The Bulletin – January 1968

Quarterly Journal of The Association for Petroleum Acts Administration

E. V. BEEBY J. BEER J. BIRKS R. L. BLOOR J. W. FRID S. A. GOWER H. GRIFFITHS

THE ASSOCIATION FOR PETROLEUM ACTS ADMINISTRATION

Chairma11: C. R. PESKETT Vice-Chairman: C. T. PEACOCK

Rugby R.D.C. 2071

Council: D. HALL

Worcester City 23156 G. H. HARVEY

Chesterfield B. 2825 J. W. HEWISON

Kidderminster B. 3080 T. KERR

Cambridge City 58977 R. E. J. RODEN

Huyton with Roby U.D.C. 6000 J. SHORT Walsall C.B. 25661 B. W. C. THACKER

Officers:

Hon. Secretary/Treasurer:

Newcastle-under-Lyme B. 60161

Dudley C.B. 55433

Havant and Waterloo U.D.C. 6311

Glanford Brigg R.D.C. 2041

Birmingham City 021-236 994

Paisley Burgh 5400

Middlesbrough C.B. 87721

Hon. Editor: L. A. CAVE R. P. HOLDAWAY

Liaison Officer: G. N.DEAN

Hon. Electrical Adviser:

Hon. Legal Adviser: J. A. SHARP P. D. WADSWORTH

EAST MIDLAND

NORTH WESTERN

SCOTTISH

SOUTH EASTERN

SOUTH EAST MIDLAND

TEES SIDE

WEST MIDLAND

YORKSHIRE

Branch Secretaries: J. BIRKS, S. A. GOWER, J. SHORT, C. R. PESKETT, R. E. DUST, B. W. C. THACKER, G. H. HARVEY, C. T. PEACOCK,

Volume 7 Number l

JANUARY , 1968

The Bulletin

Published quarterly by the Association for Petroleum Acts Administration

Opinions expressed in this journal are not necessarily the views of the Association

CONTENTS

Editor: R. P HOLDAWAY WEIGHTS AND MEASURES DEPT GUILDHALL, SHREWSBURY

Subscription: 30s. per annum

TALKING POINT

NOTES AND NEWS LETTERS

BOOK REVI EWS

SAFETY IN THE USE OF LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS-B J . FULLER

FINNED TUBING CUTS THE COST THE SEVENTH WAYNE ENGINEERING CONFERENCE-A. F. SARFAS CIVIC AMENITIES ACT, 1967-A. F. BRU NNER

THE HOT LINE FROM FAWLEY

THE CONVEYANCE OF FLAMMABLE LIQUIDS-C. L. DAVIDS NEW C02 FIRE EXTINGUISHING SYSTEM-]. W. HEWISON A.M.C. REPORT

LEGALITY OF GLASS FIBRE FUEL TANKS DISCUSSED COUNCIL AT SOLIHULL BRANCH MEETINGS : Soun-1 EASTERN-GODALMING

EAST MIDLAND-SCUNTHORPE

SOUTH EAST MIDLAND-FELIXSTOWE NORTH WESTERN-MANCHESTER T EES-SIDE-MIDDLESBROUGH THROUGH THE PIPELINE LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

c. R. PESKETT L. A. CAVE Liaison/ Advertisement Officer: G. N. DEAN

talking point

LATCHED NOZZLES

Twelve months ago Talking Point drew attention to new developments in the distribution of petroleum products. In particular we referred to the use of latched nozzles of approved pattern in the area of the Greater London Council and came down on the side of universal acceptance. Our opinion was strengthened when shortly the Explosives Branch of the Home Office issued a circular permitting, subject to suitable safeguards, the use of latched automatic cut-off nozzles at attended petrol filling stations.

Not all members shared these views, and practical demonstrations at Branch Meetings and elsewhere have in many instances confirmed rather than allayed doubts present in the minds of many petroleum officers. Our correspondence columns also reflect the unease of experienced officers who upon requiring reasonable tests with latched nozzles under working conditions have discovered, not f?r the first time, a wide gap between theory and practice.

Advances in the technological field are inevitable. The need for close co-operation between the Petroleum Industry, Home Office Inspectorate and this Association urgent.

Appointment

Mr. H. Johnson, Chief Fire Officer, Middlesbrough, has been appointed Chief Fire Officer for the new Teesside County Borough.

Retirement

Mr. A. B. Aird, Borough Engineer and Surveyor, Richmond (Yorks.) has resigned because of ill health.

Final Notice

The Council's recommendation that Volumes 1-3 of The Bulletin (stencilled copies) be printed at a of £3 has received poor support, only 70 members havmg requested copies. A minimum response of 250 is needed to make this an economic proposition. Will any person requiring this publication please inform the Hon. Secretary immediately. Previous applicants need not re-apply.

H.M.S.O. Publications

Report of H. M. Inspector of Explosives for the year ended 31st December, 1966. 3/9d. net.

New Publications

"Hazardous Loads" published by the l.F.E., obtainable from Fire Book Department, House, 34-36 pudley Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent-pnce 15/6 post paid.

"A Model Code of Safe Practice, Part 9, 1967, Liquefied Petroleum Gases", published by the Institute of Petroleum, 61 New Cavendish Street, London, W.l.

On stream at Shell Haven

notes and news

New Members

Antrim C.C. Newmarket R.D.C. South Cambridgeshire R.D.C. Sudbury M.B.C. Sutherland C.C. Towcester R.D.C. Waltham Holy Cross U.D.C. Witney R.D.C.

Officers

N. Ireland Sec. Cambs. S. Cambs. H. West Suffolk H. H.

Northants H. Essex H. Oxfordshire S.

F. J. Davies D. Haynes M. G. Young Tendring R.D.C. Rickmansworth U.D.C. G.L.C.

New Associate Members

Essex Herts.

Campbell & Hall, Chandlers and Paint Distributors, Glasgow C.5.

E. & M. Services (Glasgow) Ltd., Petroleum Storage Service Engineers, Glasgow C.5.

J. T. C. Davey, Representative, National Benzole Co. Ltd., Bexhill-on-Sea.

A new platformer and hydrotreater complex, costing more than £3 million, has come into operation at U.K. Limited's, Shell Haven refinery. This complex will add significantly to Shell's manufacturing capacity for high quality petrol in the United Kingdom.

The new plant has two major units-a platformer and a hydrotreater. In addition there are facilities for the recovery of propane and butane.

The platformer produces full range platformate which is a high octane blending component used in the manufacture of high quality petrol. The intake capacity of the new platformer is 2,000 tons per day of naphtha feedstock. The hydrotreater removes the sulphur and nitroeng from the naphtha feed as well as other contaminents.

Not So Funny !

A woman had been cleaning paint brushes with petrol, which she then poured down the lavatory. When her husband came home from work, he went up to the little room and while sitting there dropped a cigarette end into the pan.

The blast threw him into the air. Two ambulance men picked him off the floor and carried him downstairs on a stretcher-but when he told them what had happened, the rear stretcher bearer overcome with laughter, dropped his end-and the fell out, breaking his arm.

From Public Service.

Sweden

The Essa Company in Sweden, Svenska Essa, has opened a fully automatic petrol station twenty miles north of Stockholm. The station is completely unmanned, and its four pumps are controlled by a single 'automat' which will accept paper currency and even 'credit cheques' that Essa will send without charge to all credit-card holders. Eventually the credit cheques will be read and handled completely by computer. The motorist inserts his money or cheque in a slot on the control console, selects his grade by push button and. fills up by himself. All four pumps can be operated s1multaneously. The petrol station which is in the town of Akersbega, is also equipped with a bank of conventional vending machines for coffee sandwiches and hot drinks. '

Petrol Explosion Prevented : Flames Licked Wagon

A 20,000 .gallon pe!rol "'.'agon on Tuesday arrived in w1.th flames licking its casing1t was one of eight s1m!lar-s1zed wagons in a train bound for the Shell- Mex depot at Royston.

And a possible catastrophe of a size unknown in Baldock, indeed was averted by the act10n of the dnver, Mr. Charles Wilkins, of Bark111g.

Shouts from group of three men working on the Ium about the threatening flames-and hes1tat111g he leapt from his engine cab with an ext111gu1sher and put them out.

His prompt saved Letchworth firemen a job. Al!hough they arrived on the scene only six minutes after be111g summoned by a 999 call from the station's booking office, the blaze was out.

Mr. Wilkins said: "There must have been a leak from valve on top of the tanker-petrol must have leaked mto the brake blocks. When we stopped the train in Baldock, the sparks the braking caused must have started the fire".

After a 40-minute delay, the train proceeded to Royston as usual. No other trains were held up.

Second Largest Oil Tanker

The largest oil tanker ever built in Japan for export, the 1,600 ton Bergehus, was recently delivered to her owner, S1gval D.Y. of Norway, by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries L1m1ted.

Mitsubishi said the ship was the second largest in the world now afloat-after Japan's 210,000 ton Idemitsu Maru.

Australia

With the disco_very. of large quantities of natural gas off the coast of V1ctona, Essa Australia and Haematite Petroleum Pty. Ltd. ':re building two large fixed offshore w1t.h undersea to supply the to an near the G1ppsland city of Sale. 1 he absorption plant will process the gas as it is piped from the platforms above the and Barracouta fields. The cost of .the platforms will be in the region of 27 million Australian dollars, and the absorption plant will cost

between 10 million and 15 million Australian dollars. Initially, ten gas wells will bedrilled from each of the Marlin and Barracouta platforms. The purpose of the absorption plant, which will process up to 400 million cubic feet a day, is to remove moisture and impurities and to prepare the gas for transmission to the Melbourne area.

New Service for Testing Electrical Equipment used in Flammable Atmospheres

A new testing and certification service des!gned guard against the risk of explosion wherever electncal is likely to be exposed to flammable atmospheres 1s be111g set up by the Ministry of Technology. The for such a service has arisen mainly because of the growmg use of electrical and electronic equipment for communications, control and measurement purposes, and of electrical machinery, in the petroleum, gas and chemical industries and also in oil tankers, aircraft, etc.

The object of the service is to ensure that equipment will reach a prescrib:d level of .safety when 111 use; this will be achieved by test111g to a um'.orm standard and classifying the different types of equipment before they are put on the market.

The new service, which results from an initial proposal by the Confederation of British Industry, will only cover industries other than mining and will. be as 'British Approvals Service for Electrical Eq u1pment 111 Flammable Atmospheres-B.A.S.E.E.F.A.' Advantage will be taken, however, of the that has been gained by the service which already exists through the testing work and the large of fundamental research carried out by the Safety 111 !lesearch Establishment, Ministry of Power, m111111g 111dustry, and the two services will be closely associated. in Mines Research Establishment will expand its tes!111g facilities and will also undertake additional research the basic requirements for electric.al equipment 111 flammable atmospheres in industries other than m111111g.

Administration of the new service will be the responsibility of the Ministry of Technol<.?g.Y and an Council will be appointed by to the overall guidance. Its members w1ll 111clude representat'.v~s of equipment manufacturers, Government J?ep.dl tments, universities and the Bnt1sh Standards I nst1tut1on.

B.A.S.E.E.F.A. will take over .responsibility from the Factory Inspectorate of the Mimstry. of for the certification of intrinsically safe electncal eq mpment, and f the Ml.nistry of Power for flameproof apparatus used rom . Th M' · f p in industries other than m111111g. e 111.1stry o will continue to be responsible for th.e an<;! certiti. t. of electrical equipment used 111 Bnt1sh m111es, the ea ion · h 11 b h d existing arrangements for wh1c w1 e unc ange

It is hoped that the new will to function by the end of 1967 and will be built up its full strength within two years. The 1t brmg to U:K. industry are primarily in securn"!g as q u1ckly as possible the certificates or approvals manufacturers need to sell their equipment (particularly 111 o_rder meet the requirements of the Factory Ac.ts) and wl11ch also need expeditiously to fit 111 with modern pro.duchon techniques and planning schedules for large chemical and petroleum plants both at home and overseas. The U. K.

has a large stake in the petrol, organic chemical and electrical industries, particularly in view of the natural gas discoveries in the North Sea and Yorkshire. It is vital, therefore, that the U.K. should keep pace with other countries in this rapidly developing branch of technology. Although no firm figures are available it is conservatively estimated that exports of this sort of equipment cannot be less than £100 million per annum and certification of equipment is increasingly being demanded by foreign customers.

Good progress is being made internationally on the standardisation of requirements for electrical equipment in this field and the new service, backed by· a full programme of research will ensure that the U.K. makes its proper contribution. It will also be able to enter into agreement with similar bodies overseas for the reciprocal exchange of certificates, thus removing some of the more intractable obstacles to export.

From 'Oil and Petrochemical Equipment News'

dispensing station in the United Kingdom (Easter, 1963). This complex is basically post-payment self-service but it does have a pre-payment section, too, in the form of a coin-in-the-slot petrol/oil dispenser of Swedish manufacture. The latter pre-payment system is thus under surveillance the whole time the post-payment manned section is open.

I greatly deplore the generalisation that is currently being applied to the concepts of pre-payment self-service petrol stations. Most petrol companies are pushing the idea that pre-payment should be on an unmanned site. I think this, as a general rule, is a great mistake. If we are only to have pre-payment in rural areas as an emergency service, well and good, but anyone with vision surely can see the weakness and the limited scope of this. Thus, if we are to progress and get unmanned stations for other areas and other than a pure emergency service, that is, a full blown unmanned pre-payment service, with a normal offering of brands or blends and ample dispensers, I feel that the trade and all the petrol companies must look for a system of surveillance to achieve safety and security.

I have already suggested two systems to provide this sort of surveillance: (1) C.C.T.V. on same premises or remote to a security organisation; (2) A random and intermittent visitation surveillance by a firm of security agents.

Repeat Notice

Would members please inform the Hon. Secretary of any change of their address or telephone number over the past twelve months.

Petrol companies have appeared to hide away from these ideas and B.P. is basing its hope on the German system being established here. This is only an emergency service. We require a much more economic and efficient service than that if we are to progress in this competitive trade. The sooner the Companies appreciate that the British and the German scenes are very different and plan well for a sophisticated, unmanned petrol system of dispensing in the United Kingdom, then the quicker we shall make some progress on this score and local authorities, too, will look more kindly towards a system that, though unmanned, has a degree of surveillance.

Plymouth.

letters

TECHNICAL PROGRESS AND ALL THAT

I read the letter from Mr. G. Beresford with considerable interest and would assure him and all members, that the comments he makes will receive serious consideration from the Reference and Legal Committee of which I am Chairman.

