Wooden Tank

The shippers and railway people called them tubs and thereby belittled the first railway tank car. They were not tubs, they were sturdy wooden tanks having a capacity of 40 barrels each and mounted two to a flat car, each one over the trucks. These tank cars were put into use on the tracks of the Oil Creek Railroad and connecting lines in 1865, a great year in the evolution of the bulk transportation of crude oil and refined products. Amos Densmore, an oil buyer and shipper at Miller Farm on Oil Creek is credited as being the inventor, so it is fitting that the conveyance was called the Densmore tank car.

The "prototype" tank car was subjected to an elaborate cloak and dagger test. A flat car with its two tanks filled with crude oil left theTitusville area ("secretly", they say) on a wild trip to New York. Telegrams were sent from each station back to Titusville and Miller Farm reporting on the condition of the tanks and especially if they leaked or not. Apparently they didn’t leak. Made of pine planks, the tanks were constructed, banded and glued as tightly as possible.

The Densmore model was then built by the thousands and became a common sight hitched to freight trains. Prof. Charles A. Seely in writing an article on the transportation of oil for the Scientific American magazine in 1866 remarked about the wooden Densmore tank cars carrying oil from Titusville: "---some of them may be seen any day in Jersey City, and on a journey by the Erie Railway they will be found everywhere along the road."

The Densmore tank car was a major breakthrough in the bulk transportation of oil and occurred just a couple of months before the completion of the first successful oil pipeline. In fact, much of the oil which that pipeline (Van Syckel) delivered from the Pithole field to the Miller Farm terminal was further carried to destination in these wooden tanks.

Densmore tank cars on a siding in Oil Creek Valley, 1866. Drawing by Thomas Dracup for the copyright of Samuel T. Pees & Associates (2002).

TANK CARS

In the U.S., the railroads provided the first reasonable means of getting oil to the seaboard from where it could be distributed to coastal refineries or shipped overseas. Knowing this, the railroad companies strove mightily to lay track into the hearts of the early producing centers where they could pick up the remunerative payloads.

At first, the railroads conveyed the oil in barrels on the beds of flat cars. Later, the barrels were racked in layers on specially built cars. The barrels gave way to the tank car, at first made of wood and soon after of metal. This was a tremendous boost to bulk transportation of petroleum and its refined products.

The great strength of the oil producing and refining industry was put to test many times during the growth of bulk transportation. Improvement and enlargement of the tank cars took place enabling them to carry a wide variety of liquids, even high pressure cargo such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

In the first half of the twentieth century two world wars were fought, both requiring great amounts of gasoline and other fuels. Tank cars had to move as much as one million barrels daily to the U.S. East Coast alone during the height of WW II in Europe while the Pacific Theatre required 110,000 barrels (and more) per day during most of 1944 and 45 with a peak of 170,000 barrels. Tank cars had track priority during the war years.

Some of today's tank car builders can trace their lineage back to the 1870’s and later. A look at advertisements in the older oil journals show the proud names and pictures of the tank cars made under the trademarks of General American Tank Car Co., Union Tank Car Co., North American Tank Car Co., and many more.

The first railroad transportation of oil in barrels was via flat car on which one level of barrels was lashed down as shown in this sketch of the Titusville yards, ca. 1862. Only 44 barrels were loaded on this early flat car, but 60 barrels later became the standard single tier load. In the early 1860’s the loaded flat car was the best means to get the oil to eastern centers. Drawing from Giddens, 1948.

Special rail car designed to haul empty newly made oil barrels, probably directly from a siding at the cooperage to the buyer (refinery or crude oil producer), ca. 1865. Photograph believed to be of a car owned by A. Knabb & Co., Warren, Pennsylvania. The full load appears to be 312 empty barrels. Photo Giddens collection.

This is a replica of an 1865 Densmore tank car that used to be in the grounds of the Drake Well Museum. The pine board tanks held approximately 40 barrels each. Photo by S.T. Pees, 1986.

Union Tank Car

A drop in shipping demand has led to the layoff of 22 employees at Union Tank Car Co.'s facility at 939 Holland Road, a company spokesman said.

The layoff, 17 percent of the plant's 127-person workforce, was part of a larger layoff at three of the company's five maintenance and repair shops, Bruce Winslow, Union Tank Car spokesman in the company's Chicago headquarters, said on Friday.

Winslow said the economic downturn reduced the demand for shipping, which in turn reduced the demand for the maintenance and repair of railroad tank cars, which is done in shops such as the one on Holland Road. The layoffs, which occurred July 10, follow a June in which the unemployment rate in Ohio climbed to 11.1 percent, according to data released Friday by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. The U.S. unemployment figure for June was 9.5 percent, up from 9.4 percent in May.

The railroad industry-related sector was among the first parts of the economy to feel the downturn and will be among the last to recover, Winslow said.

"There was a time period that was busy with cars being repaired," he said. "Now, we have those ready to go, and we won't work on as many more until the economy turns around."

Union Tank Car in March reduced production and cut a combined 300 employees at its manufacturing plants in Alexandria, La., and Sheldon, Texas.

The transportation industry is among the most vulnerable segments of an economy, said Hassan Aly, an economics professor at The Ohio State University at Marion.

"This is one that will be put off like the consumer putting off the purchase of big items like cars, furniture, refrigerators," Aly said. "For industry this is very much the same type. It's the first to be put off, because they can do what is in existence and since there's less demand right now is an easy one to put aside."

Aly said talk of federal stimulus money earmarked for expansion of railroad in Ohio may help the railroad industry recover more quickly than it has in past recessions.

Union Tank Car on Holland Road has 83 hourly employees and 22 salary employees following the recent layoff, which consisted of hourly and salary workers, Winslow said.

