Petrol Storage : Important Additions.
Page 19
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Indications of Progressive Attitude on the Part of the Public Control Committee of the L.C.C.
At an L.G.O.C. Depot.
The Public Control Committee of the L.C.C. reports having received an application from the London General Omnibus Co., Ltd., asking that the company's present licence to keep 3600 gallons of petroleum spirit and one ton of carbide of calcium at the Rosemary Garage, Knight's Rill Road, West Norwood, might be amended so as to enable the company to keep 10,000 gallons of spirit on the premises. The proposals submitted by the company provide for the retention of the existing storage tanks, and for the erection of tanks in a new building for the accommodation of the additional quantity of spirit. Such new tanks would be at a distance of 88 ft. from the existing tanks, and would be fixed above ground in a fire-resisting store opening on to an open space where motor omnibuses would be charged from two measuring tanks.
At Niagara, York Street, Westminster.
An application has also been received from the Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Co., Ltd., to increase its store of 800 gallons of petroleum spirit and 2 cwt. of calcium carbide, at York Street, Westminster, to 10,000 gallons of spirit. Under the arrangements proposed by the company, the spirit would be kept in two tanks each of 5000 gallons capacity sunk under the open yard and completely enclosed in concrete. The spirit would be delivered into the tanks under seal from tank wagons, and for the purpose of filling the tanks of cars would be pumped to a filling point. in the open yard. In addition to charging the tanks of cars in the yard, the company proposes to charge cars in the garage by means of portable tanks specially designed for the purpose.
The Committee, after considering these applications, has decided to amend the two licences referred to, subject to the completion to the satisfaction of the Council of the necessary works.
A Big New Depot for East Greenwich.
The committee further reports that on the 4th July last., the Council agreed that the application of the .A.nglo-American Oil Co., Ltd., for a licence to store 100,000 gallons of petroleum spirit at Angerstein depot, East Greenwich, should not be granted. The depot is an oil wharf on the banks of the Thames, immediately adjoining Angerstein wharf, and is divided into two portions by a public footpath. The part of the wharf adjoining the river comprises a fairly-large piece of open ground, where at present wooden oil barrels are stocked, and a. warehouse where the barrels are filled with oil, The fact that the premises were used for the storage of a large quantity of petroleum oil made it undesirable to allow the storage of a considerable quantity of petroleum spirit on the site, unless the spirit were so kept that an outbreak of fire could not be communicated either to or from the oil tanks. Another objection was that, in the event of an accident to an aboveground tank such as the company proposed to use, there was nothing to prevent the liquid flowing out on the footpath, and thence on to the railway and into the river. The position of the proposed filling house (a portion of the existing oil warehouse) was also open to objection, as explosives were frequently landed on an adjacent wharf, and railway locomotives
passed close to the site. The company now submitted amended pronosals for the sto,,I we of petroleum spirit on the site in question. The new pro posals provide for the construction of eight sunk tanks and a filling-house on the open space on the portion of the depot near the river. Each of the proposed tanks would hold 12,000 gallons of spirit, and would be sunk in concrete chambers, partly under the filling-house and partly under the open yard, while a quantity of spirit, not exceeding 24,000 gallons, would be kept in metal vessels in the filling house and store-room. It was also proposed to erect a substantial concrete wall, round the oil tanks, which would effectually separate these tanks from the proposed spirit depot. Under the arrangements now proposed by the company, the filling house in which the spirit would be manipulated would be at a distance of over 40 ft. from the dock and nearly 60 ft. from the railway. It should, moreover, be pointed out that the conveyance of explosives by way of the adjacent wharf had been conducted for a considerable number of years without accident, and it is subject to the supervision of the inspector of explosives for this district.
'laving visited this site, the Committee is of opinion that the new arrangements suggested by the company meet the objections which were formerly raised, and, subject to the execution of the necessary works and to certain conditions of a special character, that a licence should be granted to the company to keep 120,000 gallons of spirit at the depot.
All the Applications Granted.
At the meeting of the Council on the 30th ult., the applications of the L.G.O.C. and the Wolseley Co. were granted, as was also the amended application of the Anglo-American Oil Co. This latter was granted subject to stringent protective conditions, numbering 15 in all, which include : Protective Conditions at Greenwich.
(1) That the filling of the cans, drums and barrels be done by pumping the spirit from the storage tanks into three overhead service tanks, each of 400 gallons capacity, fixed in the filling house, and fitted with overflow and emptying pipes returning to the storage tanks, the spirit to flow from such service tanks through iron piping to suitable filling apparatus so designed as to secure the minimum exposure of the spirit ; (2) That for the purpose of spraying the interior of cans the spirit be run from a separate service tank of 100 gallons canacity fitted in an approved position in an approved manner through iron piping to a suitable can spraying trough, fixed in the filling house : (3) That no additional tanks for the storage of oil be installed on the wharf without the consent of the Council in writing, and that none of the existing oil tanks be removed to any portion of the depot outside the oil tank enclosure ;
(4) That the premises be artificially lighted by incandescent electric lamps with double globes, that all electric wire be carried in metal conduits, properly earthed. and that all electric switches and fuses be placed in approved positions outside the petroleum spirit area and (45) That fire, flame or such artificial light as will ignite inflammable vapour be not. allowed within 50 ft. of the places where petroleum spirit is kept or handled, and that no railway locomotive engine he brought on the premises.