Birmingham R. E. J. RouEN

UNATTENDED SELF-SERVICE

I have noted the letter by Mr. M. T. R. Bowen of B.P. Co., Ltd., of London, and his comments on the coin-inthe-slot units at Turnbull's, Plymouth. The original writer was, in fact, correct and Mr. Bowen is wrong ! It is true that Turnbull's was the first self-service petrol

R. BILLINGS

* * * *

As the subject of unattended self-service is of such great concern, and ought to be discussed and argued about, I hope you will allow me to answer some of the points raised by Mr. Hall in the last issue of The Bulletin.

As he says, he does not know me personally, but if he did he would know that I am as mindful as he is about the role of the individual petroleum officer, and that I am sensitive (over-sensitive some would say) about the extent to which the Greater London Council should participate in the Association's affairs; that I applauded the initiative of the founder members of the original West Midland Group, and applauded the fact that they retained the Midlands as headquarters when the National Association was formed. The reason why I bracketed the G.L.C. with the Home Office in advocating a pause in the rush towards unattended self service is not because the G. L.C. is my employer, but because at the present time this would be the most effective way of slowing things down. Rightly or wrongly the oil companies themselves would regard the conversion of the G.L.C. as rather more than half the

battle. Whatever one's feelings about this (and there was an interesting letter from Hastings on this), and whatever changes there might be in the future, in 1967 this is a fact.

As to whether we should concern ourselves with the existence or otherwise of a public demand for unattended self-service, when this is put forward as a reason for acceptance it is reasonable to challenge the assertion. Let us not forget that in the exchanges, references were made to the huge d1st!'1nces between filling-stations on country roads, and the pltght of the poor motorist who ran out of petrol. The general consensus of opinion at that time, at least among petroleum officers in this area appeared be that unattended self-service might reasonable m these circumstances, but not in built-up areas. This was only a short time ago, but such has been the success of th.e promotion drive, that unattended. self-service .is n?w regarded as inevitable, and no attempt is made to d1sgmse the fact that the real aim is not to sell 5/- worth on a road, but £1 worth in the suburbs. I am not company but simply anti-high pressure salesmanship.

If one takes the view that you will never stop people on never stop people fuelling engmes runnmg, never teach staff to use fireextmgu1shers, and therefore there is no point in trying (just put up the notices and leave it at that) then one can obviou.sly accept ':1natte.nded self-service. On the other hand, tf one 1t to be the responsibility of the licensee to enforce licence conditions one must oppose th idea .. I foresee the .day when I shall point out to a license: that. before his eyes a customer is smoking whilst his car 1s bemg fuelled, and has also left the engine running and th.e licensee will reply "Why should I do anythin ' 1t ? The customer can come back in half-an-hour'~ time and I shall not be here to stop him. Is it more at 6 p.m. than at 7 p.m. ? " This Jack of the enforcement of certain licence conwill mev1tably colour the approach to all licence cond1t10ns.

The. questio_n, is not whether to accept or re·ect a piece of.equipment, for which a trip to eqmpment m _use m!ght have some value, but whether to a to undermine the importance of. licence 1tril? to Hamburg to help resolve this qyest10n o prmc1p e 1s. as irrelevant as a trip to Haw.au, and I no more unpressed by the fact that contmental countries were first with unattended self-service than Jam by the fact that they were first with breathalysers.

In the latest glossy hand.-out extolling its virtues, dealers are advised to co!1sult local petroleum officer before installing m case he might wish to impose certain cond1t10ns its use. The possibility that he might refuse altogether 1s presumabl)'. out of the question. 1 sincerely hope that there are still a few authorities independent enough to prove them wrong.

Once again I must state .that the views which I have expressed are person.al, as 1s also the view that the industry's next target will be an to Regulation 16 of the Conveyance Regulations to permit unattended deliveries of petrol. After all, they must permit it overseas somewhere-Paris, perhaps ?

G.L.C.

J. H. DOMONEY

EXPLOSIMETERS

Recently, my Fire Prevention Officers with the cooperation of Research Chemists from a Industrial Solvents .Plant in this area, have been carrying out experimen!s with a synthetic rubber sampling line on a comgas indicator as supplied by the Mines Safety Appliance Co. Ltd.

The experiments proved that the sampling line is not impervious to certain flammable solvents and in fact a reasonably safe reading was recorded in a highly explosive atmosphere of Toluene.

The potential danger of this situation lies in the fact that an inspecting officer may have to use an explosimeter to check atmospheres in which the nature of the contamination source is unknown and in view of this I have taken the matter up with M.S.A., who inform me that experiments are being carried out on the problem of vapour absorption and that they hope to introduce a range of TEFLON or P.T.F.E. sampling lines in the near future.

It may well be that your members are aware of this situation but, if not, this letter may draw their attention to the problem.

Birkenhead W. MIDDLETON

LATCHED AUTOMATIC CUT-OFF NOZZLES

Your correspondent L. Gilbert enquires as to what tests can be effective on Latched Automatic Cut-Off Nozzles, and I am sure that most Petroleum Officers who have advised their Local Authorities of their suitability have devised some way of satisfying themselves as to operation. The co-operation of the garage proprietor is easily obtained if the additional condition attached to the licence requires the nozzles to be approved by. Petroleum Officer. When the Home Office were attached at our last licence renewal period all hcensees were informed of this requirement, and all petrol pump fitting firms in the area have been requested to notify us before fitting the nozzles.

On the site most tests can be carried out with a five gallon measure and a large funnel. Run half a gallon on the lowest latch setting and with a stop.-watch check rate of flow, then by wedging a or better still a suitable adjustable wedge under the trigger, run the pump at half the lowest latch flow. rate so th.at half a. gallon takes twice as long to run. Havmg .established. this check that the cut-off works by blockmg the with the thumb or by leaving a c?ntamer. m the funnel which will retain sufficient ltqu1d mto which the nozzle may be dipped.

The rim of our funnel, which is I 5ins. in is covered with an old car type split around the. ctrcumference and the nozzle can be bumped onto th.e nm. when petrol is flowing, operating the release mecha111sm without damage or spillage.

With the nozzle open discharging into the funnel the gravity ball can be tested by slowly moving the. noz.zle through the horizontal position while carefully dtrectmg

the flow into the funnel. If the pump is of the pre-set type, set to five gallons before commencing or otherwise keep a careful check on the amount of petrol you have used so as not to overspill the measure.

Z.V.A. safety swivels can be pulled off manually but it is advisable to make sure that you have a good pair of circlip pliers handy so that the nozzle can be re-assembled. nozzles with shear off section can only be visually mspected.

_Havin_g passed the gravity ball test there is no danger of spillage if the nozzle is left latched on return to the pump, because this will prevent flow by releasing the cut-out t_he nozzle is directed below the horizontal, by which time it will normally be in the fuel pipe of the petrol tank.

Weights and Measures Inspectors normally have means of returning petrol to the storage tank, but I am sure that other officers with petroleum duties could arrange with the pr_oprietor for the proper disposal of the five gallons or so mvolved.

Worthing F. A. SMITH

This test was applied by placing the spout of the nozzle in the fill pipe of a 1959 Rover 75 car; this was done by Mr. Symons. The car was then slowly driven away at his direction. At first the hose stretched to its limit then the pump was pulled over to an alarming angle and eventually, with a bang, the hose burst near to its connection with the pump. As the hose disintegrated and the metal wire protection uncoiled, chunks of rubber flew in all directions in the most spectacular manner. During this time petrol was flowing from the pump at full bore and was being carried down the forecourt by the wind as spray.

The Gilbarco engineer was the first person to recover his composure and bravely entered the spray of petrol to shut off the pump, but by this time a considerable amo.unt of petrol was on the forecourt and we were fortunate that there was not a fire.

It is my considered opinion that had not the hose burst when it did, the pump would have been pulled from its foundation completely, (I understand that this has happened elsewhere).

On investigation it was found that the spout was still firmly held in the fill pipe of the car and neither the nozzle or the car were in any way damaged.

Regarding recent correspondence in The Bulletin on latched nozzles, your readers may be interested in the following demonstrations, particularly the 'drive away test'.

A filling station proprietor in my district purchased form OPW 1-AA latched nozzles and made application to fit them.

I suggested that I would like to see the nozzles tested and subsequently a Gilbarco representative met me at the filling station and started by extolling the virtues of this particular type of nozzle and its safety features. I listened attentively and tried to look suitably impressed and then suggested we have a practical demonstration of the safety features, to which the representative, looking somewhat hurt that I should doubt his word, hesitatingly agreed.

He put the nozzle into the latched position, dropped it, and it unlatched itself. I asked if I may do the dropping, but appraently I had not the right touch and three times out of five it did not unlatch and the representative suggested that I was not dropping the thing properly.

Next I suggested that we should test the breakable link in the spout, but met with a point blank refusal, the reason being given, that there were no spare spouts in the country. Naturally I declared that I was not satisfied with the test and until it was demonstrated to me that in all respects the nozzle complied with all the Home Office requirements I could not accept them in this Urban District.

After much correspondence and many phone calls the main distributors for this appliance-Link Hampson Ltd. -agreed to lay on a full demonstration to test the safety features completely, and on the 3rd October, 1967, nine Petroleum Officers, a Gilbarco engineer and Mr. Symons, of Link Hampson, met at a Hayling Island filling station.

The test went extremely well and Mr. Symons worked through the Home Office items very successfully until we arrived at No. vi (the drive away test).

All agreed that this test had been fairly applied and when Mr. Symons was asked if he would like a second applied with a new hose, he said he could see no point in this, and thought the best thing he could do was to ask the manufacturers' engineers to have a look at the design of this feature with a view to modifying it in some way.

I then told Mr. Symons that I considered that the nozzle had failed the test and would not be agreeable to having them fitted, in their present form, in this district.

Two days later a similar series of tests were carried out at a Fareham garage when the Elaflex Z.V.A. Latched !1ozzle was tested, and whilst this nozzle performed well it could not be made to unlatch readily from the fully open latch position every time, and it was suggested that this may only be peculiar to this one nozzle.

However, I think it will be of interest if I describe the 'drive away test' applied to this nozzle.

In this case the car presented for the test was a Lotus Elan and again the representative fitted the spout into the pipe and the vehicle was driven slowly away at his direction. Once again the hose stretched to its limit and the pump was pulled over slightly, then with a sharp crack the 'pull out' device worked and the hose was freed from the nozzle. The hose thus released lashed back towards the pump and wrapped itself neatly around the Mainenance Engineer's neck, much to his surprise; luckily he was not hurt. No damage was done to the car or the nozzle.

The valve at the end of the freed hose had worked perfectly and little or no petrol was spilt and I considered that this test had been successful. The Maintenance Engineer's opinions were, however, a little mixed.

The only comment that I would make is that if these nozzles are to be fitted generally then we must take a closer look at the condition of hoses, and see that pumps are well fixed to their foundations, for they are likely to be put to a severe test.

Havant and Waterloo U.D.C. J. W.

HEWISON

In view of the doubts which many petroleum officers have on the adoption of these nozzles, it seems to me desirable that correspondence between the Chief Public Health Inspector of the Epping & Ongar R.D.C. and the Explosives Branch of the Home Office be given publicity in your Journal.

In writing to the Home Office for advice, Mr. Shears commented that on two occasions at separate petrol stations upon returning the nozzle to the pump in the latched position, when the nozzle was removed from the pump prior to dispensing a further supply of petrol, a spillage of petrol occurred, either on to the forecourt or on to the vehicle into which the nozzle was about to be placed.

In reply, H.M. Inspector of Explosives, stated that this problem had already been brought to the Department's notice, and the reply given to the petroleum officer in that instance was "I feel that it should be relatively straightforward to arrange for the latch to be 'knocked off' by the inserti<?n of the nozzle into the holster (just as the pump meter 1s switched off on some models). Since this is a purely mechanical operation, a simple lug should be able to do this and ought to be easily fitted, even though the nozzle may be fitted to any pump housing"

This real_Iy should be an additional safety device, since I am surpnsed that a pump attendant should not release the latch him (or her) self".

Epping & Ongar R.D.C. R. A. T. KEMP

book reviews

Storage and Handling of Petroleum Liquids

by J. R. HUGHES

Petroleum Officer's Handbook

by A. L. GOOD

It is not often that two books of vital interest to petroleum officers are published almost simultaneously. It is a rarer event still when the two books are largely complementary, one being written by a safety expert employed in the petroleum industry and the other by the petroleum officer of a local authority.

"Storage and Handling of Petroleum Liquids: Practice and Law" by John R. Hughes, B.Sc. (Hons.) (Metallurgy) -published by Charles Griffin & Co. Ltd., price 84 shillings-was conceived as an up-to-date revise of Dr. Watts's standard work "The Storage of Petroleum Spirit". In fact it goes much further and looks at the problems of safety in the oil industry on a global scale. Mr. Hughes is well qualified to write such a book, having served some years as a Factory Inspector before joining British Petroleum Co. Ltd. and advancing to his present position of Group Chief Safety Engineer with that company.

This is a well-written easy-to-read book. It includes a number of tables and diagrams providing essential reference data which must ensure that copies of it will become

well-thumbed in the fullness of time. The early chapters are particularly interesting. In Mr. sets out essential data and discusses theoretical cons1derat1ons. The reader is thus well primed for the later chapters when the practical application of these considerations to the storage, loading and unloading of petroleum, amongst other things, is dealt with in detail.

The second part of the book deals with "Law" in 28 pages. It is pleasant indeed to see that Mr. Hughes has resisted any temptation to "pad" this part of the book with reprints of statutes which can be more conveniently and cheaply from H.M. Stationery Office.

All in all this is a book packed with 352 pages of expertise on a subject of great importance to petroleum officers. No petroleum officer's bookshelf was complete without a copy of Dr. Watts's book in the past and no petroleum officer's bookshelf will be complete a copy of Mr. Hughes's book in the future. If a cnt1c have one criticism this might be the apparent conflict between the statement in one section that accidents attributable to static electricity have been caused by electrification of carbon dioxide mist containin& solid particles of carbon dioxide and the recommendat10n on another page that containers can be purged of. flammable vapour by carbon dioxide supplied from cylinders. In fairness to Mr. Hughes, however, he 1s on the latter-page only repeating a recommendation in Factory Safety Pamphlet No. 18 which has always worned this critic.

