Petrol Storage in Pimlico.
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A New 40,000-gallon Installation or Mex Spirit in London.
Of the greatest moment to all metropolitan users of petrol is the completion of a new storage installation of considerable capacity, for Mex spirit, right in the heart of London. On a plot of land, which adjoins the premises of the Thames Bank Wharf Motor Works, Limited, in Lupus Street, Pimlico, the finishing touches are now being put to this extensive plant by the Safety Non-Explosive Re .servoir Company, Limited, of Frampton Wick ; this manufacturer is responsible for the whole of the distributing equipment. The provision of " Suercold ' non-explosive devices throughout the system has largely enabled Messrs. S. Pearson and Son, Limited, for whom the plant is being installed, to satisfy the L.C.C. Public Control Department, which is the licensing authority, that some 40,000 gallons of petrol may safely be stored in proximity to a thickly-populated neighbourhood such as Pimlico. Lighters, which are divided into a number of separate compartments, will be towed up the river to the Thames Bank wharf and will there be moored alongside the new stage, where the spirit will be pumped direct into the four 10,000gallon underground tanks; from these it will be distributed, through a very complete battery of overhead tanks, direct to users' vehicles, or, further afield, by means of two-gallon cans and road tank-wagons.
The details of construction of the Snercold device are familiar to most of our readers; we described it in detail in our issue of the 17th September, 1908. It consists essentially of an adaptation of the gauze cover of the old-fashioned miner's lamp, an inner and an outer perforated sheet-metal protector for the gauze, and a fusible plug. The attachment of this patented fitting ensures that the petrol tank, to which it is applied, will not explode; moreover, flame at the mouth of the opening cannot pass the gauze.
Throughout this new installation at Pimlico, each reservoir and each length of pipe, in which it is possible for a quantity of petrol to lodge, is separately protected by a Snercold fitting of carefully-calculated capacity. In the manholes of the main tanks, for instance, these gauze tubes are as much as 10 inches in diameter, and they project 10 feet into the interior of the tanks.
Provision has been made for the separate storage of two different classes of Mex spirit. The four main tanks are each nine feet in diameter and 26 feet long, and the total weight of spirit in these four reservoirs will be approximately 140 tons. The tanks are embedded, side by side, in a solid mass of concrete, whose weight approximates 700 tons. These reservoirs are below the ground level, and are given a dip of four inches towards the front, which faces into an underground pump room. The whole plant is situated within a few yards of a direct waterway into the Thames, so that lighters may be connected, by means of a flexible hose, to a standpipe over which the spirit is directly pumped, through filters, into one or other of the tanks, according to requirements. Both the main and distributing pump sets are in duplicate and may be operated either singly or together. The petrol is lifted by the main pumps through a three-inch distributing pipe direct into the tops of the large reservoirs. The main, or " store," pumps, which are each of a capacity of 2.500 gallons per hour, are driven by Siemens, continuous-current, 2h.p. electrkt motors, running at 1,200 revolutions on a voltage of 400. The pump sets have been specially built by the Albany Engineering Cornpany. While the big tanks are being charged, it is necessary, of course, that the air in them should he released, and, therefore, relief pipes are provided which are carried up to a height of 15 feet above ground. These relief pipes are protected by large Snercold safety devices. It will be understood that these means of opening the reservoirs to atmosphere also provide for the intake of air which is necessary when petrol is being drawn from this main storage.
The spirit is lifted from the big underground reservoirs, by means of the other pair of electrically-driven pumps, through suction pipes which extend down to within three inches of the bottoms of the tanks. This ensures that fresh petrol only shall always be drawn up to the overhead tanks. A certain amount of condensation takes place owing to the presence of air in the big tanks, and it is possible, in spite of s very care so far as filtration is concerned, that some dirt may accumulate at the bottom of the tanks. What are known as "dirty" suction pipes protrude into the lowest levels of the main tanks, which we have already stated are tipped forward, and, by means of hand pumps above ground, the tanks may periodically be cleaned.
It must be remembered that petrol vapour is approximately two-and-ahalf times the weight of air. The underground pump room, in addition to the pump installations, contains the whole somewhat complex system of supply pipes and distributing and regulating cocks to accommodate the two grades of spirit, It would, as a rule, be almost impossible to ensure that this room should be entirely free from petrol vapour. In the floor, therefore, four largo gratings communicate with a 12-inch ventilating shaft underground, and this ventilating shaft is extended above ground to a very considerable height. Interposed in these vertical shafts are powerful electrically-driven fans, which suck whatever petrol vapour may have accumulated in the bottom of the room and discharge it into the atmosphere overhead. Before an attendant enters the pump room, after it has been locked up for any period, he starts the fans and tests the nature of the air which is being drawn from the underground duct, until he is sure that petrol vapour is not present in any quantity.
The above-ground equipment consists of a range of filling tanks from which vehicles may have their tanks filled direct. These small reservoirs are fed as required with either grade of spirit from one or other of two 100-gallon service tanks which are fixed in the roof of the distributing gallery, and it is these two tanks which are kept supplied by the electrically-driven underground pumps from the main reservoirs. 'the control gear for the electric motors is conveniently arranged on the gallery uprights.