GOES ELECTRONIC

This article first appeared in the Petroleum Review for March 1978, Volume 32, number 375, page 42. A.T.J. Dibboll explains the changes in style and technology that have transformed the design of the petrol pump since the 1920s.

When considering the changing design of the petrol pump, it is worthwhile indulging in a brief moment of h istorical research . The very early days of the internal combustion engine produce evocative photos and movies o f drum filling which conjure up t he general excitement of motoring at the time. Our more senior colleagues may recall such s ights and sounds, but for more of us the development of motoring was synonymous with the Roa ring Twenties Accaracy

With the increase of motor traffic in the early 1920s there came a pressing need for quick, safe and accurate dispensing of petroleum spirit accurate within the requirements of the 1904. Weights and Measures Act. In 1922, twin container pumps were marketed and won wide acceptance. With these early pumps. fuel was first delivered into a measured container and then manually drained into the car tank.

A couple of years later, there arrived the column pump which automatically delivered the fuel when the measured container was full . Two years further on, it is interesting to discover that a research team from one of our own UK based oil companies proved conclusively that displacement metering was the best method for accurate liquid measurement Even now, 50 years on and with all the electronic refinements of modern petrol dispensing methods, the basis of accurate measurements is still the positive displacement meter. In the course of a half-century of development, there have been some very significant changes. all designed to make the whole process of fuelling the motor car safer and simpler for both motorist and forecourt operator. Electric petrol pumps could be said to have been the first major breakthrough, a viewpoint with which any forecourt attendant usi.ng an optional manual pump on a dark night during a power cut would agree .

Casings

The casings of the petrol pumps have become progressively shorter and smarter with the passing of the years . The displays of volume dispensed developed from the clock dial, through roller clocks (or drums) . to those incorpor ating money computers and designed to be at the motorist's

eye-level when parked at the pump. In addition to the standard pump there were developed the twin or 'two-pumps-in-one' models. Both models, with their Veeder Root Computing Registers, are still in general use today. While resisting commonly-made comparisons with the grocery supermarket and hypermarket field, it is nevertheless true to say that there has been a steady movement into larger throughput selfservice sites. Fewer sites and bigger throughputs appear to be the message.

Before leading into more sophistication, it is as well to consider variations on what might be termed 'standard equipment'. The commercial or fleet user petrol pump needs no detailed description. Available for non-retail sales, but built to the same high standards of accuracy, it provides good housekeeping for fleet users, in addition to providing an efficient method of pumping fuel into trucks, buses, ambulances and other non-private vehicles. Payment On the retail side, there has been fairly wide use of note-acceptor and coin operated facilities on pumps. Both pre payment facilities are perhaps becoming slightly overtaken by inflation and the rising cost of product. Certainly, with the single 50p coin. Operation pre payment facility now barely providing for the purchase of the legal minimum single-quantity transaction of half a gallon, any such coin operated pump in service would appear destined to revert to permanent attendant operation or manual use quite soon.

Pre-payment petrol pumps (whether by coin or banknote) followed close on the heels of post-payment self-service as introduced to the UK market in the early 60s. Equipment was provided to transmit signals from the petrol pump to the kiosk, either electro-mechanically or electronically. Either way, the motorists helped themselves from a petrol pump on the forecourt before walking to the kiosk to make payment.

Price-cutting These post-payment self-service operations were introduced at a time when price-cutting on the forecourt stimulated some retailers to thoughts of how costs could be reduced by a penny or two per gallon. Interestingly enough, the movement into post-payment self-service operations was headed by the retailers and independents, rather than by the major oil companies. However, with their rapid acceptance on the part of the general motoring ub1ic, the major oil companies soon :ppreciated the potential inherent in self-service. Blending

So far we have made no mention of blending at the petrol pump. There are some oil company engineers involved in retail equipment who might feel that they would have fewer grey hairs but for the marketer's decision to 'go blending' .

