text: The first open-path detector offered for routine industrial use, as distinct from research instruments built in small numbers, was the Wright and Wright Pathwatch in the US, 1983. Acquired by Det-Tronics (Detector Electronics Corporation) in 1992, the detector operated in the 3.4 μm region with a powerful incandescent source and a mechanical chopper. It did not achieve large volume sales, mainly because of cost and doubts about long-term reliability with moving parts. Beginning in 1985, Shell Research in UK was funded by Shell Natural Gas to develop an open-path detector with no moving parts. The advantages of the 2.3 μm wavelength were identified, and a research prototype was demonstrated. This design had a combined transmitter-receiver with a corner-cube retroreflector at 50 m. It used a pulsed incandescent lamp, PbS photoconductive detectors in the gas and reference channels, and an Intel 8031 microprocessor for signal processing. In 1987 Shell licensed this technology to Sieger-Zellweger (later Honeywell) who designed and marketed their industrial version as the Searchline, using a retro-reflective panel made up of multiple corner-cubes. This was the first open-path detector to be certified for use in hazardous areas and to have no moving parts. Later work by Shell Research used two alternately pulsed incandescent sources in the transmitter and a single PbS detectors in the receiver, avoiding zero drifts caused by the variable responsivity of PbS detectors. This technology was offered to Sieger-Zellweger, and later licensed to PLMS. a company part-owned by Shell Ventures UK. The PLMS GD4001/2 in 1991 were the first detectors to achieve a truly stable zero without moving parts or software compensation of slow drifts. They were also the first infrared gas detectors of any kind to be certified intrinsically safe. The Israeli company Spectronix (also Spectrex) made an important advance in 1996 with their SafEye, the first to use a flash tube source, followed by Sieger-Zellweger with their Searchline Excel in 1998. In 2001 the PLMS Pulsar, soon afterwards acquired by Dräger as their Polytron Pulsar, was the first detector to incorporate sensing to monitor the mutual alignment of the transmitter and receiver during both installation and routine operation.