In his "Petroleum Officer's Handbook"-published by Charles Knight & Co. Ltd., price 45 shillings-Mr. A. L. Good seeks to provide a means to the problems which daily confront petroleum officers m the course of their duties. As a Chief Public Health Inspector _and Petroleum Officer of long experience he !s qualified for this task. The field to be covered 1s wide and. the method chosen by the author is to provide a compendium of useful information. Where appropriate, the source of the information is quoted so that, if necessary, the full text can be checked. A compendium is never easy to read but as a fount of knowledge it can be invaluable. That, after all, is the purpose of a handbook and this particular hand book has some 226 pages filled with well-indexed information and illustration.

If Mr. Good hedges his bet on whether "keeping" includes "use", then his confident assertion that car parks should be licensed will cause more than a murmur of disagreement in the suite of offices occupied by one well known contributor to The Bulletin. Others may take him to task for his suggestion that a lesser quantity of "dry ice" than is recommended in Safety Pamphlet No. 18 might be used to inhibit satisfactorily a flammable vapour/air concentration. Those who defend him on both the preceding points may well argue with him on others. This is the fate of any author who interests and informs.

In these days of stringent economy, some will pose the question which one book should they buy. The answer is that they must afford both. The years have been lean since Dr. Watts published his book in 1951 so let all enjoy and be succoured by the current feast against a dismal future.

SAFETY IN THE USE OF LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GASES

This paper was presented to members of the South-East Midland Branch by B. J. Fuller, Area Safety Officer, Eastern Gas Board

Since the war, with the rapid growth of the refinery industry in this country and the world demand for diesel fuel, there have become available large quantities of liquefied petroleum gases. According to the Fire Research Station figures the use of liquefied petroleum gas in industries other than the gas industry has more than trebled in the last ten years and in fact the usage curve is climbing quite steeply. In addition to this usage, 750,000 tons were used in the gas industry in 1965-66 compared with 320,000 tons in 1963-64.

If strikes of Natural Gas are made in the North Sea, considerable further quantities may become available.

The term 'Liquefied Petroleum Gases' or L.P.G. refers to hydrocarbons obtained from oil refineries and natural gases which are gaseous at normal atmospheric temperatures and pressures but can easily be liquefied under pressure or refrigeration. The two most common L.P. gases in this country are propane and butane and in commercial use liquefied petroleum gas usually contains a mixture of the two. These gases also are known by various trade such as Calor Gas, Propogas, Bottogas, Glogas, Ph1lgas, etc., in various parts of the country.

These gases are a very convenient source of energy but, like all sources of energy, be they atomic, gas, electricity, water or air, they can prove to be extremely dangerous 1f care 1s not taken in their use. It is therefore that using these gases should somethmg of their properties, so that care can be exercised to prevent a dangerous situation occurring.

Properties of Liquefied Petroleum Gas

1. As the name implies, these gases are stored as liquids under pressure in pressure vessels. The liquid can expand, and for this reason a storage vessel of liquefied petroleum gas is never fully filled· as a rough guide a vessel should never be filled than 85 % of its capacity and in certain circumstances such as very cold weather, even less.

2. Liquid gas is very volatile at normal temperatures and pressures, a cubic foot of butane will produce about 240 cu. ft. of gas, and a cubic foot of propane about 275 cu. ft. of gas.

The rate of evaporation will depend very much on temperature and when liquid is first spilled onto a concrete block at normal temperautre the evaporation is very fast in the initial stages. As the surrounding atmosphere cools down the rate of evaporation reduces until a state of equilibrium is reached. In the case of butane this is at approximately the freezing point of water, but for propane it is-44°F.

Conversely, when a pressure vessel containing liquefied petroleum gas is heated the pressure in the vessel will rise at a fast rate, particularly in the case of propane. This is one of the most hazardous properties of the material. During the cold winter of 1963 workmen found that it frequently was difficult to get butane to evaporate in the cylinder, and it was not uncommon for those who did not know better to light a small fire under the cylinder to speed the evaporation. This practice could have disastrous results.

3. Liquefied petroleum is a high fire risk and if a cylinder is turned over the gas will run out in liquid form. When gas runs out in this form and is allowed to evaporate, large volumes of gas will form and as the gas is heavier than air, it can travel quite long distances keeping_ near to the ground. This is the basic difference between hq uefied petroleum gas and Town's gas and is one of the biggest problems that we in the Gas Industry have to face, because our employees are so used to dealing Town's gas, which is lighter than air, its specific gravity compared with air being approximately 0.5, whereas butane has a specific gravity of 2.0 and propane 1.5. Many operations which could be carried out safely when usingTown'sgasby allowing a quantity of gas become hazardous with liquefied petroleum gas of this property. Cases have been reported in America where a gas cloud has travelled 600ft. before it has found a source of ignition and then has :flashed back over that distance to the original leakage of gas. This was also the case in France last year where the disastrous occurred at Feyzin. The flammable limits of liquid petroleum gases are quite small and are between l % and 10 % in air, so that a small quantity of escapmg gas soon can be in the flammable range, and it is of the axioms in our industry that if you get a gas/air mixture in the flammable range it is odds-on that a source of ignition will be found somewhere.

4. Liquefied petroleum gas on fire can easily be extinguished with dry powder, but when this is done is still the problem of the escaping gas which is considerably more dangerous than the fire itself. It was an unfortunate experience recently in our Board hose of an L.P. gas tanker split and a cloud of hq_u1d and vapour was allowed to escape. Before the dnv_er could shut off the engine of his lorry which was discharging the liquid, the gas cloud ignited and two men were trapped within the area of flame and were both burned. It is strongly recommended that liquefied petroleum gas fires never should be fully extinguished unless the supply can be shut off immediately.

5. The fifth property is that the flame of a leaking pipe of propane is reasonably lazy and can be turned and controlled by water spray. It can then burn quite safely until the source of leak can be controlled, without damaging the surrounding plant.

An important hazardous property of liquefied petroleum gas is the fact that the vapourising liquid is a refrigerent and an escape of gas in the liquid form can cause cold burns to the skin. It was the unfortunate experience of one of our Board's Officers to have an escape of liquid gas whilst connecting a hose on one of our installations. The liquid hit him in the face and his face was frozen. For this reason it is recommended that when !his type of operation is being undertaken, eye protection should be worn.

6. The gas has a high vapour pressure. This can be illusby directing jet of cold water into burning hqmd propane. This has the effect of adding heat at 60°F.) to a liquid boiling at 44°F. This mput of heat causes rapid evaporation.

( 32°F. Butane 5 psig. Propane 60 psig.)

(I I0°F ,, 58 psig. ,, 110 psig.)

Th.e gas has no smell when pure, but normally odonsers are added before it is distributed commerAn this is when liquefied petroleum gas 1s used m mdustnes as a raw material, i.e., as a propellant for aerosols. In such cases it is often supplied in a pure state.

petrole1;1m gas is not poisonous but has anaesthetic properties and may cause dizziness if inhaled.

The practical points to be drawn from these properties are:

I. Application of heat from an external source such as !he sun or an adjacent fire will cause a rapid increase m pressure and no vessel must be completely filled, but space must be left to allow for tempertaure changes.

2. Butane can be stored in a vessel designed for propane, but not the reverse.

3. When the gas burns it generates tremendous heat.

4. petroleum gas in the gaseous state is heavier than air and may flow along the ground and collect in low places.

5. As a liquid it will float on water and because of its low boiling point will freeze the water.

6. A small quantity of gas in air can form an explosive mixture.

7. A small quantity of liquid will produce large volumes of gas.

8. In the liquid state, if spilt on the skin, it will cause burns.

From looking at these properties it can be seen that any leakage of liquefied petroleum gas is important and immediate steps must be taken to prevent it.

Signs of leakage

Normal commercial propane or butane leakage can be detected by the smell of the odorisers, and a leaking joint may have a slight haze around it, similar to a heat haze.

In the liquid state a rind of frost will appear and, if the atmosphere is damp, it may have the appearance of steam.

Legal requirements

At present there are no statutory regulations when using liquefied petroleum gas, although the Factory Department and the Home Office are both watching L.P. gas incidents with interest and no doubt if L.P. gas users do not adopt a responsible attitude and put their own house in order, the Government will formulate legislation for the control of this product.

A Safety, Health and Welfare booklet, "The Bulk Storage of Liquefied Petroleum Gas at Factories, has been published by H.M. Factory Inspectorate.

The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Industry has a Technical Committee which has laid down several Codes of Practice and if these Codes are voluntarily followed there could be a substantial reduction in accidents with L.P. gas. It is a matter of grave concern to the big users of L.P. gases that there should be such haphazard use of this source of energy by small users.*

Use of Liquefied Petroleum Gases

The gases are used mainly for space heating, cooking, industrial process heating, cutting and welding, for driving vehicles like fork lift trucks, and as a propellant for aerosols. They are also used in the chemical industries for the production of plastics and in heat treatment furnaces to produce special atmospheres.

In the last few years they have been on building sites as sources of heat for bitumen boilers and mastic asphalt cauldrons.

In the gas industry we use liquefied petroleum gas in increasing quantity; it is either re-formed to pr?duce a gas with similar characteristics to To'Yn's gas or is to a low calorific gas produced from od products to ennch that gas to the statutory declared calorific value.

Storage and handling

The storage and transportation of large quan!ities of gas can be made much easier if these gases can be liquefied and transported in the liquid state. In the case of liquefied petroleum gas this is a very easy thing to achieve, in one of two ways: (1) the gas can be liquefied by the application of pressure, or (2) by refrigeration.

For many years the L.P.G. cylinder has been a familiar piece of apparatus on caravan sites and similar locations, and the cylinders are of a convenient size for handling. In these cylinders the gas is stored as a liquid under pressure and is used by keeping the cylinder vertical and taking the gas from the vapour space of the cylinder and passing it through a regulator or reducing valve to the apparatus using the gas. When the cylinder valve is opened the pressure in the vapour space is reduced and this allows more liquid gas to evaporate. The heat for this evaporation is taken from the surrounding atmosphere, and if the gas is discharged at a great rate a rind of frost will form on the outside of the cylinder.

The danger with this type of cylinder is that it can be knocked over or used in other than a vertical position, when it is likely that a flood of liquid gas will run from the cylinder, causing a very large and sudden burst of flame.

Secondly, the cylinder is obviously affected by the ambient temperature surrounding it, so that in very cold weather difficulty may be encountered in getting butane to evaporate by this method and, as previously stated, cases have been known where an endeavour has been made to speed this rate of vaporisation by lighting a fire or heating the cylinder in some way, an extremely dangerous practice which should be stopped.

When a fire occurs in a building or vehicle in which cylinders are situated the reverse effect occurs and the pressure in the cylinder can rise to an extremely dangerous level, often causing the rupture of the cylinder.

This type of storage is, of course, the type which is most common in the country, and there have been a large !lumber of incidents in which gas cylinders have been mvolved. The Hertfordshire Fire Prevention Department have been good enough to let me examine their records, and the types of accidents that can occur from cylinders.

Loose connections in the valves, causing leaks.

Defective reducing valves.

The use of rubber hose instead of properly designed hose for L.P. gas use.

Defective valves.

Manifold cylinders turning over and breaking the connection, allowing the liquid gas to flow out. . was also a case involving gas apparatus left burnmg m a caravan on a building site overnight. Due to the cold conditions the gas would not vaporise and the went out. As the outside temperatures rose next mornmg, L.P. gas started to flow again to the apparatus and when the foreman re-entered the caravan in the morning and went to re-light the gas, as he struck the match the gas/air mixture in the caravan exploded.

The _Bedfordshire Fire Protection Department also has been kmd enough to furnish me with details of an incident L.P. gas was used to fire a cauldron for boiling up the hoe-marking material used on roads. As this vehicle passing through the town of Bedford, the tarpaulins which "':'ere lying on the lorry were ignited and the heat from this fire caused the spare L.P. gas cylinders on the to explode, damaging surrounding property and IIlJUrtng two firemen; no doubt the incident would have caused much more serious damage if the driver had not pulled to the open space by the bridge in the middle of the town.

Large Installations

, The use of gas in pressure cylinders is extremely handy for s!11al_l work: but increasingly the liquefied petroleum gas.d1str_1butors m. this country are delivering by large tanker mto fixed storage tanks at customers' preG<l:s qehvered in this way is being used for an umber of mdustnal,purposes. A large installation of this type may store hui:idreds but gas can be delivered in this way to contamers holdmg only 1,500 lbs. of liquid gas. These of about 4ft. diameter. Such gas is often used rn br01ler houses on farms, small factory heating installations for special processes, heating site offices on building sites, and many similar applications.

The storage handling of L.P. gases on this scale has been covered m a booklet published by the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Jndustry Technical Committee entitled

"Installation of bulk L.P.G. storage at the Consumer's Premises", and the National Fire Protection Association International of Boston, Mass., has published a booklet No. 58 entitled "Standard for Storage and Handling of L.P. Gases". These two booklets give a considerable amount of detail of the precuations to be taken and particularly deal with distances of tanks from surrounding property, and they should be studied by all persons considering the installation of bulk storage.

In a talk of this nature I cannot go into great detail no the provisions of these recommendations, but they do stress the need for distance for fire separation from adjacent hazards, sound engineering construction of the tanks, sound engineering specification of the pipework, the provision of excess flow valves on all outlets from the tank whose size exceeds that of a No. 54 drill, with the exception of the safety valves. The area surrounding the tank should be enclosed with a strong fence which should allow a free passage of air to prevent any accumulation of L.P.G. vapours forming. The tanks, if they are of large size, should be supported on suitable foundations which should be designed to take the weight of the storage tank full of water. The tanks should be supported on two bases which should have a fire resistance rate of at least two hours. Horizontal tanks should be mounted on saddles in such a manner as to permit expansion and contraction, and only two saddles should be used. The reason for this is obvious, as if more than two saddles are used, the whole load can be taken on one saddle if settlement occurs.

The whole area of the tank compound must be kept free of weeds and other combustible materials.

The pressure vessels used in this type of installation have !o be very carefully designed and engineered and are subto extremely stringent tests. They are normally and pressure tested by approved insurance on and although there is no legal reqmrement, 1s recommended that they be at five-yearly mtervals. The use of pressure contamers such as old Lancashire boilers, etc., is deprecated and can lead to serious accidents.

The unloading bay for tankers should be sited with due consideration to the above points and at some distance from the actual storage tank.

