Calor Gas has become the generic term for bottled propane and butane gases, properly termed 'liquid petroleum gas'
An Englishman from Cornwall, Ritchie Gill returning in 1934 from working in the US LPG industry, recognised an opportunity in the UK.
In 1935, 'Modern Gas and Equipment Co Ltd' began, but soon became 'Calor (Distributing) Co Ltd.
By 1939 the business had six regional offices and had expanded into Scotland and Ireland.
In 1947, a harsh winter caused a switch from rail to road distribution. Calor then set up their own filling plant infrastructure regionally during the fifties.
The release of the 'Flavel B500 calor gas cooker opened new markets and in 1967 Calor Gas was awarded the Royal Warrant for supplying gas to HM The Queen.
In the 1970's bottled gas began to replace the traditional toxic paraffin heaters and sales continued to grow rapidly. Larger storage solutions were developed for industrial applications of LPG, increased the market size considerably.
In the 80's LPG as a fuel for vehicles began to emerge and LPG became popular with forklift users when Calor introduced a purification system 'EPS 2000' which allowed indoor use of calor powered forklift vehicles.
In 1986 the company split into 'Calor Group' and 'Contibel' (now 'Tractibel').
Today Calor Group has 12 Customer Operation Centres and is building an import terminal at its Canvey Island site to access new sources of Gas for its UK customers.
