R.N. Goss Gas Products, located in Reno, marks its 85th year serving the area. The company was established in 1934 with unassuming beginnings in Oil City. Robert Norman Goss started the company during the Great Depression. By 1933, the height of the depression, unemployment had risen from 3% to 25% of the nation’s workforce.
The original site of Goss Gas was on Seventh Street in Oil City. At the time, no propane or welding cylinders were filled on site. Goss Gas moved to its current location along Route 8 in Reno in 1960. The company is an industrial gas and welding supplier with a retail store that distributes a wide range of welding and safety products and accessories. Industrial gases are used for many applications including welding and fabrication, food processing, plastics manufacturing, and the healthcare industry.
In the late 1950’s, second generation N. Grant Goss joined his brother in business and together they operated Goss Gas until the early 1970’s.
Third generation joined the business in 1974 when just out of college, Dave Goss returned to Oil City to help in the family business.
“I didn’t really have a plan after college, but circumstances intervened,” Dave said. He came home to assist in the business and never left.
Dave Goss eventually became the owner of the company, and last year the fourth generation joined the company with the addition of Goss’s daughter, Monika Goss, serving as the purchasing and inventory manager.
Dave Goss says, “Distribution of compressed gases is a heavily geographically dependent operation and there has always been a local need for this type of supply business in our area. Our size and our ability to really focus on our customers’ needs allow us to service the rural market more effectively than larger distributors.”
Goss Gas Products is part of a family of related businesses that includes RenovEx and Provanta, both of which focus on propane. Between the three companies, over 100 local people are employed.
This article was published in the Venango Area Chamber of Commerce’s July 2019 VenangoWorks! Newsletter.