The loading and unloading operations are perhaps the spot on the plant and the point where accidents are likely to occur. Hoses of tankers should be specially designed for L.P. gas service, and even then it is known that bursts can occur. There should be good access to the unloading point which should not be obstructed in any way, so that in an emergency fire fighting vehicles could get to the scene.

Portable fire appliances of the dry powder type should be available in the storage area.

Where L.P.G. pressure vessels are situated on a site where other flammable liquids are stored in quantity, care must be taken to ensure that the contents of the flammable liquid cannot run under the L.P. gas tank.

The third method of storing L.P. gas is by refrigeration, but this is only economic when very large quantities of L.P. gas are stored. It may be of interest to learn that second largest refrigerated propane tank in the world 1s situated in the Eastern Gas Board Area, at Felixstowe,

where Phillips Petroleum, an American firm, have installed a tank with a capacity of 30,000 tons. The liquid gas for this tank is brought from America in a refrigerated ship, and the Eastern Gas Board has laid a pipeline from Felixstowe to Norwich to use liquid gas from this source. The Eastern Gas liquid tanker fleet also operates from Felixstowe, supplying liquid gas to country communities and industry.

Filling of Tanks

The safety of any L.P. tank depends on three factors:

I. Air must be excluded from the tank at all times when it is working operationally.

2. The tank must never be fully filled.

3. The tank must never be filled with products having a greater vapour pressure than that for which the tank was designed, i e., butane can be stored in a tank designed for propane, but the reverse must never apply.

Inspection of Tanks

External visual inspection of tanks should take place at frequent and attention shoul.d be paid to corrosion and any signs of leakage of the liquefied gas. There is no statutory period of internal examination of tanks laid down, but the general recommended practice is that a liquefied petroleum tank should be opened up for inspection by a competent inspector at five-yearly intervals.

Opening L.P. Gas Tanks

Opening a liquefied petroleum gas tank can be an extremely hazardous operation if it is tackled in an irresponsible manner. The operation must be carried out under competent technical direction and the procedure is to lower the contents of the vessel to the lowest practical level, isolate the any adjoining vessels or plant, displace the remammg hqu1d or gas by the use of an inert gas or water. The L.P. gas being displaced must not be

allowed to discharge to atmosphere, it must either by led away to a suitable gas main (this of course would be within the Gas Industry) or it must be taken some distance from the tank in a line fitted with a suitable flame arrester and burned as it is discharged. It was our experience some years ago that a factory adjoining one of our Works was engaged on emptying a propane tank, and our Engineer in charge detected that propane gas was present in his works On investigation he found that the tank at the neighbouring plant was being discharged to atmosphere and flooding across his works. Fortunately he contacted the engineer of the neighbouring factory and stopped the process, and sent a chemist along to reorganise the purging of the tank in a proper manner. If our Works Engineer had not been vigilant this situation could have developed into a disaster, as our process plant on this works has an open burner.

Conclusion

The subject of safety on liquefied petroleum plants is a vast one and unfortunately time does not permit me to go into all the facets of the subject.

Liquefied petroleum gas when properly handled is an easy material to use providing every effort is made to keep it within the confines of the tank , the pipework and the plant, and this can be achieved only by good design, good maintenance and careful supervision.

In addition every employee who has t? use this should be aware of its properties, and tramed in the use of portable fire extinguishers E.very fire begms in a small way, and early action to deal with a.small leak or a small fire may prevent a major conf!agrat10n.

Mr. Fuller concluded his talk by showing two films: "Safe Handling of Light Fuels" and "Lighting L.P. Gas Fires".

*The Institute of Petroleum has now published recommendations 'A Model Code of Safe Practice, Part 9, 1967. L1quified Petroleum Gases', which may be purchased direct ji'Oln th e lnstttute at 61 New Cavendish Street, London W.l.

FINNED TUBING CUTS THE COST

The use of finned tubinl? for product heating in railcars, I Yfuel oil tanks and bitumen tanks shows a significant 1eav · I l · · advantage in cost savmgs over norma p am tubmg used for the same purpose.

F d tube heating operates on the same principle as 111ne 1 h . J'ng system of a motor eye e w ere maximum heat is obtained through fins on the cylinder block. disbers h it is more expensive per foot, the finned tube Alt oug Shell-Mex and B.P. has about times usefd by a of its plain tube counterpart, which re suits 111 sur ace are · · d Th. · h I ngth of pipe bemg reqmre 1s m turn cuts a s orter e . down the overall capital cost.

Finned tubing was first used by Shell-Mex and B.P. in fuel oil railcars. To date 692 45-ton cars and 90 100-ton cars have finned tube heating installed and it will be used in all future coiled fuel oil and bitumen cars operated by the Group.

In the 45-ton cars four lengths of It inch diameter finned tube replaces ten lengths of 3 inch diameter plain tubing with an approximate saving of £55 a car, giving a total saving for the Company's heavy fuel oil fleet of approximately £95,000. A reduction in weight of 12 cwt. per car with a corresponding increase in pay load, and a reduction in heating time of some 25 per cent are additional substantial benefits from finned tubes.

Finned tubing is now replacing plain tube in storage tanks and has been installed at Company terminals for heating heavy fuel oil and bitumen.

A heating system for heavy fuel oil has to maintain a temperature of between 95 and 125 degrees Fahrenheit, on the grade, while bitumen may require heatmg up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. For bitumen heating several layers of plain coil are needed. The smaller number

of finned tube bundles required leaves the tank bottom relatively clear, which makes tank cleaning easier.

Extensive tests over a period of several months have been carried out at Wandsworth Terminal, where one tank was fitted with both plain and finned tube. A meter to measure steam consumption and temperature measuring instruments in a number of positions throughout the tank enabled a comparison to be made of the performance of the two types of steam coil. The same quantity of steam heated the oil just as efficiently through the reduced number of lengths of finned tubing.

Some idea of the savings which may be made can be gained from the terminal now under construction at Haydock, Lancashire, where an estimated £25,000 will be saved by installing finned tube heaters in the fuel oil storage tanks.

With the successful results of the tests and from the experience gained so far, it is the Company's intention to install finned tubing in all new heavy fuel oil and bitumen storage tanks. It will also replace plain tubing in existing tanks as it becomes necessary to renew steam coils.

The Seventh \/\/ayne Engineering Conference

The Seventh Engineering Conference was held at the Sports Bracknell, Berkshire, on the 12th October, 1967. This Conference is an annual event organised by the Wayne Tank & Pump Company Limited for the pu:pose of dissen;iinating information regarding m the design of petrol measurmg in regard to retail sales It also provides an occas10n at which all interested parties can exchange experiences and ask questions relating to the use of petrol pumps to their mutual benefit.

A brief report on the proceedings by

A. F. Sarfas, M.l.W.M.A., County Borough of Reading

Well over 100 delegates attended drawn from all the major oil companies operating in country, Europe and the together with representatives of the retail motor trade and allied interests in this country and overseas. The Conference was opened by Mr. R. G. Redgwell, the Managing Director of the Wayne Tank & Pump Company Limited, who welcomed the delegates and introduced the first speaker-Mr. R. G. Spalding, the Chief Engineer to the Company, who read a paper entitled "Designing for a Purpose". The paper dealt with lay-out, appearance and operation of the service stat10n and factors which could improve efficiency and increase business.

His paper was followed by others given by other members of the Engineering staff, all dealing with different types of petrol pumps, but none of which had any particular bearing on aspects of Petroleum Licensing which are not already well understood by members of the Association.

It was not until a guest speaker, Mr. A. Pond, a wellknown garage proprietor of Essex, gave a talk on his experience of self-service petrol pumps that any controversial matter was introduced into the discussions. Mr. Pond is well known for having introduced the first complete self-service and do-it-yourself repair service in the country, and his breezy and often humorous manner in putting over the points he wished to make livened up the proceedings considerably, and occasionally confounded some of the opinions previously expressed on self-service the Wayne engineers. As self-service petrol dispensing is very much under discussion amongst petroleum officers at the. moment, this part of the proceedings offered the most mterest to the members of the Association.

Post Payment Self-Service Pumps

This of petroleum dispensing was dealt with in a given by Mr. B. A. Targett, Wayne's Assistant Chief entitled "Post Payment Leads the Way". He claimed that the present growth of self-service is remarkable, and that this could be attributed mainly to increasing labour. costs; shor!er hours; shortage of suitable coupled with mcreasmg business with lower profit margms and customer demand. He stated that there will be over 120 stations equipped with Wayne Post Payment Systems by the end of 1967 and expected that this number would be than doubled by the end of 1968. The present attitude of Local Authorities had tended to restrict the extension of self-service petrol stations particularly unattended forms of service.

'

The Wayne System provided for:

(a) Complete c.ontrol over the operation of the pump by the cashier at the console.

(b) Two-way microphone/loud-speaker communication betw.een the. custo1!1er and the cashier, enabling and to be passed between them without the cashier having to leave the controls. also 1!1ade blendi.ng pumps for remote control by snmlar equipment, which enabled the customer to select an octane value best suited to his car.

was interesti.ng to note .that Mr. Pond, in his lecture, pomted out forcibly his as an owner of post self-service equipment, had shown that it was essential to a forecourt attendant available to help customers usmg.the pumps. Mr. Pond said that many customers found difficulty m understanding even the simple instructions on the pump and would do the most extraordmary thmgs. For example, switch handles and shafts had been broken through the customer using force in endeavouring to turn the switch in the wrong direction. In such circumstances customers tended to get flustered and misunderstand directions given over the loud-speaker system. He believed it to be essential therefore to have a forecourt attendant who could go directly to the customer and deal with the difficulty. Therefore he did not agree that any saving in staff would result at the outset through going over to self-service. This

meant that increased business would have to be done if the considerable capital outlay was to be justified.

Furthermore it was essential that cashiers in charge of the console should be trained beforehand how to deal over the loud-speaker with customers in difficulty. It was essential that instructions transmitted in this manner should be precise, simple and clearly given in a calm manner.

Unattended Self-Service

A paper on this subject entitled "What does the future hold?" was given by Mr. J. F. Croxford, a Wayne engineer.

He stated that the difficulty of getting petrol pump attendants, including the necessity shift working if petrol was to be supplied at all hours, Illustrated the need for pre-payment self-service.

Pre-payment self-service petrol pumps in.eluded devices which pre-set the pump to the value paid for and s.o eliminated the necessity for any forecourt operator. will enable any station to operate the mght without the presence of sales and th1;1s mcrease J?rofits by the saving of wages. This was particularly so m the case of small stations where an attendant's wages would not be covered by sales. At the moi;tient there were I t 30 sites with unattended self-service petrol pumps m eas d K" d operation in the Unite mg om. .

The Wayne Company had two kmds prea ment self-service pump; one designed to operate by P y f coins and the other being controlled by a bank mser mg t 'devi"ce housed in a separate unit remote note accep or from the petrol pump.

At the moment a large number of self. e in daily use in Germany, where m ten only two minor accidents and no milhon opera ion injuries had been reported.

ted machine was a mechamcal device, The cam opera h fi had experienced much and it was than those controlled more trouble wit ese by a bank note acceptor.

. s an electronic device capable

The bank note accel?tor wa.. ada ted Wayne pumps, of controlling UI? to six or a blender pump. which could be either. a ised and accepted only valid The note acceptor un.1t scru mum controls are freed for bank notes after. is automatically customer operation. . si issued for each transact10n. "f . I b 1 ft I t d is in use or i it 1as een e

If the pump se ec , the acceptor will not switched on by a prevwus ' take a note.

,. h I . . laces the hose nozzle be1ore e ms

If the rep he can obtain no more petrol until taken the full dehvery, t d by the note acceptor. note 1.1:: which automatically A .timmg devi ff if the customer has not replaced the switches the pump 0 hose within three mmutes. b t pes of self-service pump exhibit on the

All the a on their mode of operation and pumpdclear t no difficulty to the average customer. shoul presen

Both types of self-service pump, as well as a blender ere demonstrated at the Conference. pump, w

Civic Amenities Act, 1967

Contributed by A. F. BRUNNER, M.l.W.M.A. COUNTY BOROUGH OF HARTLEPOOL

The Civic Amenities Act, 1967, which received the Royal Assent on the 27th July, 1967, has a three-fold purpose, namely to make provision for the protection improvement of areas and buildings of historic or architectural interest; for the preservation and planting of trees; and for the orderly disposal of disused vehicles and equipment and other rubbish. As its title implies the main object of the Act is to prevent further encroachment upon the amenities of our towns and countryside and it is in this sphere that benefits accruing from enforcement are likely to become most evident. Although Part Ill of the Act deals extensively with the removal and ultimate disposal abandoned vehicles, precise procedures remain to be laid down by the Minister of Transport in Regulations and some provisions will not become fully operative until July, 1968, at the earliest.

Reference in the preamble to the Act to "orderly disposal of disused vehicles" will be of interest to Petroleum 9fficers, particularly to those who have found themselves mvolved, albeit tentatively, in taking action to cope with hazards arising in connection with abandoned motor vehicles. Derelict cars dumped on roads, on verges and on open spaces, in urban and rural areas alike, have been not only. offensive to the eye but have constituted a potential pubhc danger, especially to young children. This has been particularly so in instances where petrol has been left in the tanks of abandoned vehicles.

In recent years the Ministry of Housing and Local Government has urged local authorities to accept a greater measure of responsibility for the disposal of an everincreasing number of aged vehicles and has advised upon remedies available to Councils wishing to deal with this problem. It has been pointed out, for example, that even large unwanted articles such as old motor cars which have become detrimental to amenities could properly be regarded as "refuse" or "rubbish" within the meaning of the Public Health Acts and dealt with accordingly and that in the case of vehicles abandoned on roadways and verges the more specific powers conferred by the Removal of Vehicles (England and Wales) Regulations, 1961, might be employed. Whilst indicating that in those cases where persons responsible for dumping cars could be traced, criminal proceedings under the Litter Act, 1958, might be taken, the emphasis of action advocated appears to have been upon the provision of facilities for controlled dumping of unwanted vehicles and of arrangements for removal of any which had been abandoned in places within local authority jurisdiction.

