NOTES AND NEWS

talking point

GLASS FIBRE PETROL TANKS

The use of approved materials other than steel for the construction of underground tanks is now envisaged under the provision of the latest Model Code. An obvious ~ateri~l for consideration is glass fibre, which has been mcreasmgly used on the Continent in the construction of tank wagons for many years. To use this material for underground tanks would in appropriate circumstances appear to be a natural development.

The _growing use of glass fibre petrol tanks on motor cyc!es is, however, a very different matter. A number of accidents have been reported in which motor cyclists and others have been burned to death, when petrol from a fractured glass fibre tank ignited. There are some 35,000 mc_:>t_or cycles fitted with these tanks and it is hardly surpnsmg that this factor, coupled with the vulnerability of motor cycles. in accidents, is causing concern to Road Safety Committees throughout the country some of which are calling for a ban on the use of non-metal petrol tanks on all types of vehicles.

We find it difficult to understand how and why the present posi~ion has been allowed to develop to the degree It has, particularly when legislation in the shape of the Petroleum Spirit (Motor Vehicles) etc. Regulations, 1929, states that petroleum spirit for use in motor vehicles shall not be kept otherwise than in a metal vessel. Q~ite clearly non-metal petrol tanks on motor cycles ar;:_ illegal, so a~y question of a ban ought not to arise; w c_:>, therefore, Is responsible for a situation which is rapidly getting out of hand ? We will leave this question unanswe~ed and merely suggest that the problem calls for ~ome serious thinking, particularly by petroleum officers m areas where these tanks are manufactured and fitted.

notes and news

New Members

Abingdon

Alsager

Ashton in Makerfield

Barnard Castle

Barrow in Furness

Cockermouth

Dukinfield

Eccles

Fleetwood

Fylde

Garstang

Haydock

Macclesfield

New Windsor MBC Berks. UDC Cheshire UDC Lanes. RDC Durham CBC Lanes. RDC Cumberland MBC Cheshire MBC Lanes. MBC Lanes. RDC Lanes. RDC Lanes. UDC Lanes. RDC Cheshire Royal Borough Berks.

H S&H H H s s

H s s s

H H H

s

Northwich North Witchford Poulton-Le-Fylde Radcliffe Spalding St. Ives Thornton Cleveleys Whitley Bay Wigton UDC Cheshire S RDC Isle of Ely H UDC Lanes. S MBC Lanes. S RDC Lines. S RDC Hunts. H UDC Lanes. S UDC Northumberland S RDC Cumberland S

Officers

R. Gethin

D. Jones

P. Kirkham

D. N. Macdonald

T. Sutton

A. J. Thomson Harlow UDC Salford City Congleton RDC Bootle CBC Aspull UDC Basildon UDC Essex Lanes. Cheshire Lanes. Lanes. Essex H WM H WM H s

Associate Members

M. R. Beevers, Divisional Engineer, Continental Oil Co. Ltd., Barnsley.

Chevron Oil (U.K.) Ltd., Bowater House, Knightsbridge, S.W.1.

Divisional Officer, W. Goulborn, Senior Fire Prevention Officer, Cheshire County Fire Brigade, Cheshire Fire Service Headquarters, Dee Banks, Chester. Premier Pump and Tank Co., Petrol and Oil Installation Engineers and. Merchants, Daybrook Street, Sherwood, Nottingham.

A. P. Street, Architect, Mobil Oil Co. Ltd., Brazenhouse House, Brazenose Street, Manchester 2.

K. W. Wright, Branch Engineer, Total Oil Cq-reat Britain) Ltd., 2 St. John's North, Wakefield, Yorkshire.

Appointments

Mr. J. E. Gledhill, Engineer and Surveyor, PoultonLe-Fylde U.D.C. has been appointed Engineer and Surveyor, Turton U.D.C.

Mr. G. T. Gordon, Deputy Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures, Grimsby, has been appointed Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures, Kidderminster.

Mr. S. Pape, Deputy Chief Public Health Inspector, Eton R.D.C., has been promoted Chief Public Health Inspector. Mr. J. M. Todd, District Surveyor, Isle of Axholme Public Health Inspector and R.D.C., has been appointed Public Health Inspector, Surveyor and Engineer, Wirksworth U.D.C. in succession to Mr. J. Howie, appointed Burgh Surveyor, Master of Works and Sanitary Inspector, Royal Burgh of Cupar.

