The first gas detector tube (for detecting carbon monoxide) was invented by Professors Hoover and Lamb of Harvard University in the United States. It was used to detect carbon monoxide.

Professor Kitagawa developed Japan's first concentration-chart based detector tube for hydrogen sulphide. A calibrated scale printed on a ruler-like chart was held up against the discoloured section of the tube to obtain the concentration reading.

GASTEC developed Japan's first direct reading detector tube and an easy-to-use gas sampling pump. The GASTEC detector tube was the first one in Japan to have a calibrated scale (for reading the gas concentration) directly printed on the tube.

Across Japan, many primary schools began to use GASTEC gas detection kits (including detector tubes and sampling pump) for experiments in 6th grade science classes.