Whilst the precept that prevention is better than cure finds general acceptance, instances have occurred which appeared to justify punitive action. Such an incident was reported by the Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures

for Salford early in 1966 and the success of legal proceedings instituted against the owner of an abandoned vehicle focused attention upon the possibility of sterner action open to local authorities in certain instances where public safety, as distinct from amenity considerations, was involved. The Salford incident concerned a twelve year old boy who suffered eye and facial injuries in an explosion which resulted from his applying a lighted match to the open petrol fill pipe of an abandoned car. Proceedings were taken against the owner of the vehicle under No. 2(b) of the Petroleum Spirit (Motor Vehicles) Regulations, 1929, alleging that he had kept petroleum spirit, intending to use it for the purpose of a motor vehicle, otherwise than in a metal vessel so maintained as to prevent leakage of vapour. A report of the Hearing indicates that the Stipendiary Magistrate in his reserved judgement dismissed a second summons relating to an alternative charge under Section 1 of the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act, 1928, but recorded a conviction in respect of the contravention of Regulation 2(b). From the Stipendiary's remarks it would seem that he was firmly of the opinion that a motorist could not abandon his vehicle and turn his back on his responsibilities under the Petroleum Regulations.

In the light of the outcome of the Salford prosecution, similar proceedings were instituted in Hartlepool in September this year against the owner of a derelict car which had been set on fire by a group of children. The fuel tank, which was uncapped, was found to contain a quantity of liquid which upon analysis proved to be petroleum spirit. Lay Magistrates imposed a fine of £15 with £23 10s. Od. costs in respect of a contravention of Regulation 2(b) and a further fine of £5 for an offence under the Litter Act.

Whilst, as has been mentioned, several provisions of the Civic Amenities Act are not yet in operation, Section 19 came into effect on the 27th August, 1967, and made it an offence to abandon a motor vehicle or any part thereof on any land in the open air or on any land forming part of a highway. Establishing ownership of such a vehicle will still pose problems for the enforcing officer but once the owner has been traced, proceedings under the new Act become possible, with onus of proof that his vehicle had not in fact been abandoned resting upon the Maximum penalties which may be imposed are £100 111 respect of a first offence and £200 and/or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months for a second or subsequent offence. A Circular issued jointly by the Ministry of Housing and Local Government and the Ministry ?f Transport makes reference to anticipated difficulty 111 detecting offenders but urges special efforts to secure convictions in serious cases because of the deterrent effect of published reports of legal proceedings.

The Hot Line from Favvley

The one great virtue about using a pipeline is that, once you have put the line down and arranged pumping and storage facilities, you have permanent transportation facilities that can be operated with the minimum attention and maximum efficiency. If the pipeline is for carrying crude oil or natural gas across an uninhabited desert, it can be left on the surface. If it is for carrying crude oil, gas or products through a highly developed country such as Britain, it can be buried and, as far as the general public is concerned, no one need know it is there.

Esso has operated products pipelines in England for several years. With the continuing growth in the demand for oi I products, it is clear that in the next few years pipelines will be used more extensively than ever before. Now, as in the past, Esso takes the lead with new pipeline developments which make it possible to transport heavy fuel oil over long distances.

Because of their high capital cost, pipelines can only be used economically when there are large volumes of liquid to be carried. That is why they are a fairly recent development in Britain compared with their long and intensive use in the U .S.A. With the rapid growth of demand for oil products in Britain, there is sound economic justification for extending the use of pipelines. There is also a great deal of social justification, for in this already congested country the problems attendant on all forms of surface transport grow more acute every year.

Esso is already operating several pipelines in Britain. From the refinery at Fawley (where, indeed, there are enough 'internal' pipelines to from London to Moscow) a line 78 miles long ethylene to l.C.I. plant at Severnside. Another hne, some 70 mtles long, carries liquefied petroleum gases to the North Thames Gas Works at Southall; and, parallel with this line, one of a larger diameter carries a variety of light products to _the Esso terminal at West London. From there, small pipelines are used to deliver naphtha to the North Thames Gas Works and aviation fuels to the Esso refuelling installation at London Airport.

Millions of gallons of products a day flo_w through these lines. If volumes of this order of magmtude had to be carried by surface transport, not only would distribution costs increase, but there would also be an unwelcome intensification of traffic problems.

Another important pipeline project which is at present under study is a proposed line from Milford Haven to the Midlands and the Mersey. Esso built the first oil refinery on Milford Haven, being recently followed by Regent and then by Gulf. It may be that a pipeline shared by these three refineries could do much to alleviate the problems of inland distribution from this remote part of Wales. However, the capital expenditure involved in such a line, which would be about 300 miles long, is very high; and much careful consideration will have to be given to the project before its value can be properly assessed.

Although a variety of light products can be transported easily by pipeline, it has not proved possible, until quite recently, to carry such a substance as heavy fuel oil over

any real distance. This is because heavy fuel oil is, at low temperature, a treacly, viscous substance with about as much capacity to flow as heavy glue. However, if fuel oil is heated, it becomes far more fluid. The only trouble is that as it cools down it becomes thick and intractable again.

The problem facing Esso scientists was, having got fuel oil hot enough to flow easily, how to keep it at a temperature that would enable it to be pumped over long distances. If you can heat the pipeline, there is, of course, no problem. But heating a long pipeline would be prohibitively costly, thus defeating the objective of economy in distribution. An alternative to a heated pipeline is an insulated pipeline with perhaps, a re-heating station in the middle of it. A reheating station is only necessary when the distance to be covered is such that the fuel oil would lose too much of the heat with which it starts the journey and become too viscous before it arrives.

After much experiment with insulation materials, different diameters of pipeline, initial heat requirement, pumping pressure and heat loss, a short insulated pipeline was built from the Esso refinery at Fawley to the C.E.G.B. power station at Marchwood, eight miles away. The insulating material was foamed polyurethane, one of the best insulating materials yet discovered and one which is lighter even than balsa wood.

The Fawley-Marchwood pipeline was completed early in l 964 and has since been delivering fuel oil to the power station at the rate of some 3,000 tons a day. From its operation, Esso scientists and engineers have gained a great deal of information about rates of flow with heat loss and have also been able to determine the conditions under which heavy fuel oil can be piped over long distances.

This information has already been put to practical use with the construction by Esso of a pipeline 52 miles long from the refinery near Trecate, in Italy, to carry fuel oil to the Turin area. Two shorter insulated pipelines have also been constructed in Italy and all three have been operating successfully for two years.

With the value of long insulated pipelines amply demonstrated, Esso is now proposing to construct a line 64 miles long to carry fuel oil from the refinery at Fawley to the Company's West London terminal. The pipeline will follow virtually the same route as the existing line to West London. The entire project will cost in the region of £4 million and should be completed by mid-1969.

The laying of an insulated pipeline is not greatly different from the laying of a conventional pipeline-except that the insulated sections have to be handled rather more carefully so that the thick coating of polyurethane will not be damaged. This material can be sprayed on to the pipe sections, or injected between the pipe and a polythene sleeve, to a thickness of some 2 inches. It hardens very rapidly, so that there need be little delay between coating and assembly.

When the polyurethane has set, it is virtually inert and quite impervious to any chemical reaction in the soil in which it is to be laid.

The new Fawley-West London pipeline will probably be 10 inches in diameter and will ultimately carry more than one-and-a-half million gallons a day of five grades of fuel oil. Fuel oil will take about 24 hours to pass along the entire pipeline. It will leave the refinery at Fawley at a

temperature in the region of 200°F-only a little cooler than boiling water-but by the time it reaches the terminal it will have lost a great deal of that heat. Because of the heat loss, it is possible that a small re-heating station or auxiliary pumping facilities may be constructed along the route.

Of the £4 million which the whole project will cost, £2.2 million will be spent on the pipeline itself and on the gathering lines at Fawley, together with pumps and heaters. The remaining £1.8 million will be needed for extensions at West London terminal, including ten new tanks with a total storage capacity of about 35 million gallons. Work will be started on the pipeline project in the coming months and, if all goes according to plan, the first direct deliveries of fuel oil could be made to West London in the Spring of 1969.

By reducing transportation costs, the new insulated line will help to keep the prices of products down. At present, fuel oil is shipped from Fawley along the coast and up the Thames to the Esso terminal at Purfleet by coastal tanker. From Purfleet it is taken by barge to the bulk plant at Hammersmith, which serves the West London area.

The total distance by sea and river is 192 miles-almost exactly three times the length of the pipeline. Add to this the fact that surface transport involves 'double handling' in the transfer from coastal tanker to barges to bulk plant, and the value of the pipeline is dramatically emphasized.

Fuel oil is not an easy substance to handle and distribute efficiently, but its use for heavy industry-particularly in the firing of large furnaces-is increasing considerably. It seems probable that this new Esso technique for transporting fuel over long distances will eventually find useful applications in many parts of the world.

As we earlier, great advantage of a subterranean p1pelme is that, once it has been laid the surface of the land through which it passes can be to its former. condition, no one be aware of its presence. There is ample evidence that this is the case with all the pipelines that Esso has so far constructed. Indeed, many landowners have been at!1azed that such large operations can be conducted so quickly and with such little disturbance.

Although mechanical are used (except in conspaces, where the dug manually), great care is taken to separate the topsoil from the subsoil. And when the pipeline has been laid and the trench is backfilled, the valuable topsoil is restored to its original position. One season's crop is usually sufficient to remove all traces of the route completely. The same care that is taken with agricultural land is, of course, taken with all other kinds of pr?perty; fences walls are restored to their original cond1t10n, and gaps m hedges are filled in by careful replanting.

Perhaps the best tribute to this thoroughness came from a landowner whose property had been crossed by pipeline a year previously. He had simply forgotten it was there.

This lack of intrusion is itself a great social argument for the increased use of pipelines. In a highly populated country such as ours, space is becoming more and more valuable. This fact alone ensures that the era of transportation by pipeline in Britain is really only just beginning.

From 'The Esso Ma2azine'

The Conveyance of Flammable Liquids

A paper recently presented to the Traders Road Transport Association, by c. L. Davids, L. I. Fire E., Greater London Council

Statutory Instruments now exist in draft f 1 1 regulate the conveyance by road of vario 0Jm w uc 1 liquids. These orders are based on the Petrus, amAmablef 1928 and ·t b f · o eum et o ' I may e o mterest to consider this briefly first.

·toThe Act 1_9?8 was designed to regulate the s . o de ro eu!11h p1rF1t, is any petroleum or coa ar pro uct. w1.t . a lash Pomt below 73°F The Flash Pomt of a hqu1d 1s the temperature at whi· h ·· ·t· f th t· k I c igm !On o. . e vapour a es p ac.e under certam controlled cond1t1ons. I_t has no meamng other than as a standard of flammab1hty, the lower the Flash Point the mor ft mable the liquid. ' e am-

19 of the Pe!roleum states that ... "His .Majesty may bY_ m <;ouncII apply to any substance <tny of the of this Act ", and it goes on to say that the prov1s1on t.he Act shall apply as if the subtance were petroleum spmt. In addition to this, Section 6 of the Petroleum Act empowers the Secretary of State to

make regulations for the conveyance of petroleum spirit by road. Therefore, under. Section 19, parts of the Petroleum Act, mcludmg Sect10n 6 are applied to any other substance, then u!1der Section 6, the Secretary of State can make regulat10ns for the conveyance of that substance. (By road).

The Conveyance (by road) of Petroleum Spirit is subject t? the Petroleum Spirit (Conveyance by Road) Regulat10ns 1957 as amended by the Regulations of 1966. The det_ails of these are outside the scope of this article, but very bnefty they control the construction of the vehicle, and the actions of the attendant. Exemption fron:i regulations is secured if the total quantity earned 1s:

(a) Not exceeding 32 gallons in securely closed metal or drums each exceeding 10 gallon capacity, or m any other containers of a capacity not exceeding 2 gallons if they are suitably protected to prevent breakage.

(b) Not exceeding 50 gallons in a single steel barrel.

These exemptions do not apply to a Tank Wagon.

If the liquid is a 'Petroleum Mixture', that is a mixture of Petroleum with other substances such that the resultant Flash Point is below 73°F., then 1,000 gallons may be carried on a vehicle, other than a Tank Wagon, provided that the petroleum content is not more than 75 %, without the vehicle complying with the constructional requirements of the Regulations. In this case, however, the attendant must observe the operational requirements. Total exemption for Petroleum Mixture is secured by quantities in (a) and (b) above or when the petroleum content does not exceed 75 % by not more than 90 gallons in a single steel barrel.

Three new Orders are now in Draft form which, when they come into force, will control the conveyance by road of other flammable liquids. The first of these is "The Petroleum (Inflammable Liquids) Order". This is made under Section 19 of the Petroleum Act, and applied certain Sections of the Act to a long list of substances. The list is too long to reproduce here, but in general they are all liquids with Flash Points below 73°F., except the Petroleums which are already covered by previous Regulations as mentioned above.

In addition to the substances named in this Order, the order applies to any mixture of these substances if the mixture has a Flash Point below 73°F. So, there are two points to watch here, if the material is one of the named substances then this order applies to it. If on the other hand the material contains one of the named substances mixed with other materials then the Order applies only if the Flash Point is below 73°F.

The Sections of the Petroleum Act applied by this Order are:

Section 6: Giving the Secretary of State power to make conveyance regulations.

Section 13 (2) and (3): Requiring notice of Accidents during conveyance of the named substances.

Section 14: Giving the Secretary of State power to order an enquiry into any accident during conveyance.

Section 15: Requirements for Coroners.

Section 16: Giving power of Inspection to Government Inspectors.

Section 18: Giving power to obtain search warrants.

This Order gives the Secretary of State the power to make regulations for the conveyance by road of the substances listed. Hence the next Order, namely: "The Inflammable Liquids (Conveyance by Road) Regulations". This applies to the conveyance by roi;i.d of any of substances listed in the first order with the followmg exemptions. Not more than 250 kilogrammes, unless it is contained in a Tank Wagon or is Acetaldehyde, when there is no exemption.

Briefly, the requirements are as follows:

Para. 2: All precautions for preventing spillage.

Para. 3: No smoking or naked light within 20 feet.

Para. 4: No fire or portable light capable of igniting vapour, and no explosive or unstable substance allowed on any vehicle.

Para. 5: Fire Extinguisher required on vehicle.

Para. 6: Copy of Regulations supplied to Drivers or displayed so that they can be read.

Para. 7: Enforcement the responsibility of the Petroleum Authority.

The third Order also in draft is "The Inflammable substances (Conveyance by Road) (Labelling) Regulations"·

This Order concerns the labelling of vehicles con- tainers, and it applies also to Petroleum Spirit and Mixture. The exemptions are as above, i.e. 250 kilogrammes for the named substances and the other exemptions for Reference is made in these Regulations to a Notice". Details of this are not in the draft, but will almost certainly be the "FLAME" symbol, with the word "INFLAMMABLE" or "INFLAMMABLE LIQUID" underneath.