Mr. D. E. Wright, Deputy Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures, Canterbury, has been promoted Chief Inspector.

Obituary

We regret to report the death of Mr. A. H. V. Marsden, Chief Public Health Inspector, Eton R.D.C.

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Congratulations

Mr. H. F. Griffiths, M.B.E., Chief Fire Officer, Suffolk and Ipswich, has been elected President of the Chief Fire Officers Association.

Mr. A. Leese, Chief Fire Officer, Coventry, has been elected Chairman of the British Fire Services Association.

Mr. F. Taylor, Chief Fire Officer, Liverpool, has been appointed to serve as an adviser on the Fire Service Committee of the Association of Municipal Corporations. Publications

B.S. 3?00, Part A.8-From B.S.I. Sales Office, 101/113 Pentonv1lle Road, London, N.1. Price 2/- net. . Specifies of test for paints. Danger classification by (closed cup method), which describes a convement and procedure for determining whether the flash-pomt of a paint or other material is such as to i?-to a particular category of safety precautions m relation to its storage, transport and use.

Fatal Accident and Fire at West London Terminal of Esso Petroleum Co. Ltd. Home Office Report-Code 34/452. H.M.S.O. 9/- net.

Code of Practice-British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association. Members who are interested may obtain copies (free of charge-postage 9d.) from Mr. D. J. Roberts, Secretary, British Aerosol Manufacturers' Association, Alembic House, 93 Albert Embankment London, S.E. l. ' of Employment and Productivity-List of issued by H.M. Factory Inspector for intrinsically safe and electrical apparatus, 4/6d.; fo.r the detection of toxic substance-aniline vapour m air-booklet II, 2/3d. Erratum

In the, paper 'The Nature of Petroleum Spirit and its by Mr. J. R. Hughes and published in the last Bulletin, on page 99 delete the sentence: (i) Liquefied petroleum gases which come within Class of the mcludeClass Illa of the classification which and substitute (i) Liquefied petr<;>leun: gases, which come within Class ld of the classification of 'dangerous substances' and (ii) liquids within Class Illa of the class1ficat10n which mcludeDrilling for lost petrol

Drilling of boreholes to be sunk at !South Stifford, Grays, Essex, is the first stage of an operation to recover about 120,000 gallons of. petrol believed to be floating underground and threatenmg houses. Petrol which leaked from storage depots blamed for an explosion which wrecked a house and a woman three months ago in East Street. The decision to go ahead with the boreholes taken. at a meeting of Thurrock Council's Executive Co.mrnittee. Among those present were a consultant chenust, engaged by the Council, officials of the Home Office and Essex River Authority and representatives of the 011 companies who will be paying for the work. Secretary's Notes

Would all. members whose town now possesses a postal code number please send details to the Hon. Secretary; also notification of telephone code (S.T.D.) where applicable.

Enquiries have been received from members regarding the provision of a light meter in order to check illumination intensity as referred to in the Home Office Model Code. We are informed "that a suitable meter can be obtained from Salford Electrical Instruments Ltd., Peel Works, Barton Lane, Eccles, Manchester. Known as the Minilux Portable Illumination Meter Model E, this meter has four scales which can be selected by operation of a rotary switch. The scales are 0-5; 0-25; 0-50 and 0-250 lumens per square foot. 0-1 occupies about half an inch of the scale and 0-10 about one inch; this is considered to be sufficiently sensitive. The cost of the meter is £20 17s. 6d. Stanhope-Seta 9-lb. Portable Flash Point Apparatus

Portable flashpoint apparatus made by StanhopeSeta Ltd., for petroleum products in the range of 10-l 10°C. flash (50-230°F.) requires only 2 ml. of sample. The sample may be cooled below ambient temperatures and placed in the pre-cooled cup and the apparatus can be operated from either a 12 v. battery or from any supply source in the range 110-250 v. 50/60 cps. Its solid state circuit includes a heating module and temperature control board. Maximum power consumption is ea. 48 W. The pilot jet is fuelled with butane from integral tank and easily replenished. It has a capacity adequate for 1,000 tests. With an adaptor it can be used for town-gas.

