Long distance, high pressure transmission of natural gas as we now know it, had its rapid expansion in the latter part of the twenties, as a result of application at that time of a new electric welding technique to mass production of steel pipe, which in turn allowed the use of higher stresses in design of pipelines.
The gradual decrease in wall thickness of the pipe and utilization of higher wall stresses introduced, however, greater corrosion hazards, external and internal, into the heretofore well established operating and transmission practices of the gas industry. The failure of a long high pressure transmission line constituted no longer only the inconvenience of repairing the break or the leak, but in many cases the necessity of a prolonged line shutdown with a danger of creating fuel shortage to the industry or to a populated area and the existence of much greater fire or explosion...