The notice shall be 8 inches square, the symbol and letters shall be black on a bright red background.

The requirements are as follows:

On all vehicles at the highest point at the front rear, the "Prescribed Notice" shall be displayed, pamted or indelibly marked on a notice board. The notice board shall be: Durable, Clean, and in good repair.

This applies to Petroleum Spirit as well as the new substances listed in the previous Order. So, when this comes into force, all Motor Spirit tank wagons will have to display this "Prescribed Notice".

In addition to the "Prescribed Notice" all tank wagons must be marked on each side with the name of the substance carried. If there are different substances in each compartment, then each compartment must be so marked. The label must be painted or indelibly marked on the side of the tank, or on a notice board which must comply with the conditions mentioned above for notice boards connected with the "Prescribed Notice". (This does not

apply to Petroleum Spirit, so Motor Spirit wa[:l:ons will continue to be marked "Petroleum Spmt, Highly Inflammable"). The notice must be in four inch red letters on a white background.

Containers must be labelled with the name of the substance, painted or indelibly marked, no size stipulated .but it must show "Clearly" the name. Also, each contamer must display two labels showing the "Prescribed Notice" as far as possible on opposite sides. This does not apply if the container holds less than l kilogramme, except for Acetaldehyde or Carbon Disulphide when there is. no exemption. If a container is enclosed in an outer con tamer or covering, then the outer container is deemed to be the container for the purpose of this regulation. This means that if small bottles for example are being used for one of these substances, and if they hold less than I they need not be marked, but if they are packed m a carton holding more than I kilogramme in total, then the carton must be labelled. There is a general exemption for sm::ill containers packed in an approved manner. The label with the name of the substance does not have to be displayed on containers used for Petroleum Spirit or Mixture which are already required to be labelled under the Petroleum Act, Section 5. This states that such containers must be labelled either "Petroleum Spirit Highly Inflammable" or "Petroleum Mixture giving off an inflammable heavy vapour" and must bear the name and address of the "sender".

Summing up, the Regulations consider four possible alternatives, namely, one of the substances named, a mixture of one of the named substances with a Flash Point below 73°F., Petroleum Spirit and Petroleum Mixture. In all cases, where the total is above the exemp- tion limits, the vehicle and the containers must carry the "Prescribed Notice". Also, if the substance is one of the named substances or a mixture of one of the named substances, the container (including the tank of a tank wagon) must be labelled with the name of the substance. If the material is Petroleum Spirit or Petroleum Mixture, the container must be marked as stated above.

It should be emphasised that the new Order and Regu- lations are ouly in draft form and may be varied slightly following discussions now taking place.

Civic Amenities Act, 1967

continued from page 14

The effectiveness of Section 19 in eliminating the type of hazard which has been of particular concern to members of the Association will obviously depend upon the quality of enforcement at local level but it does appear to promise a remedy easier to sustain and in the majority of cases more severe in penalty than that afforded by present Petroleum legislation. Although enforcement duties under the new Act appear to be outside the normal responsibili- ties of Petroleum Officers, occasions may arise when they will be called upon to exercise their specialist knowledge where dangers arise from petrol left in fuel tanks of abandoned vehicles.

New CD2 Fire Extinguishing System

A report by J. W. Hewison, D.S.A.A., Havant & Waterloo U.D.C.

At a new service station recently opened by Atlantic Petroleum Ltd. , at Ha_mpden Park, E_astbourne, the contractors (Petropump have ms.talle? a specm_I C02 fire extinguishing system which first. of its kmd to be incorporated in the design of a petrol fillmg stat10n.

A. demonstration of the system was attended by the Association Chairman, Mr. C. R. Peskett, and the Chairman of the South Eastern Branch, Mr. J. R. Domoney. Also in attendance were a number of Petroleum Officers, Fire Officers and Petroleum Company representatives.

T_he Mr. J.C. Hull of Petropurnp Ltd. , in with Mrn1max Ltd., consists of a small bore pipe 1unnmg underground from a C02 gas cylinder to the base of the petrol pumps and the petrol tank manhole chambers.

The pipe.. used was f' bore galvanised iron, terminating in the pump housmg and manhole with a bell mouth diffuser nozzle and C02 bottles (one connected and one standby) were housed ms1de the main building.

The principal of the system is that should a fire occur either in the pump housing or the manhole chamber or even m the vicinity of either, a lever is depressed on the CO bottle which will immediately release sufficient C0 2 gas to smother a_nd a fire in the pump housing or ma 2nhole chamber or if the fi.re is on the forecourt, due to s pillage, etc. , 1t will render the pumps and tank chambers safe through saturating them 111 C02 gas.

The main advantage is that this system attacks the fire if in the pumps or tank chambers at source from a remote position, and if the fire is on the forecourt the pumps, etc., are rendered safe, leaving the staff free to deal with the fire with ment without the fear of further trouble from the mstall a t10n.

The demon stration was mo st realistic, and two petrol tank manhole chambers were saturated in petrol and an old pump had a tray of petrol set in its base; everyone stood well back the": the whole thing was set on fire and allowed to burn for some time. The C0 2 gas was then release? and fire was aln_iost a t once extinguished. Thi s was a mo st 1mpress1ye and convinced me that it would be a worthwhile add1t1onal safeguard to any petrol installation.

My own thoughts are that this "".'ouJd ?e an ex_ceIJent first _Ii":e fire-fighting sys tem on a fillmg stat1011 where 1t 1s possible that the only person m charge would be a young female in the control room , for I have always had my as to whether or not a young girl would cha:ge out from the secunty of a nd tackle a petrol pump wluch was on fire. general mchnation I feel would be to get as far away from tlus fire as possible.

It is suggested that this system be incorpora ted into the control board sys tem and could be activated by sunply depres sing a button.

Jt was interest ing to note that this new filling station by Atlantic was a complete departure from the 's hoe box des ign and the building co mplete with double windows lik e a good quality bungalow, and certamly fitted rn well with its surroundings

A.M.C. REPORT

FIRE SERVICE COMMITTEE

Flammable Substances

The Association's support has been sought by Tyne- mouth in furtherance of representations they have made to the Home Office and the Ministry of Housing and Local Government to the effect that the Council should have power to enforce fire precautions in respect of the storage of liquefied petroleum gases (protane and of polyurethane plastic foam. _The provi_s10ns of existing legislation controlling factories, explosives and petroleum do not apply to these materials, neither does their storage constitute a change of under Town and Country Planning Acts, once planmng permiss10n has been granted for the use of the premises for storage purposes.

Tynemouth consider that the storage of such materials constitutes a grave fire hazard which could we_ll ha_ve serious consequences, particularly where residential premises are situate in close proximity to a used for that purpose, and are in fact able to cite such an instance within their own area. However, the Home Office view is that although there are dangers associated with the storage of polyurethane foam in the sub?tance is not intrinsically dangerous; they pomt out m any event it is not covered by any of the codes relatmg to the international transport of dangerous substances. In department's view it is for the chief fire officers. to advise, in the light of local conditions, on fire precaut10ns to be taken when polyurethane foam is stored in bulk. They remark that the question of controlling the storage of this substance has not been raised before and that they have no plans to bring it within the scope of existing legislation.

With regard to the storage of liquefied petroleum gases it would be possible, say the department, to enforce control

of storage under either the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act, 1928, or by means of regulations under the Factories Act, 1961 and the Offices, Shops and Railway Premises Act, 1963'. Apparently a sub-committee of the Standing Advisory Committee on Dangerous Substancess has been charged with the task of drawing up a code of practice for the storage of liquefied petroleum gases at fixed bulk installations and when this code has been prepared the Home Office and the Ministry of Labour will consider to what extent its provisions should be embodied in regula- tions.

For their part, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government usually adhere to the principle that a par- ticular form of restraint, however desirable in itself, should be exercised through some other statutory control, or that new powers should be sought if they are required, rather than that planning control should be used for the purpose. They point out that the creation of a new class in relation to the storage of particular articles would not necessarily have the effect of bringing such a use under local planning control since it would still be necessary to establish that a material change of use of the premises would be involved. They suggest that the storage of the particular substance in question does not constitute such a material change of use.

We share Tynemouth's view that greater control over the storage of substances of the types referred to would be advisable and have asked the Home Office, in the first instance, to refer the matter as it relates to polyurethane foam as well as to liquefied petroleum gases, for consideration by the Standing Advisory Committee on Dangerous Substances.

Municipal Review SupplernentOctober, 1967.

LEGALITY OF GLASS-FIBRE FUEL TANKS DISCUSSED

The question of the legality of motor vehicle fuel tanks made of material other than metal was brought to the notice of the Home Office as a result of the comments of a coroner during an inquest on a motor-cyclist who died following a collision with a lorry.

Although the Home Office have no authority to interpret a point of law, it appears to them that the use of glass-fibre fuel tanks for petrol driven motor vehicles is contrary to the Petroleum Spirit (Motor Vehicles) etc., Regulations, 1929 (S. R. & O. 1929, No. 952). Regulation 2 provides that petroleum spirit intended to be used for the purpose of any motor vehicle shall not be kept otherwise than in metal vessels so constructed and maintained in such condition as to be reasonably secure against breakage and to prevent the leakage of any liquid or vapour therefrom. This Regulation would appear to apply to motor vehicle fuel tanks because Regulation 4 expressly exempts such tanks from the otherwise general requirement to label storage vessels.

The British Cycle and Motor Cycle Industries Association have expressed some doubts as to whether the 1929 Regulations were intended to prohibit non-metallic fuel tanks, and they point out that the motor cycle industry has been using glass-fibre for fuel tanks for some time, and this usage is growing.

Discussions are to be held between the Home Office and the Motor and Motor Cycle Industries as soon as possible in order to consider what steps should be taken to provide for this development. Meanwhile, members of the public should know that in the view of the Home Office glass-fibre petrol tanks on motor vehicles including motor cycles may well prove to be illegal.

Council at Solihull

Present

C. R. Peskett (Chairman), with Messrs. E. V. Beeby, J. Beer, R. L. Bloor, G. N. Dean, D. Hall, J. Hewison, G. H. Harvey, R. P. Holdaway, T. Kerr, R. E. J. Roden, J. Short and the Honorary Secretary.

An official welcome was expressed to delegates by the Town Clerk, D. W. Chapman, Esq., Hon. Member of the Association.

Apologies

Received from J. Birks and J. W. Frid.

Minutes of previous Meeting Confirmed.

Matters Arising

These were dealt with in the various Committee Reports.

Correspondence

The Hon. Secretary read a letter from the Assistant Dominion Fire Commissioner, Ottawa, Canada in which he asked for an application form for membersl;ip of the Association.

A letter from the National Council, Chicago, U.S.A., suggested that the Associat10n join the Council. It was resolved that the Hon. Secretary apply for membership of the National Safety Council.

Report of Hon. Treasurer

The Hon: Treasurer. reported on the financial position to date, which was satisfactory. He also referred to two Officer Members, and a Local Authority, with three Assc;ciate Members whose su?scriptions not yet been received. It was agreed that 1f the subscriptions had not been received by the end of 1967, the memberships be considered as lapsed.

Report of Hon. Secretary

The Hon. Secretary that since the last Council Meeting 17 Local Authont1es, I Officer and 5 Associates had applied for membership. It was resolved that the applications be approved.

The membership to date is as follows:

8 Honorary and Retired Members 416 Local Authority Members 25 Officer Members 58 Associate Members 31 Bulletin Subscribers 538

Report of Hon. Editor

The Editor expressed his pleasure that more correspondents were using the columns of The Bulletin. He would welcome more articles and constructive criticism of The Bulletin and of the Association. He thanked "Otto" for his contributions and hoped Members would continue to use The Bulletin.

Report of Finance and General Purposes Committee

The Chairman briefly reported on the transfer of £534 from the School Account to the General Fund and the opening of a Deposit Account.

Report of Reference and Legal Committee

The Chairman submitted the final draft of Special Conditions for Post Payment Self Service and for Unattended Self Service at Retail Filling Stations. After a few amendments he was requested to re-draft and submit a copy to the Chairman of the Association for confirmation prior to distribution.

Report of Education and Publications Committee

The Chairman presented his Report and drew attention to the proposed reprint of the earlier Bul/etins. At the moment the number of requests did not warrant the expense involved in reprinting, but it was agreed that a further notice should appear in the next issue of The Bulletin.

The question of a for the School was considered but the Council decided that for the time being no change be made.

Mr. Beer drew attention to the Testamur for Petroleum Acts Administration which has been conducted by the Institute of Weights and Measures Administration. The Institute was of the opinion that the organising of the Testamur might be carried out with advantage by this Association. It was agreed that the Education and Pu blications Committee consider the matter.

Report of the Constitutions and Rules Committee

The Report of this Committee was adopted. The following items are extracted therefrom:

(a) Votes for Associate Members-The Committee decided that no change should be made in the existing procedure.

(b) President-This Office to be created at the first opportunity, i.e. the Annual General Meeting, and that the Office remain vacant until a suitable person becomes available.

(c) Vice-Presidents-That the creation of these Offices · be similar to that of President. No number to be specified.

(d) Fellows- The Committee accepts the principle in the creation of this class of Membership, but suggests that the election of such people be delayed for three years.

(e) Honorary Members (Overseas)-It was felt Committee that no purpose useful to the Associat10n would be served by the introduction of such a class.

Multi-Storey Car Parks

The Hon. Secretary read a letter from the Home 0.ffice which stated that the Car Parks Sub-Committee draft recommendations would be dealt with by a SubCommittee of the Standing Advisory ..After due consideration the Council agreed that the pnntmg of the draft be proceeded with.

Branch Reports

Brief Reports of Branch activity were submitted by the Secretaries of the South Eastern and Scottish Branches.

Any Other Business

Mr. Hewison expressed doubts about certain Latched Nozzles he had seen and was informed that these instruments should incorporate the safety devices as set out in the Home Office Memorandum.

Prospective New Branch

Mr. Holdaway (Editor) informed the Council he had been invited to a meeting of Petroleum Officers in Manchester for the purpose of discussing Branch Formation.

Branch Meetings

South Eastern

A Meeting of the South Eastern Branch was held at the Council Chambers, Bridge Street, Godalming, on Wednesday, 20th September, 1967.