What are the facts? Without doubt, the blending petrol pump introduced in the late 60s with its conventional or mechanical computing register, was a more complicated pice of kit than any thing used hitherto. It had two base grades entering the pump, a high-and a low-octane petrol. The pump then provided as many as nine intermediate grades. All 11 grades were capable of being individually priced. The servicing of forecourt equipment assumed greater importance, as care had to be taken not only that quantities delivered to the motorists were accurate, but also that the petrol was blended to the required ratio.

There was concern from engineers but enthusiasm from the retail marketers.

The flow of traffic through the forecourt was improved, with the motorists able to drive to any available pump regardless of the octane rating required. However, the forecourt equipment designers were looking for imporved methods of dispensing products. Electronically speaking, self-servicing equipment had run the gamut of discrete components, intergrated circuits, etc and now further developments appeared likely to offer more accurate metering and blending. The rapid development in electronic technology in recent years has allowed forecourt equipment to not only blend and meter more accurately. but t·o cater for a whole range of options. There is no doubt that the rapid escalation in.price per gallon which resulted from the oil crisis of 1973 has thrown a greater burden on mechanical equipment. Higher prices have meant faster rotation of computer end drums. The wear of moving parts has increased. whereas electronic computing has used the more trouble free digital displays.

Meter interpretation Aside from reliability of customer displays of volume and price electronics provide the ability to interpret meter accuracy. The basis of this accuracy is still the positive displacement meter. The reliable pulse transmitters now used convert basic meter accuracy by displaying volume in gallons to two places of decimals, with some systems displays for calibration purposes to 1/500th of a gallon. It is important to remember that the initial verification of a petrol pump by the local Trading Standards Inspector requires a gallon of petrol to be delivered at both operating speed and slow speed (two gallons per minute), with a maximum of eight drams in excess and no under-delivery permitted. As has been pointed out many times, eight drams in excess per gallon - the legal initial verification tolerance can, for a service station selling a million gallons per annum, allow a giveaway loss to the operator (be it an oil company or a dealer) of some 6,000 gallons. As electronic forecourt equipment now permits adjustments to the positive displacement meter to reduce gallons given away (without, of course, under delivery), accurate metering is now paying off, probably beyond the expectations of those oil company research team members in the 20s.

The pulses from the two meters in the electronic blender are now utilised to verify the blending accuracy. This eliminates any possibility of either 'giving away' the higher octane base grade or inadvertently dispensing blended product below the legally allowable star rating claimed.

Options So much for metering and blending accuracies. The options provided by electronic forecourt equipment include presetting by volume or price; pre payment note acceptors; credit card validators; rapid cross-checking at the end of each shift of gallons dispensed on site against cash taken as displayed on the kiosk console; interfacing with tank content gauges; and transmission by direct line or by cassette to a centralised computer base, with the latest microprocessing technology automatic faultfinding displayed on a Visual Display Unit.

To all the advantages offered to the oil companies and service station operators should be added the greater reliability of modern electronic equipment. For the motoring public and the forecourt attendants the latest dispenser shapes provide for ease of hose handling, simple blend selection and, where required, presetting by cash.

While all the modern electronic equipment is easily metricated, some marketers feel the motoring public will find the change to litres easier to face if accustomed to purchasing in cash amounts. Styles

Earlier the styling of petrol pumps was mentioned. The hose is now suspended from a height which is dictated to allow the optimum range of action with the legal maximum hose length allowed, the weight of hose and nozzle being acceptable to the self-service customer. The displays of price and volume must conform to standards acceptable by the Department of Prices and Consumer Protection and easily viewed by customers. The whole dispenser package must be agreeable to the eye, with casings often manufactured in Glass Reinforced Plastic for ease of maintenance.

Is this the last word on pump design? Probably not. After all, constantly improving technology changes the performance of our customers' cars without radically altering their body shapes. The same will probably be true of the pumps of the future.

Archie Dibboll is Home Sales Manager with Avery-Hardoll, where he has worked since 1960. He previously served in the Royal Navy as a pilot.