"Pretty much like for every other company in America, there's a recession going on," Winslow said. "The recession hit the transportation area quite hard. There's reduced rail car loading so consequently there's not the need for rail cars that there was a year ago."

"There is good news," he said. "We know the industry's very cyclical, and it goes up and it goes down. We've been up for quite awhile. We look forward to the bottom of this trough."

He said, however, he couldn't estimate when the company would be able to bring back the laid-off workers.

"We'll call them back just as soon as the economy turns around," he said. "They're the best guys around, so we want them back. ... We expect the economy to have to go up again before we go back up."

Aly said the recession is in the second half of its second year, "so I'm imagining we are in the bottoming down, and the economy will pick up by next year. It's not going to be a huge pick-up. It'll be modest growth of 1 to 1 1/2 percent (gross domestic product). But at least we're going to pull out of this negative growth we have right now, and there are signs of some pick-up even in housing, definitely in the stock market. It's doing much better than before. It seems like things are moving in that direction."

Any such recovery would be a fragile one, he cautioned.

"It's definitely one that could go south if things happen," Aly said. "This is not a sure thing. Because if the government wasn't able to pull out of the market in a timely fashion and keeps restricting these companies they've taken a stake in, then things might not be easily recovering."

"It does depend a lot on the Federal Reserve and Treasury policies in the next six months or so, an appropriate time of pulling out and definitely an easing of the monetary policy to encourage people to buy housing and take loans for businesses. All of this is important right now."

Better Heat Exchanger Cleaning Through Technology

Maintenance of a platform's Waste Heat Recovery Unit (WHRU) and similar shell and tube heat exchangers can be an extremely dangerous process. It needs to be disconnected, taken off line, and moved to shore for repair. Shell and tube heat exchangers are made of coiled tubes and can become fouled with carbon deposits. The traditional methods for clearing the blockage include bypassing the fouled unit, cutting off bends and cleaning the tubes, then re-welding the U-bends, and complete unit replacement.

The old methods are becoming more outmoded due to advancements in technology. It is inefficient to bypass the unit. Just as it would be less efficient to run your car with 2 cylinders not firing. This inefficiency, of course, also increases operational costs. It is time consuming and costly to cut the U-bends and re-weld them. Sometimes it can be difficult or impossible to get access to reattach them.

Some of these new methods include the ability to clean areas with limited access, and clear deposits from U-bends without ever removing them. This can sometimes be done without even taking the unit offline, and usually takes less time and results in a higher degree of defouling. In fact, many units can be restored to near-factory efficiency. For big refineries, petro-chemical plants, or power plants, this can amount to six figure savings.

The U-bends themselves also retain many deposits, and continue to be a bottleneck to the system. Full replacement carries the cost of completely replacing equipment that, other than the heat exchanger tube fouling, is still in working order. This method also requires the unit be taken offline for the full duration of replacement. obviously this carries a heavy expense and serious loss of production.

Traditional heat exchanger cleaning methods and heat exchanger cleaning equipment have changed very little over the last few decades. Pressure jetting is still the primary means used by many companies, but it is slow, inefficient, and ultimately very costly. Additionally, many companies are skeptical of newer methods, falling back on the "that's the way it's always been done," chain of logic. They are also weary of trying new techniques that are not as "proven" to be effective. Finally, many have long term tube cleaning contracts that do not allow for a change in heat exchanger cleaning technique, unless the contractor were to adopt the new methods.

Newer heat exchanger cleaning equipment and techniques are more technologically advanced, and by extension, require a higher skilled laborer than old style pressure jetting. These new developments include the ability to clean tight radius bends, clean units while keeping them in place, and even while keeping them online. It has also resulted in faster, more efficient cleaning. Many tube bundles can now be cleaned more effectively than with pressure jetting, and jobs that used to take days may now take only a few hours. Difficult to access units are now accessible with these new technologies.

Some of the technology that has been developed includes special nozzles that can be used on tight bends, laser cleaning, and new "smart" metals that respond to changes in density and pressure to prevent damage to the tubes. With these methods, jobs can be finished with less downtime, because cleaning and descaling can be done more quickly. Equipment is also less likely to be damaged in the process. Many of these new processes are safer, create less waste, use no chemicals, and have a significantly reduced environmental impact.

Do You Really Need Fireplace Heat Exchanger Cleaning Equipment?

Before deciding whether heat exchanger cleaning equipment is something you need, it's best to take a step back and make sure you know exactly what a fireplace heat exchanger is. Simply put, it's a device used to make sure no cool air from outside of your home is brought inside when the fireplace returns air it's using from inside your home. So what happens when your heat exchanger breaks or gets built up with gunk and dirt? The fireplace becomes quite ineffective and starts actually cooling your house rather than heating it, the opposite of your intent.

This is where the cleaning equipment comes in to play! The tools are used to clean the exchanger making it possible for your fireplace to function properly at all times, keeping your house as warm as you'd like it to be. Unfortunately, finding the right cleaning gear can be kind of intimidating when it comes time to determine whether it's what you need, or whether there's another problem with the fireplace. Before investing in heat exchanger cleaning equipment make sure you're experiencing the right signs for the need, instead of signs of some other kind of trouble.

These signs include suddenly feeling much colder in the room than usual, especially when the difference seems to have taken place literally overnight. Also make sure that everything else seems to be working right on the unit. Finally, you may want to consult a professional so they can tell you whether you need such cleaning equipment or not. There's a chance the professional can simply take care of the problem for you right then and there, or even rent you the proper heat exchanger cleaning equipment.

If the tools are something you end up having to purchase, don't do so without comparison shopping first. Make sure you find the best deal possible for the highest quality. You'll also want to verify what the return policies are (in case the equipment is something you don't really end up needing or it doesn't work) and whether or not parts on the equipment can be easily replaced.