Prior to, and after the meeting, a prototype maximum capacity road tanker wagon was made available in the Car Park for members to examine by kind arrangement of Mr. S. L. Hope-Gale, Area Equipment Supervisor of Shell-Mex & B.P. Ltd., Mr. J. G. Bisiker l/C Road Equipment and Mr. A. V. Johnson, the Equipment Engineer and designer of the tank wagon, were also present from the Company to explain details of the wagon and to answer on-the-spot questions.

Present

Mr. J. L. Domoney in the chair and 62 members.

Apologies for Absence

Were tendered on behalf of nine members.

Minutes

The Minutes of the last meeting of the Branch held on 5th July, 1967, in Godalming having already been circulated were confirmed and signed as a correct record.

Matters Arising

Explosimeter: A Model 2 Explosimeter by Mine Safety Appliances Co., Ltd., of Glasgow was on display for members to ex<tmine and test. Price £35 inc.

Welcome

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Mr. S. L. Hope-Gale, Mr. J. G. Bisiker, and Mr. A. V. Johnson of Shell-Mex & B.P., and Mr. H. T. E. Jackson of the G.L.C., who was invited to present his paper on Tank Wagon inspection. Mr. Jackson gave a resume of the requirements relating to the construction and use of tank wagons and illustrated specific points with the aid of colour transparencies. Mr. Jackson covered points including fire screens, filling operations, dipping and venting, delivery, fire extinguishers, Home Office approval plates and design codes.

At the close of Mr. Jackson's talk the meeting was addressed by Mr. J. G. Bisiker, who gave brief details of the prototype tanker, stating that it was of 6,300 gallons capacity comprising 3 x 1,000 and 3 x 1, 100 gallon compartments; the maximum limit of 6,600 gallons could not be achieved within the present weight limit of 32 tons. Information sheets giving all relevant technical information on the tanker were distributed to members. The matter was then open for discussion.

Members questioned Mr. Jackson and the Shell-Mex & B.P. Representatives on many aspects of tank wagons and inspection. Particular reference was made regarding the additional loading of garage forecourts and the need for more inspection of tankers operated by small companies and 'one-man' firms. At the close of the discussion, the Chairman expressed on behalf of the members present (a record number), grateful thanks to Mr. Jackson for his illustrated talk and to the three representatives of ShellMex & B.P. Ltd., who had kindly made the tanker available for inspection and contributed much to the discussion and obvious success of the meeting.

Any Other Business

(I) Dry Ice: The question was raised as to whether dry ice could be used. as a method of rendering old petrol storage tanks safe; 1t was ag_reed that tanks must be cleaned and steamed out before bemg declared safe.

East Midland

An Ordinary General of the East Midland Branch was held at the Civic Centre , Scunthorpe , on Thursday, 12th October, 1967.

Present were the <;hairman, E. T. Crowe, and 21 members; 18 apologies were received.

_In the morning visited Cracking Plant of B1tmac Ltd ., and were given a most mformative talk by the Managing Director on the_ production of benzene and other by-products before making a conducted tour of the plant. The many members, who gamed some useful 111format1on on petroleum technology.

In the afternoon members were welcomed by His Worship the Mayor of Scunthorpe , Councillor Dennis Adams J.P. He said that many pe<?ple did not have too oood image of Scun_thorpe an? dtspe_lled this by a few facts relatmg to the mdustnes , amemttes and development schemes of Scunthorpe He to the important work of petrolemn officers and said that he was in favour of self-service stations which were progress ive and served

(2) Off-Set Fills: It was ag:eed t?at in certain stances, the use of off-set fill pipes with a Hydrostatic Type Contents Gauge and sealed manhole covers could be accepted. Consideration should given to relating the size of the Contents Gauge to the size of the tank.

a useful purpose. He said that such stations were useful to shift workers and that he was pleased to have one in Scunthorpe

The Branch Chairman, Mr. E. T. Crowe, then thanked the Mayor for his welcome a_nd to the made by Scunthorpe since his firs_t v1s1t. He s_aid Scunthorpe obviously a far-sighted Council which was backed up by efficient officers and to Mr. Skinner of Scunthorpe , who had a very branch member and had recently rehnqwshed his petroleum duties.

Minutes

The Minutes of the last Annual G eneral Meeting held at Derby on Tuesday, May , 1967 , w_ere approved. There were no matters ansmg from the Mmutes.

Membership

Two applications for membe rship were received from Mr. M. T. Lucas of Scunthorpe and Mr. R. Hawley of Avery-Hardoll Ltd. Both applications were approved.

Branch Constitution and Rules

The Secretary reported that the amendments and alterations to the Branch Rules and Constitution had been confirmed by the Council. It was proposed by Mr. E. J. Latham and seconded by Mr. J.C. Bird that the final draft which had been circulated to members be approved. This was carried.

Branch Representative's Report

Mr. J. Birks gave his report on the proceedings of the Council of the Association. Members referred to the proposed Model Code of the Association relating to selfservice petrol stations and were informed that the final draft was about to be considered by the Council. Mr. Lucas said that he had drawn up his own recommendations which he had submitted to the Home Office and these had been approved.

Any other business

There was some discussion on the use of flat-ended tanks for underground petrol storage. Mr. Abraham of Gun!1ess Pump Services Ltd., who produced these tanks, exf?Iamed the technicalities of their construction and was hopmg for eventual approval by the Council.

The business meeting was concluded and the Chairman then introduced Mr. J. H. B. Hornby, D.P.A., Deputy Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures of the City of Oxford, who gave an extremely interesting talk entitled "Other Men's Methods-The North American Scene". Mr. Hornby had spent six months in the United States of America and Canada under a Travelling Fellowship awarded to him by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. He had, amongst other things, carried out a study of and research into petroleum storage and distribution and members derived much food for thought after learning of the methods employed in North America.

Mr. Cartwright opened the discussion by asking about the disposal of leaking underground petrol tanks. Mr. Hornby said that notice is served on the owner of such tanks to have them made safe within a fixed number of days. Mr. Wareham said that we were working in the dark regarding cathodic protection for underground tanks in this country which was a sound method of protection and lasted for some time. Mr. Hornby described the method of cathodic protection in the United States of America and said that it lasted for fifteen years.

Mr. Sendall said he was concerned about the storage of liquid methane and had written to the Home Office for advice but so far had had no reply. Mr. Hornby said he had not met this problem of liquid methane storage. Mr. Abraham discussed the use of petrol rotary pumps being located at the man-hole of underground tanks and Mr. Roberts said that submersed pumps could now be used. Mr. Hornby replied that such located pumps would produce a pressurised system and a fractured pipe would then be dangerous. He said that such systems used in America have a sheer-valve inserted where the pipe-line breaks the surface in order to cut off the petrol flow in an emergency.

Mr. Wareham asked about the testing of a bitumen covering on underground tanks and whether any special examination was applied to test the soundness of such covering. Mr. Hornby said that tanks were generally examined

visually. Mr. Latham wondered whether young persons employed on petrol stations in America who were sometimes careless and did not realise the dangers from petroleum. Mr. Hornby said that young persons were J}Ot employed as petrol attendants and often negroes earned out this work.

Mr. Lucas asked whether octane ratings were checked. Mr. Hornby said that checks were made in some parts of America and quoted California where the Weights and Measures Department had its own section for this purpose. Good petrol companies were only too pleased to pay a fee for this work in order chase out the bad companies. Mr. Lucas that it wo.uld ?e a good idea to have local octane checkmg centres m this country and Mr. Hornby thought that something on these lines might be done on a regional basis. Mr. Reeves asked about forecourt drainage by means of interceptors and Mr. Hornby replied that in most cases petrol stations in America were in the open and had no drains on the forecourt to be concerned about.

Mr. Latham then proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Hornby and said that all members had been very interested in the American Scene, and had certainly broadened their outlook by listening to Mr. Hornby's excellent talk.

The meeting was concluded and members had tea at the kind invitation of the Mayor of Scunthorpe. A vote of thanks to the Mayor and Scunthorpe Corporation was given by Mr. J. Bantoft for the excellent facilities and hospitality which members had received.

South-East Midland

A meeting of the South East Midland Branch was held at the Civic Centre, Felixstowe, on Thursday, 12th October, 1967.

Thirty-five members were welcomed by Councillor W. J. Rowland, Chairman of Felixstowe U.D.C. The Clerk of the Council, Mr. C. H. Mathews, D.P.A., was also present.

Report of Branch Representative

Mr. J. W. Frid, of Cambridge City, Delegate to the Executive Council, made a report on the work of the Council.

Matters Arising

The meeting then discussed a report by Mr. G. C. Davies, Petroleum Officer for Great Yarmouth, regarding a decision by his Committee to make a Condition of Licence prohibiting the dispensing of petroleum spirit into cans which were not constructed and labelled in accordance with statutory requirements. H.M. Chief Inspector of Explosives had raised no objection to the inclusion of such a Condition. ·

It was generally agreed that such a Condition was highly desirable but there were differences in opinion as to what constituted 'constructed in accordance with statutory requirements'. A show of hands indicated that only a very few of those petroleum officers present insisted that the caps of containers used for this purpose should have machine turned, rather than moulded or spun threads.

Mr. Clark of Southend-on-Sea reported on the decision of a recent Appeal to Home Office which was made in his area. The facts are reported briefly on page 93 of The Bulletin for October, 1967. Some surprise was expressed in that the Home Office, although refusing the ApJ?eal, had indicated. that they were not, in principle, agamst the use of swmg-arm pumps across the public f fo_r refuelling vehicles standing on the highway m certam c!fcumstances.

Address

Mr. B. J. Fuller, Safety Officer, Eastern Gas Board then delivered an interesting and instructive lecture on measures necessary dealing with liquefied petroleum gases. The lecture was illustrated by two films one dealing the safe of these gases, and the' other showing of fires involving L.P.G. A practical demonstrat10n which took place on the beach immediately after the lecture left no doubt in the minds of those watchin.g that dry powder the only effective means of dealing with such fires, and d!fect application of water was to be avoided at all costs.

Lunch was taken under very pleasant conditions at the Restaurant on the sea-front, and the meeting then VISlted the propane installation of Phillips Petroleum (U.K.) Limited. This large refrigerated installation of some 30,000 tons of propane is the largest in Europe and th_e second largest in the world. The liquefied gas is distnbu.ted .by tankers over a wide area of East Anglia, and by p1pelme to Norwich, where it is fed into the town gas supply.

Finally, a visit to the Felixstowe Docks and Tank Farm rounded off what had been a most enjoyable and instructive day.

North Western

An inaugural meeting of the North Western Branch was held at Manchester, on Wednesday, 18th October 1967 with 28 petroleum officers attending. ' '

The meeting was opened by Mr. E. W. Hilton of Rochdale, who the members attending and suggested that the be by .Mr. R. P. Holdaway, Editor of The 8111/etm, until such time as a Chairman had been appointed.

Mr. Holdaway gave an address on the aims and achievements of the Association, sketching out the progress that had been made through the years. A formal vote of thanks to Mr. Holdaway was proposed by Mr. Hilton and carried unanimously.

Branch Formation

The members present being in agreement to the formation of a North Western Branch, proposed and seconded the following persons to act as Officers:

Election of Officers

Chairman: J. R. Roberts, M.B.E., Manchester

Vice-Chairman: F. Kenniford, Accrington

Secretary and Treasurer:

Auditor: Committee: General Discussion

S. A. Gower, Huyton with Roby U.D.C. (also elected Branch Representative)

To be appointed N. K. Whitehead, Blackpool E. Newton, Chester G. H. Lancaster, Wilmslow U.D.C.

After the election of officers a general discussion took place on the availability of new model codes for self service petrol stations, underground and multi-storey car parks.

The possibility of legislation to deal specifically with the problem of abandoned cars was discussed at some length and it was felt that the Law as it stands did not give sufficient powers for the successful handling of the problem.

A question was put as to what circumstances would warrant a refusal of the licence, i.e. tanks inside workshops where welding, etc., takes place. H was felt that a lot depended on the particular circumstances of each case, such as how long the contravention had been in existence and the history of accidents if any. The logical way would be to set a time limit, which should be reasonable, for the Licensee to put his house in order and to modernise the installation to present day standards and if this failed, to withhold the Licence.

Tees-Side

Minutes of a Meeting held at Fire Brigade Headquarters, Park Road South, Middlesbrough, on Tuesday, 3lst October, 1967.

Present

The Chairman, Mr. H. Johnson, and 21 representatives of licensing authorities as well as 5 trade visitors.

The Chairman opened the meeting by extending a welcome to new members.

Apologies for Absence

Were submitted from Middlesbrough Constabulary, Darlington Fire Brigade and Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. (Billingham).

Minutes of Previous Meeting

The minutes of the previous branch meeting were accepted as a true record.

Matters arising from previous mhmtes

(a)

Drainage systems for filling station forecourts

The Secretary had been instructed at the last meeting to write to the Editor of The Bulletin a letter for publication asking for the views of members on the use of pitch flbre drainage pipes at petroleum station forecourts. As yet no replies had been received and other enquiries made had met with little success.

Mr. P. Cartwright, of Hartlepool C.B., stated that the Chief Petroleum Officer of his Authority, Mr.

Brunner, had had correspondence with the manufacturers on this subject and felt that this correspondence might be available to members of the Branch on request.

The Secretary promised to pursue this matter and as soon as any worthwhile information came to hand, members would be informed.

(b) Construction of Interceptors on forecourts

The Secretary reported that this matter was discussed at the last meeting of the Executive Council and it was felt that it was covered by the Association's own conditions of licence and also by the Public Health Act.

Additional Conditions of Licence for Self-Service

The Secretary reported that at the last meeting of the Executive Council, a final draft of additional conditions of licence in respect of self-service by post payment and unattended pre-payment had been approved. Members were informed that publication of these conditions would proceed as soon as possible and would be available from the National Secretary, as were the Association's suggested conditions of licence.

Twenty-four licensing authorities known to have per- mitted self-service had been contacted and asked of their experience in this field-a summary of the replies being given to attending members.

The Secretary pointed out that this had been done on the instructions of the Branch and in no way reflected his personal views. There appeared to be some misinterpre- tation following a previous report to the Branch on selfservice but he felt sure that members present at that meeting were aware that he was trying, on their behalf, to obtain as much information on this subject as possible !'rom those people who had first-hand experience, so that 1f an approach was made to any member, that member at least had some background knowledge to help him arrive at a decision.

