acetylene, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, shielding gases for welding applications, noble gases and specialty gases, oxygen, nitrogen, and argon, all of which are manufactured in Linde's air separation plants. Linde Healthcare provides pharmaceutical and medical gas products and services for the healthcare industry such as oxygen therapy, aerosol therapy, anaesthesia, and gas for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, sleep apnoea and pain. Linde Engineering Linde Engineering designs and builds large-scale chemical plants for the production of industrial gases including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen and carbon monoxide, as well as large plants associated with the processing of natural gas, LNG, Liquefied petroleum gas and the manufacture of olefins. The Engineering Division develops process plants in the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) business worldwide. The group has more than 1,000 process engineering patents and 4,000 completed plant projects. The product range includes: Air separation plants Ethylene Cracker Units Liquefied natural gas and Natural-gas processing plants Hydrogen and synthesis gas plants Chemical plants Adsorption and membrane plants Cryogenics plants Carbon capture and storage and carbon dioxide plants Furnaces, Incineration and heaters Plant components History On 21 June 1879, Carl von Linde founded the Gesellschaft für Linde's Eismaschinen Aktiengesellschaft to develop further his work in developing mechanical refrigeration systems for the brewing and food industries. Following success in this market, he moved on to developing lower temperature systems resulting in 1895 in a patent covering the liquefaction of air. Out of this work his company developed equipment for the separation of air and other gases. Linde's process was patented in 1902 and immediately exploited by the first large-scale air separation plant installed in Linde's works in Höllriegelskreuth, near Munich in 1903. In 1906, Carl Von Linde decided to expand his oxygen extraction company overseas, targeting America, where no other companies had attempted industrial scale oxygen extraction. Along with Cecil Lightfoot, in 1907, he opened the Linde Air Products Factory, his first plant in America at Buffalo, New York. In addition to plants for air separation, in 1906, Linde engineers started working with others on processes to separate the constituents of water gas. This work lead to the 1909 invention of the Linde–Frank–Caro process to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which were further key feedstocks for the emerging chemicals industry. In addition to his interests in refrigeration, Carl von Linde had also partnered with Hugo Güldner and Georg Krauß and others in 1904 to form