The Bywater Petrol Storage and Supply System.
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Roadside facilities for petrol supply are undoubtedly a great. boon for all classes of motor transport, and such facilities are increasing at a rate which gives promise that in a few years the main roads will be well provided with petrol filling stations. It cannot be questioned that "filling up" from two-galIon tins is an out-of-date, unsatisfactory, haphazard method, frequently resulting in waste and.risks of fire.
A number of roadside petrol filling stations equipped with the Bywater patent system of storage and supply are now in operation. This system is based on a very simple principle. The fuel is stored in underground tanks and is raised solely by. a head of water to thestandards on the road side. The fuel has to
pass through an accurately calibrated meter showing the amount delivered through the flexible .hose to the tank, which is done by inserting a nozzle with automatic shut-off direct into the tank, no funnel, strainer, or other appliance is required. It is, of course, a well-known technical fact that petrol and other simi.!. lar liquid fuels are much lighter than water and will not. mix with it; in fact, petrel and water are strongly repellant. Even when vigorously shaken up with water, petrol will at once separate and float on the top of it and, therefore, no trace of water can-pass along with the fuel in the Bywater system. The water acts simply as a displacer. An important featurs of the system is that it automatically ensures a supply of perfectly
clean fuel, because any foreign matter in the fuel is bound to settle down to the bottom of the tank, whilst the fuel is drawn from the top of the tank. The storage tanks being always full and hermetically sealed, . there is no less by evaporation and no possible source of . danger. In the Bywater installations there are two arrangements of measuring, one by a dial meter, which is set to the required quantity and' automatically cuts off the supply when the quantity is delivered. The other arrangement comprises a graduated glass container, which is illuminated at night. The amount of liquid which flows out of the container at ()lice shows what quantity has passed into the tank, and. thus tends to inspir greater Confidence in the 'customers: