was provided with beacons and lighting and welded metal radiators became a major new product.

The early years of the 1920s were tough but the economy gradually improved. Many of AGA's products were developed in new electrified versions, through the subsidiary AGA-Baltic AB. AGA focused heavily on new development in radio technology and became widely established in the consumer market with radios and gramophones. Film technology created new opportunities and in 1929 AGA delivered the first Swedish sound film system.

At the same time the heat-efficient AGA cooker was launched and soon became a big export success.

Hard Times
The depression in the 1930s also affected AGA, among other things through reduced exports. Currency and trading restrictions were encountered in many places. The crisis had considerable negative impact on lighthouse products. But in spite of these bad times the development of new equipment continued. AGA's gas technology was used in new medical technical products for oxygen and nitrous oxide.
The Spiropulsator, a combined anesthetic apparatus and respirator, was launched in 1934. AGA started its own manufacture of nitrous oxide and carbogen in 1936 and Sedator, an anesthetic apparatus for pain relief during childbirth, was launched in 1937.

Gustaf Dalén died in 1937 and Rolf von Heidenstam became the company's new president. In 1940 AGA delivered the first mobile radio system to the Gothenburg police.

When the World War II cut Sweden off from foreign suppliers, AGA focused its operations increasingly on products for the Defense Department. AGA developed aircraft instruments for navigation, optics and welded wing structures for the J21 fighter plane. Sales rose in spite of a sharp fall in exports. As a result of the war, 26 of AGA's acetylene factories in Eastern Europe were nationalized and the company lost one-quarter of its gas market. Liquid Gas and Batteries Acetylene welding was meeting competition from new methods and the market for lighthouses was becoming saturated.

Further expansion was sought in alternative areas of technology. In 1947 AGA acquired the formerly German-owned battery manufacturer AB Tudor. Gunnar Dalén took over as head of AGA in 1950. The significance of the air gases increased dramatically in a number of markets. Swedish steelworks started using oxygen in metallurgical processes. The demand for gas was so high that new, larger air separation plants and new transport methods were required.

In 1951 AGA built its first factory for liquid oxygen on Lidingö. The gas was transported to the customers in liquid form in tankers. Interest in argon as a shielding gas for electrical welding in stainless steel and aluminum had increased during the war. And now demand also rose for nitrogen and argon for chemical and metal processing industries. TV Technology and Mounting Diversity AGA continued its major focus on radio and TV development. In 1952 the company demonstrated its own color television system and in 1954 AGA started series manufacture of black-and-white television sets.
The company entered a period of intensive development. New creative inventions were launched in a steady stream: pin brazing equipment, the speaking radio beacon, diving equipment, the heart-lung machine, Geodimeter, Thermovision and AutoChemist. AGA also became one of the first European companies to manufacture color TV sets.

Björn Rosén became president in 1967. Towards the end of the 1960s AGA had a very broad focus within gas and manufacturing industry. Several of the products which had once emerged from the same basic technology had continued to be developed, led to new products, etc., and in the end this made the company diversified and difficult to control. Profitability became unsatisfactory.