A syringe is used to inject the 2 ml. sample; it requires one minute to stabilise at the cup temperature the integral times gives warning of time lapsed. The umt can be carried in a case provided with shoulder It weighs only 9 lb. (4 kg.). It correlates with established methods, such as Pensky-Martms but its greatest value is said to lie in the use as a go/not go tester.

letters

DEFINITION OF PETROLEUM MIXTURES

The definition of 'Mixtures of Petroleum' as set out in the Petroleum (Mixtures) Order, 1929, creates difficulty in that it refers to ' . . . all mixtures of petroleum with any other substance . . . '

If a highly inflammable substance, not controlled by the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act is mixed with a nonhazardous petroleum product, for example, white spirit, and the flash-point of the resultant mixture is below 73°F., should the provisions of the Petroleum (Consolidation) Act, 1928, and the Petroleum (Mixtures) Order, 1929, be applied to this mixture ?

If this is so, then the effect is to apply the legislation to the probably less hazardous mixture and not to the highly inflammable substance itself. Hastings G. BERESFORD

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CAR PORTS

In reply to your correspondent, Mr. F. H. Molyneux, there is no requirement in the Petroleum Regulations that a garage must be 10 feet from a dwelling.

The keeping of Petroleum Spirit in the tank of a motor vehicle, or for a motor vehicle is governed by 'The Petroleum Spirit (Motor Vehicles) Regulations 1929'. (S.R. & 0. 952, 1929). Compliance with these regulations dispenses with the necessity for a licence for the keeping of the petroleum spirit.

In these regulations, Regulation No. 5 makes conditions regarding the 'storage place', which in the case of a motor vehicle, is the garage or car port. This states, inter alia, that the storage place must be separated from a dwelling by a substantial floor or partition which is constructed of material not readily inflammable; and has no opening therein except . . . in a partition not being a floor if the opening is fitted with a door of fire resisting material self closing.

Hence there is no objection to a car port against a dwelling, as long as there is a partition which is not readily inflammable, but any door must be fire resisting. Unfortunately the regulations do not mention windows. It is open to question whether glass is readily inflammable. It is obviously preferable to have fire resisting glazing fixed shut, but it might be difficult to uphold this if challenged. Of course if the window is large, one could call it a door and then it must be fire resisting. Greater London Council C. L. DAVIDS

Mr. Molyneux's letter in the October edition of the Bulletin certainly raises some .interesting points.

The position regarding garages is not changed. Garages under 400 square feet in floor area still need to satisfy No. E.16 of the Building Regulations 1965 and where a garage is attached to a house this still means half-hour fire separation with any opening in the separation protected by a fire-resisting and self-closing door, shutter or cover to a similar standard. The relaxations conferred by the Building (Third Amendment) Regulations 1967 apply basically to small car ports.

The position regarding small car ports is perhaps a little confusing. If a car port is attache~ to a house, No. 5(d) of the Petroleum Spmt (Motor Vehicles, etc.) Regulations 1929 requires the separation to be substantial and constructed of material not readily inflammable; moreover the partition may have no opening therein unless the opening is fitted with a self-closing door constructed of hardwood or other fire-resisting material.

The 1929 Regulations were written at a time when the meaning of fire-resistance was not so precisely understood as it is today. I think Mr. Molyneux has quite sensibly in the past interpreted the 1929 Regulations as though they required fire separation whereas as one might well argue that a glazed light in the partition satisfied the letter, if not the spirit of the law. Glass is after all a material which is not readily inflammable and what is meant by "substantial" is surely anyone's guess.

From the point of view of fire separation, the Building Regulations can deal much more effectively with garages than the 1929 Regulations. Since, therefore, it has been decided to allow certain waivers of the Building Regulations in respect of small car ports, it would appear sensible to take no action under the 1929 Regulations which would negative these concessions.