Alterations to forecourts without permission

Mr. Lown, of Sunderland, opened the discussion on this stating licensees and petroleum companies in his area had earned out alterations and additions to the storage without knowledge of the Petroleum 9fficer and, m the hcence to store had changed hands m some cases without any notification. He felt he should also. warn mem of the dangers associated with ancillary equ1p.ment provided on forecourts and he instanced one premise a se.lf-service car wash had been installed the heatmg of by liquefied petroleum gas'. It found on that the large L.P.G. supply cylmders and heat1_ng u111t. were located in the shop used f?r cellulose spraymg. His Authority had written to all hce.nsees. an? petroleum companies reminding them of their obligations under Petroleum Legislation.

Or.ie or two other members spoke of similar experiences and 1t agreed ths.t .a careful check should be kept on prov1s1on of add1t1onal services on licensed installations.

Demonstration of O.P.W. Latched Nozzle

The Chairman introduced Mr. S. H. Stam, of O.P.W. Dover (Europa). N. V.; Mr. R. W. Mallalieu, of Link-

Hampson Ltd., and Mr. E. E. Harris, of Gilbarco Ltd., who had attended the meeting in order to demonstrate the O.P.W. latched nozzle. He reminded the meeting that the Branch had previously been able to witness a demonstration of the Z.V.A. latched nozzle and this was a further to examine closely these types of nozzles and to obtam first-hand information from the designers.

Mr. Stam demonstrated the features of the O.P.W. lAA in relation to the requirements of the Home Office and followed this talk by a practical demonstration of the nozzle on the petroleum installation at Middlesbrough Fire Brigade Headquarters.

The Chairman in thanking Mr. Stam and his associates remarked that this piece of equipment appeared to satisfy the Home Office requirements and felt that the visit had been really worthwhile; this view was endorsed by all present.

Any other business

(a)

Transportation of Petroleum Spirit in Factories

The representative for Hartlepool told the meeting that a in his district was now transporting Benzole w1thm the factory area by road tanker instead of by rail tanker as previously. In its passage through the factory the road tanker passed through hazard areas and he. wondered if his authority had any legal control over this.

It was Home Office letter on the subject ?fpetroleum spmt kept m fuel tanks of vehicles, published ma recent .A. M.C. supplement, might give some guidance on subject. As no other advice could be given by the meetmg, the Secretary promised to raise the matter at the next Council meeting.

(b) Testing of above-ground Storage Tanks

The representative for Carlisle asked if it was reasonable to carry out tests on large above-ground storage tanks if these tanks were over thirty years old-if so, should the test be pressure or ullage. Captain Eastaugh of the Port Authority _indicated that he had some knowiedge of this and promised to get in touch with Carlisle later. The Secretary reminded .Fire Service representatives that a meetmg of the lnstitut1on of Fire Engineers would be held at Middlesbrough Fire Brigade Headquarters on Tuesday, 14th November, when a Mr. Taalen, from Holland would. be speaking on the construction of large tank farms. T.h1s would be a good opportunity to raise the que.st10n, particularly as the speaker was an engineer internationally engaged on the construction and maintenance of above-ground tanks.

(c) Amalgamation of Tees-side Authorities

Mr. Ash Borough Engineer, Redcar suggested that as the Tees-side Authorities would be amalgamated on the I st April year, it. i:night be at this stage to adopt u111form cond1t10ns of licence. The Chairman stated that he had contacted the Town Clerk of the new Authority who had agreed to this suggestion.

The appropriate members agreed that the chairman should wr.ite to the concerned recommending the adopt10n of the Associat10n's Model Conditions of Licence.

Through the Pipeline by OTTO

WHY ALL THE HEAT '!

. If al';lminiu!11. and iron oxide are finely divided and inter-.mingled it is necessary only to heat them to produce highly exothermal (or heat producing) reaction, which IS comn:ionly known as thermite reaction. Thermite is the name to a mixture of powdered aluminium with a metalhc oxide such as the oxides of iron chromium or The mixture is used wherever'welding by the therm1te process is done.

Once the mixture is made, it does not require a great dea! .of heat to start the Sufficient heat may be obtained from a comparatively hght glancing blow.

Iron ?Xide is familiar to all of us as rust. Some very experiments ha.ve been carried out at the Safety m Mm7s Research on the ignition of gases by !he impact of aluminmm on rusty surfaces. The investigations .have there is a very real risk of the production of incend1ve sparks by these impacts.

As long ago as 1938 a works engineer recorded that when he st.ruck a rule against a hot steam pipe covered with alum1m':1m paint, a spark was produced at each blow. a!1 8-ounce brass key for the rule and obtained exactly s1m1lar results. The same effect was d_emonstrated repeatedly using tools of copper and berylhum bronze-a poor recommendation indeed for the now "safety tools" made of these the matter has shown that sparks are more dbtained dfrothm surfaces than from newly pain 7 ones at a priming coat of paint under the paint the chances of sparking.

..Happ1I?' practice of coating steel tanks with alum1111um paint 1s no longer generally followed by the petro!eum .industry too often thermite reaction mvolving alu"?inium _painted st.eelwork or such has appeared too high on hsts of possible causes of fires.

T.he position is not so rosy in regard to petroleum however. One sees in juxtaposition articles made of steel and aluminmm. Dare one mention aluminium manlids on the steel carrying tanks of tank wagons ! Many aluminium internal pipes and some have their carrying tanks made of aluminium alloy. As if this were not enough, the spout of the ubiquitous petrol pump nozzle is usually made from aluminium nowadays.

It is pertinent to remark that magnesium behaves similarly to aluminium in the matter of thermite reactions whereas zinc does not. It is further apposite to remark that the possibility produci!1g an incendive spark by steel to steel contact is remote mdeed.

WHERE'S THE VITAL SPARK'?

The mining industry was the first to cope with the problem of flammable vapour/air concentrations and the petroleum industry has much cause to be grateful to it for the solutions provided. lf the Davy lamp had little to offer then the concepts offlameproofing and intrinsic safety have had much. The fact that gratitude is now wearing a little thin is perhaps more than a sympton of the petroleum industry's coming of age. It is a sign of the times in which oil is international business and coal mining tends to be regarded as little more than a national pastime.

The adoption of purely local standards and rules does not worry a industry it can. be extremely irritating when operations are on an mternat1onal scale. Nor is the irritation confined to the petroleum industry. Many other businesses want to use foreign equipment which may not comply with our local flameproof rules. From the frustration caused is born the remark that whereas flameproof equipment is designed to withstand falls of rock from the roof, most factories moved out of caves centuries ago.

A revision of local flameproof rules (B.S.229) is at present being carried out. The intention is to incorporate a number of recommendations made by the International Electrotechnical Commission (I.E.C.). In course of time, and it will take some time before a draft is ready, this may go some way to easing frustration but it is far from being the whole answer. There are more ways of cracking the nut than by use of the flameproof technique.

Since 1964 when the new British Standards Code of Practice 1003 Part 1 was issued, people concerned with flammable vapour "danger areas" have become accustomed to classifying areas as Division 0, 1 or 2 depending on their assessment of the persistence of the vapour hazard. What may be the next steps along the path to rationalisation has been the recent formation in the Ministry of Technology of a department to be known as the British Approvals Service for Electrical Equipment in Flammable Atmospheres (BASEEFA). This body will in the future approve and certify "safe" equipment for all applications other than mining. The body however currently lacks its vital spark. It is to be hoped that this will soon be forthcoming.

If it is to fulfill the function that many see for it the Approvals Service should widen look beyond ftameproof, increased s.afety. and mtrms1cally techniques of whatever nationality. It should examine alternative of achieving safety for electrical equipment in flammable atmospheres, remembering that what the man in the field needs to know is not whether a particular technique is satisfactory, but a. particular piece of equipment can be .safely use.d m a D1v1s1on 0, I or 2 danger area associated with a particular flammable vapour. The man in the field having decided on the classification to be applied to a particular area at a particular premises will then be in a position to ensure that only suitable equipment is installed.

BASEEFA, as envisaged, will approve not only British made equipment but that manufactured in other countries as well. To protect the British electrical industry it is essential for reciprocal arrangements to be negotiated. These negotiations would seem to present an excellent opportunity for seeking at the same time an international standard on the classification of danger areas.

legal proceedings

TANKS NOT NUMBERED

A case against Baythorn Ltd., Station Garage, Station Road, Stoke D'Abernon, Cobham, a licensee within the district of Esher Urban District Council (the Licensing Authority) was heard at Walton Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 28th October, 1967. The firm in question pleaded guilty to an offence against Regulation 16(2) of the Petroleum Spirit (Conveyance by Road) Regulations, 1957, and was fined £10, the Council being awarded £10 IOs. Od. in costs.

The facts leading up to this prosecution were as follows: The premises occupied by the licensee in the case was a petrol filling station which has storage capacity for 4,000 gallons petroleum spirit, 1,000 gallons of paraffin and 1,000 gallons diesel oil in six 1,000 gallon underground tanks.

In June, 1967, the local Police contacted the Petroleum Inspector telling him that a report had been received from a filling station that petroleum spirit had been mixed with paraffin and some of the mixture sold to members of the public.

On investigation it was found that 6-! gallons plus an additional one pint had been sold. Four gallons to account customers were quickly traced, although to reach one the police of several counties were alerted and a cabin cruiser was finally located up river.

ILLEGAL STORAGE OF PETROLEUM SPIRIT

On 13th December, 1966, Alexander Robinson Morrison (30) of 18 Raiford Street, Glasgow, pleaded guilty to keeping 30 gallons of petroleum in 5 gallon cans in the bedroom of his Corporation house on or about September 12th, 1966, and was fined £10 at the Central Police Court, Glasgow.

Morrison, a much convicted criminal with a record of violence, safe breaking, illegal money lending, etc., had his house raided by the police looking for evidence that would link him with a series of safe breakings. They did not find any such evidence but did find six 5 gallon drums of petrol which they seized.

They tried to prove it had been stolen but could get no real evidence. They passed the information to the Weights and Measures Department for prosecution. The petrol was returned to the firm from whom the police were satisfied it had been stolen.

PETROL INCORRECT OCTANE RATING

At Liverpool County Magistrates' Court on 28th July 1967, William Reese & Sons (Aintree) Ltd., were fined £60 and £3 I l 5s. 11 d. costs for selling petrol to which a false trade description was applied by means of a 'Four Star' marking on the delivery pump.

Mr. M. Craggs, Divisional Inspector, made a test purchase of petrol at the Company's garage. He asked for three gallons of four-star petrol and was served from a pump that bore a 'Four-Star' marking. A subsequent test ?fthe petrol revealed Research Octane Number 95 which the designation for 'Three-Star' petrol. Accordmg to Bnt1sh Standards Specification 4040 the minimum Research Octane Number for 'Four-Star' petrol is 97.

Police action was immediate: a warning was broadcast on the B.B.C., police cars with public address equipment toured the surrounding district, a notice was displayed on the local railway station, leaflets were distributed to local school children and local newspapers published warnings.

On inspection of the installation it was found that the underground storage tanks were not clearly marked in accordance with the regulations with a number in such a manner that the number could not be readily altered or obliterated. There was, in fact, evidence of vague marks or letters on top of the pit covers and these had been all but obliterated.

A sample of the mixture was taken from the pump and sent to the Public Analyst who reported a mixture of paraffin oil 60 % and petroleum spirit 40 % by volume.

In the end I-! gallons which had been served to two customers remained outstanding.

In presenting the case in Court, the Council's solicit or outlined the facts about the sale of the dangerous mixture; he also mentioned a point about the size of the threads being the same on the couplings both for petroleum spirit and paraffin deliveries.

In mitigation, the solicitor for the defence said it was true the tanks were not numbered. He said the Director of the Company was not aware of the regulations. The tanks had marks, he said, instead of numbers.

The Director of the Company himself looked after the particular delivery.

They were not convinced even if numbers were put on the tanks, that this would obviate all risks.

They decided that in future they would employ the use not only of numbers, but colours and marks as well.

On behalf of the Company the solicitor also agreed that different sized couplings would be desirable.

Petroleum Officers Handbook

BY A. L. GOOD, F.R.S.H., F.A.P.H.I., A.M.l.P.H.E., A.1.H.M.

Chief Public Health Inspector and Petroleum Officer to Bishop's Stortford U.D.C.

The need for a practical handbook for the Petroleum Officer has been apparent for a very long time. Mr. Good, a Public Health Inspector with long experience as a Petroleum Officer, has attempted to fill this need.

In this book the Author is concerned mainly with the practical problems which face_ the Petroleum Officer with regard to his duties in ensuring compliance with the Petroleum Legislation. He also discusses fully the constructional problems relating to the storage of petroleum spirit in a variety of establishments both major and minor, laying particular emphasis on safety measures.

In addition he deals with related matters, e.g. transportation, testing, cleansing of tanks, liquefied petroleum gases, pumps, etc. The value of a technical book of this kind is obviously enhanced by illustrations and some 55 line drawings are incorporated in the text showing details of installations and equipment.

This handbook is intended primarily to aid the Petroleum Officer but Fire Officers, County Planning Officers, Local Authority Engineers and Surveyors, Public Health Inspectors, Building Inspectors and Inspectors of Weights and Measures will, no doubt, find the book immensely practical and useful. Engineers and technicians employed in the ever-growing Petroleum Industry will also find the book helpful, giving, as it does, the forthright views of a practising Petroleum Officer.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

Introduction

II Simple Relevant Principles of Physics and Chemistry

Ill Petroleum Mixtures and Carbide of Calcium

IV Storage under Licence

V Keeping Petroleum Spirit, Solid Mixtures of Petroleum and Carbide of Calcium without a Licence

VI Existing Storage Tanks and Pipelines

VII The Interception of Oil and Petroleum

VIII The Transportation of Petroleum Spirit and Carbide of Calcium

IX The Transportation of Carbon Disulphide

X Liquefied Petroleum Gases

XI The Testing of Petroleum

XII Testing Concentrations of Inflammable Gases and Vapours The M.S.A. Explosimeter

XIII Accidents

XIV Means of Escape in case of Fire

XV Fire Extinguishing Apparatus

XVI Control and Enforcement

XVll Conclusion

APPENDICES A-J

These include statutory and other useful forms and notices and, in addition-safety precautions when fuelling aircraft-conversion table for gases-British Standards and Codes of Practice -table of flash points, etc.

INDEX

CHARLES KNIGHT & co. LTD. LONDON & TONBRIDGE