For over a century, the installation of natural gas and liquid propane lines in homes and commercial buildings was a rigid, labor-intensive process. Plumbers and pipefitters relied almost exclusively on heavy, thick-walled "black iron" steel pipes. Installing these systems required transporting heavy machinery to the job site, precisely measuring, cutting, and manually threading hundreds of...

For over a century, the installation of natural gas and liquid propane lines in homes and commercial buildings was a rigid, labor-intensive process. Plumbers and pipefitters relied almost exclusively on heavy, thick-walled "black iron" steel pipes. Installing these systems required transporting heavy machinery to the job site, precisely measuring, cutting, and manually threading hundreds of...