I do not understand Mr. Molyneux's reference to a ten foot isolation distance "required under the Petroleum Regulations" between a dwelling and a door opening into a petrol store. Greater London Council H. T. E. JACKSON

GAS PRESSURE TESTING OF TANKS

I read the article by Mr. Davids on the above subject with considerable interest, and whilst theoretically I agree with Mr. Davids, practically I do not. He assumes that any alteration in pressure applied to a tank for testing would also involve the alteration of the gauge used, so that the initial reading was always taken at Full Scale Deflection. Theoretically this is possible but practically we tend to use a gauge with a 10 lb. maximum reading and to use this for pressures from 5-10 lb. I do not know of anybody regularly employing pressures above 10 lb. but if they do so this is normally on a gauge of around the 50 lb. capacity. For all practical purposes Mr. Davids bases his argument on pressure readings between 5 lb. and 10 lbs., using the same gauge for all readings, and the 5 lb. pressure of course only gives a half Full Scale Deflection.

Under these circumstances the sensitivity of the gauge is constant and is equal to nP. This can be converted to fractions of the Full Scale Deflection or radians if desired, but whatever is done Mr. Davids' calculations at the next to the last equation when nP is proportional to pressure is the only equation which is of practical use; the last equation when n is inversely proportional to the square root of the pressure is of no practical use. Sheffield S. GASCOIGNE

A.D.R.

In my article on A.D.R. l stated in two places on page 90 of the October 1968 edition (Vol. 7, No. 4) of the Bulletin that a vehicle (other than a tank wagon or tank trailer) conveying only 50 gallons of petrol in a barrel, 28 lbs. of carbon disulphide in seven pound containers and 250 kilograms of any other inflammable liquid except acetaldehyde would be exempt from the provisions of both the Inflammable Liquids (Conveyance by Road) Regulations 1968 and the Inflammable Substances (Conveyance by Road) (Labelling) Regulations 1968.

The statement has prompted the question whether the vehicle would still be exempt if for the 50 gallon barrel of petrol there were substituted a 90 gallon drum of petroleum mixture having a petroleum content not exceeding 75 %.

The answer is that by reason of the provisions of the Petroleum Spirit (Conveyance by Road) Regulations 1958, the vehicle would continue to be exempt. Individual containers would, of course, still have to be appropriately marked. Greater London Council W. C.R. DALE

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Hydrant Fuelling System at London Airport (Heathrow)

Cargo Terminal

A hydrant system for fuelling aircraft at London Airport (Heathrow) came into operation on 14th December, 1968, the day of the official opening of the new Cargo Terminal Area.

The British Airport Authority invited the oil industry, in the early part of the planning of the Cargo Terminal, to design and construct a hydrant fuelling system to be jointly owned by the interested fuel suppliers. The companies involved are B.P., Esso, Mobil, Shell, Texaco and Total.

Thirty aircraft stand positions on the cargo terminal apron will be fed with fuel by the hydrant system. Mobile dispenser units will be used to transfer aviation fuel from the underground supply lines to aircraft tanks. Each dispenser incorporates a booster pump and also filtering, monitoring and pressure controlling equipment.

Shell-Mex and B.P. Ltd., the operators in the United Kingdom of the Shell Aviation Service and the Air B.P. service, designed and supervised the of the hydrant system on behalf of the other 011 compames.

The Shell and B.P. hydrant dispensers, each of which can transfer fuel into an aircraft's tanks at up to 1,000 gallons per minute, will play a vital part. in the quick turnround of aircraft using the Cargo Termmal: The hydrant facilities will, for example, enable a Boemg 747 to be fuelled in about 20 minutes.

Mr. James Grant, Commercial Manager, London Airports, Shell-Mex and B.P. Ltd., stated: "Since 1946 the sales of fuel at London Airport row) have increased more than 30 times. It now estimated that air cargo at Heathrow may m the next three years. The oil companies have eqmpped to deal with this growth, as can be sei::n the mves_tment which has been made to ensure that air lme cargo aircraft are fuelled without delay through this newly installed hydrant system".

