Patent ID: 7267143

Claim:
A method for manufacturing a gas mixture, said method comprising: a) dynamically premixing at least a first and a second component to obtain a first gas mixture, wherein: 1) said first and said second components comprise at least one member selected from the group consisting of: i) oxygen; ii) nitrogen; iii) helium; iv) carbon dioxide; v) nitrous oxide; and vi) carbon monoxide; 2) said first gas mixture is at a first pressure less than about 200 bar; and 3) said first gas mixture comprises an intermediate amount of said second component, wherein the proportion of said intermediate amount of said second component in said first gas mixture is greater than the final desired proportion of said second component in the final gas mixture; b) adding said first component to said first gas mixture to concomitantly dilute said second component; and c) ceasing the addition of said first component when: 1) the pressure of said diluted gas mixture reaches a second pressure which is greater than both said first pressure and about 170 bar; and 2) said diluted gas mixture contains said desired final proportion of said second component.