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 Eight years after commercial production of oxygen began in the United states in 1907, Indiana Oxygen Company became one of the first producers of the gas in central Indiana. Formed in 1915 by brothers Walter and John Brant, Indiana Oxygen remains a family-run operation today. Now in it's third generation, Walter L. Brant, II is the president of the company. In 1911, the year of the first Indianapolis 500, Walter and John Brant-owners of the Indianapolis-based Lozier car agency and future company founders-sponsered two cars in the race. One of the cars, diven by Ralph Mulford, was first runner up to the winner, a Marmon Wasp, driven by Ray Harroun. After founding the company in 1915, the Brant brothers continued their interest in racing, In the 1920's, Walter and John Brant served in Otis Porters technical scoring staff, assisting with timing and pit stop data. The methods and techical procedures of inflating race care tires with Indiana Oxygen compressed air became a subject of particular interest to the racing teams, primarily because the use of compressed air decreased pit times. A short time later, as more sophisticated methods of manufacturing became known, Indiana Oxygen began to play a significant role in the development of advanced technologies through its production of nitrogen gas. Nitrogen was first substituted for compressed air in the late 1920's by Firestone, for inflating tires. Indiana Oxygen, seeking new uses for gas, pioneered the use of nitrogen for refueling under pressure. From 1937 to 1964, when pressurized refueling was eliminated from the race, Indiana Oxygen continued to provide gases and welding services to the race teams. Today, Indiana Oxygen Company's Garage #63(N-15) at the Indianapolis Speedway, still provides race teams with nitrogen for tires, pneumatic tools, and pneumatic jack equipment. With the myriad of new alloy metals used in the production of engines, manifolds and racing parts; Indiana Oxygen has lent its expertise, as well as its garage, to the repair and testing of a host of new racing technologies. From its inception, Indiana Oxygen concentrated on the sale of gases but in the 1980s we realized that we needed to be a full service company. While Indiana Oxygen is well know for selling gases, occationally, however, our name tends to get in the way of new business. Time and demographics inspired us to move our operations from our long-established downtown location to the northwest corner of Indianapolis. The purchase of our downtown location by Eli Lilly allowed us to construct our current 31,000 square foot headquarters facility, off I-465 in 1991. Warehousing and cylinder filling operations take up roughly 20,000 sqare feet, with the rest made up of a modern store for walk-in customers and an office wing that contains work areas for use by our outside sales consultants and vendor representatives. Today, we have a network of nearly 40 warehouses servicing the state of Indiana and 8 Indiana branch locations servicing our customers and a garage at the Indianapolis Motor Spreedway. The journey is not over, but just beginning. We cannot allow ourselves to think that we have "Arrived at Excellence", for that is a fleeting claim. Our achievements will broadcast a challenge to our peers to surpass our efficiency. Let Indiana Oxygen pick up that same challenge this year and beyond to out perform our previous accomplishments. Lastly, I cannot emphasize strongly enough that all of what I mention is the shell of Inidiana Oxygen. The heart of this company is its people. The ones who see to it that the gas and hardgoods get sold, ordered, delivered and billed. I work alongside some of the very best associates and I am proud to be a part of such success. Wally Brant, President and CEO, Indiana Oxygen Company
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