Abelló Linde Centenary Book

The company turned a profit from the first close of financial year, in 1907,
reduced to three months.
Fábrica de Oxígeno-Linde de Isidro Abelló.
Results and application of the profits
Pesetas Application
1907 2,625 depreciations
1908 21,661 to be distributed
1909 42,416 “
1910 67,018 “
1911 53,400 “
1912 47,182 “
1913 15,152 depreciations
1914 22,254 “
1915 55,794 “
1916 73,205 to be distributed
1917 132,223 “
1918 264,798 “
The profits were to be shared out in accordance with what had
been agreed:
80% Linde Group
20% Isidro Abelló
As for production, it soon went from the initial 5 cubic metres of oxygen
per hour to 10 and 15 cubic metres per hour, in accordance with the demand and
the factory’s capacity, according to the investments made by the Linde group. In
1914 new machinery was imported from Germany, making it possible to reach as
many as 25 cubic metres per hour. Part of that machinery, which was moved by
rail through France, was halted by the outbreak of the First World War in July of
that year. For the French this was industrial material coming from the enemy and,
logically, it was confiscated. Nevertheless, the installations in Barcelona made up
for what had been lost on the way and reached the forecast production. Oxygen
97.5% pure was being made.
In 1909, the French L’Air Liquide – a company established in Bilbao – made a
proposal to buy out Isidro Abelló, which he rejected. He neither wanted nor was
able to sell. He rather saw the possibilities for expansion in order to reach markets
not covered by other factories, among other reasons because the price of oxygen
rose steeply when it had to be transported a long way from the factory due to the
problem of the weight of the steel bottles. In 1915 he began the expansion of the
group with the creation of an industrial establishment in Valencia, installing the first
machinery that had worked in Barcelona; production of oxygen began in 1916.
The Company “Isidro Abelló, fábrica de oxígeno Linde” (1907-1922) 49