MAIN SlORAGE

FUEL

\.__ • .,•o·u>E .. ----1NSTA1.1ATION ! L, i I 1 i tO..Q/ \ ... ' ---' I i I ! 1 I

i

l

HYDRANT FUEWNG S'ISTEM HEATHROW CARGO TERMINAL

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N {t

Technical Notes on the Shell and B.P. Air Services

Aviation fuel reaches the hydrant system through a 5,000 feet long six-inch pipeline from the Shell and B.P. Aviation Fuel Services depot.

To smooth out the peak flow demands which could occur in the hydrant system, two 110,000 gallon tanks are incorporated to act as buffer storage. The tanks are not true storage since fuel could be flowing in and out of one or both tanks simultaneously, depending upon the demand.

The hydrant system pipework consists of a main feeder line of 18 inches in diameter to which two looped branches of 12 inches diameter are connected. The lines are buried beneath the apron at a depth which descends from three to nine feet, thereby ensuring that the strategically placed drain points collect any traces of condensed moisture in the system.

At 66 points on the cargo terminal apron vertical risers are welded to the underground feed lines and these terminate in 4 inch valves housed just below the apron surface in specially constructed steel pits.

The two-and-a-half miles of piping used in the construction was lined to prevent rust and scale contamination, particularly during the commissioning stages.

The capacity of the pipework within the system amounts to some 80,000 Imperial Gallons.

Both 110,000 gallon tanks are fitted with high level and low level automatic shut-off valves which are operated from a remote control panel.

The hydrant pumps are started automatically by the demands on the system at the aircraft fuelling points, and one to four pumps will feed into the system as required up to the maximum designed output of 4,250 gallons per minute.

BP Self Service Conference

Held at the Hotel Piccadilly, Manchester on 7th November, 1968

By the end of the next decade at least 50 % of the garages in Britain that are selling significant quantities of petrol will be operating on a self-service basis.

This is the view of the B.P. Company.

In order to put this forecourt revolution into focus, B.P. held a one-day conference on self-service at the Hotel Piccadilly, Manchester.

J\;f Directors and top executives from service stations m the North West-and from points as far afield as Carlisle and Bedford attended the conference.

They represented a cross-section of stations serving the oil industry. Mr. Walter Henderson B.P. Regional Manager, told the conference: about 50% of the garages in Sweden use self-service forecourt systems now.

Self-service began in Britain in 1963. Today there are about 175 self-service stations in this country. A total of fourteen have opened in the greater Manchester area in the past year.

I bel!eve we are on the threshold of a great self-service expansion. There are a variety of reasons, ranging from of manned forecourts to national product1v1ty considerations.

The number of successful self-service sites is growingbut there have been mistakes. Mistakes can be avoided if proper thought is given in the planning stages. B.P. now probably has more self-service experience than any other petroleum marketer in Europe, much of this experience gained in the United Kingdom. Our purpose in holding this conference is to take this controversial subject and examine it with you-the prepayment and post-payment systems, with emphasis today on post-payment. We are in an era of rising costs, we are facing a great increase in vehicle population to nearly 17 million private vehicles by 1975, we are in a very competitive situation and we are handling what we call in the petrol business an 'inelastic' product-something which has got to be sold and will only be sold in a certain quantity. This has a direct relation to the competitive situation. With 38,000 garages in this country and an 'inelastic' product it is the competitive station which will win the day. We are holding this conference at a point where there is some evidence of successful self-service operations and where, as far as regulations are concerned, the official view of self-service has improved. There has been a good selfservice safety record, petroleum officers are taking from this and looking with greater favour on applicat10ns. Full self-service operations, which really began in this country in 1963 and which demand over-riding operator supervision are now acceptable to most petroleum officers, provided that adequate safeguards are met. Their reaction to unattended pre-payment systems, such as the note acceptor, has been more restrained. Following the installation of the first note acceptor at a B.P. site in Sussex in 1966 we actually encountered great difficulty in finding other local authorities who would accept the principle. In fact, as recently as March this year only two local authorities in the North West would give their approval to note acceptor installation-but by the end of August there were thirty or so who would say yes.

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We think the change in attitude was in the main due to quite steps B.P. has taken to prove the intrmsic validity and safety of this form of unattended service.

in this respect was a conference held in April this year m Manchester when we demonstrated the note acceptor to some eighty petroleum officers and fire officers.

Mr. Henderson introduced the speakers in turn.

The Retail Market Mr. Yorath Trebble

B.P. Sales Dev_elop1:11ent Adviser, said that some 45 % of all !oods sold m this country were now on a self-service basis. The c<?nference was to look at the most practical way of applymg the technique to motor spirit selling.

Over. the decade more oil companies had entered the l!mted Kmgdom market-Total, Gulf, Murco, Agip, Contmental and Burmah. Independent cut-price marketers were '.1-ble J;>uy products at a low enough price abroad to permit sh1ppmg to the United Kingdom and sale below standard prices-such as Jet, Golden and Globe.

As a result there was now fierce competition.

A point of interest was that tax rises had completely obscured the fact that the nett trade price, after adjustment for dealer rebates, had been reduced by 8fd. to 1/3!-d. during that period.

During a similar period, other retail prices for bread, beef, newspapers, soap, etc., had risen, in some cases, by as much as 100 %.

It has only been possible for such a substantial proportion of the tax increases to be absorbed by B.P. through greatly improved technology and efficiency, he said. One aspect of this which has directly affected the garage trade was the introduction by nearly all the oil companies over the last year of the small load surcharge. This has meant that the smaller garage with only very limited sales who ordered deliveries of motor spirit in small quantities, found that it was having to pay slightly more for its supplies-although, of course, the garage taking larger loads was unaffected.

This had the effect of making the operation of small throughput forecourts less attractive, and with the Prices and Incomes Board keeping such a close watch on retail prices, there would not appear at the moment, to be much likelihood of their receiving relief through increases in that quarter.

Labour charges, said Mr. Trebble, had also risen. In 1958 the minimum recommended hourly rate for a forecourt salesman was 4/5d. Now it was 8/8d.-almost exactly double. The figures underlined the necessity to increase the number of gallons sold per man hour or to reduce the number of man hours-preferably both !

Market trends can be condensed to three main headings, he said. These are (1) continuing rising operational costs, (2) significant wowth in vehicle population and motor spirit (3) a tendency to create larger, more efficient fillmg stations.

The filling stations of the future must be capable of catering for more and more vehicles while limiting increases in operational costs to the minimum. Self-service refuelling Mr. John Baker

B.P. Sales Development Adviser, said that with an attended self-service station there was only one cashier on duty and the speed of service was governed by the number of pumps.

Gallonage could rise, but costs would stay almost constant, giving an opportunity for a buying incentive, a reasonable thing to do if transferring part of the work-load to the customer. This could involve stamps. Treble was the usual limit at a conventional station, quadruple had been allowed at a self-service site.

The customer received: faster-or, in some cases, apparently faster service; no queuing at peak times; no obligation to tip; buying reward-by price cut or stamps; some personal involvement.

On the last, said Mr. Baker, some motorists found a "certain elan" about putting in their own petrol.

Non-payers, in fact, were no more of a nuisance on self-service sites than on conventional sites; getting people into the shop was only a problem if the design of the site was not right.

Selling oil was indeed a problem but there were some answers including oil displays, and the use of an oil vendor. One interesting development had been the development of an "oil marshal"-a female school-leaver who went from car to car selling oil.

But self-service does not mean no service, he said. The cashier needs training not just in how to operate the console equipment but how to help the customer if in difficulties and possibly how to sell oil by remote control -it can and has been done.

Petroleum legislation Mr. J. R. Roberts

Chief Inspector of Weights and Measures leum Officer Manchester declared that, as a motorist, he liked self-se;vice and used a self-service station himself.

He said that the Home Office had just produced a revised issue of the Model Code of Principles and Licensing Conditions for Petrol Filling Stations. This was obtainable by anyone who wished to a copy-the previous issue was limited to local authorities.

There are what appear to be some startling changes, he said. A sub-committee went into great detail on various points and it was felt that some previous requirements could be relaxed.

There is the question of safety distance. For many years we have worked on the magic formula of 20 feet as the proper minimum safety distance from a pump or tank or any source of ignition.

This has been relaxed to 14 feet.

There are reduced conditions for the installation of tanks in certain areas.

But there is a tightening up in some respects as well. There is far greater detail about electrical requirements, for instance.

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