US2224844A - Apparatus for protecting oil distribution means at harbors - Google Patents

Description

- W. W. MACFARREN APPARATUS FOR PROTECTING OIL DISTRIBUTION MEANS AT HARBORS Filed March 25, 1938 2 SheetsSheet l OOOOOOOOOOOOO NA T Ila. 1 v l 0 w 8 0 00 O O D 9 OO 0 V w 0 00 7 l. 0 6 00 O36 MW 0 0000 0 0 6 0 0000 5 6 00000000000000 00000000000000 00000 000 0000 00000 000 0000 6 M 000 OOOOOQ/% INVENTQR.

OCEAN FIG.

Dec. 17, 1940. w w MACFARREN 2,224,844

APPARATUS FOR PROTECTING on. nzsm'rwnow mums AT masons Filed MaLrch 25. 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG 5.

FIG. 2.

INVENTOR.

Patented Dec. 17, 1940 PATENT OFFICE APPARATUS FOR PROTECTING OIL DISTRI- BUTION lVIEAN S AT HARBORS Walter W. MacfarrenyLos Angeles, Calif.

Application March 25, 1938, Serial No. 198,093

9 Claims.

conditions exist, since the oil is usually storedabove ground, and the ground is always above the water level. Thus if pipe lines are ruptured, the oil runs downhilland spreads over the water, and may reach all the docks and ships in the harbor, if a sufficient amount of oil runs free.

Broadly stated, the objects of the present invention are:

1. To limit the amount 'of oil which may escape from a ruptured pipe line.

2. To render the operation of the apparatus automatically effective upon the occurrence of an earthquake of even minor intensity, which may be the precursor of greater shocks.

3. To provide manual controls for operating the apparatus from a central control station.

4. And to provide the detailed structures for operating them, now to be described. In the appended drawings:

Fig. 1 is a diagram showing a plan of a harbor.

Fig 2 is a diagram of a control station.

Fig. 3 is an elevation of storage tanks and pipes.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of automatic pipe line valves.

Fig. 5 is a plan of group controls for the same.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section of an air valve.

Fig. 1 shows diagrammatically, a man made harbor, in which the shore line :is shown at 50, a breakwater of sea wall at 5!, .and asecond sea wall at 52. It is assumed that there are a pair of opposite hills, 53 and 54, and between these hills there is.,built an embankment55, which may have a Width of from one hundred to several hundred feet, and which may be covered with streets and buildings. It the hills 53 o and 54 do not exist, the embankment 55 may extend to the shore line at points outside the sea Walls 5| and 52, as indicated at 49.

Railroad tracks 56 may enter the harbor area through a gate 51 and a similargate 58, may be provided for very heavy vehicular trafiic.

Ordinary traflic may be carried over the embankment 55.

All the land surrounding the harbor falls naturally to the waters edge, and at the north side, a natural slough 59, or drainage channel, 5 may be assumed to enter the harbor. The embankment 55 may be carried .over this, .and a water gate .60 may be provided as shown, to allow the discharge of flood waters.

Extending up the slough 59 to the north, there are presumed to be a number of large tank farms, or groups of oil storage tanks 6l-'61, and'other-similar tanks may be located in nearby territory, as shown at 68'I!l.

Within the embankment 55 there are presumed to be other oil storage tanks of large capacity,,as shown at 'H--l5.v All of these latter tanks may be close to the water, and some of them may be on docks, for transfer of oil to ships. Pipe lines of large size are indicated at 16-80, for connecting the near and distant tanks.

There may be from 50 to 100 of these connecting pipe lines, and it is assumed that the whole water front is surrounded by factories, stores, dwellings, and the various units which comprise a city. This built up area may extend back for several miles from the water front, and the connecting pipe lines l6--89 may pass through it, and underground- In Fig. 1, two artificial islands 81 and 8,2, are shown, which are provided with piers or docks 83,-and.slips 84. An opening 85 is provided in the breakwater 5i, which leads into the outer harborv 86, from the sea. Ships at .anchor are indicated at 81 and 88, .and a main channel is shown at 89. The layout shown in Fig. 1 provides three main protected basins A, B, and C, and a smaller basin D, for fishing boats or yachts. These conditions are similar'to those obtaining-at Los Angeles Harbor, except that the embankment 55 does not now exist.

With the above assumed conditions, there are three main possible elements contributing to a major catastrophe by fire. One is the possibility of a stream of oilfiowing down the slough 59 to the Water front, from ruptured oil tanks outside of the embankment 55, and flooding the harbor waters withfioating oil.

A second is the damage to the surrounding portions of the city outside of the embankment, from ruptured tanks or pipe lines, and a third is the danger from oil spreading over the water surfaces of the main channel 89, and the basins '55 A, B, C, and'D, from a rupture of some of the close-in oil tanks H15.

The purpose of the embankment 55 is obviously to shut off any flow of oil from points outside of it, toward the harbor waters. It has been previously pointed out, that most or all, of the oil storage tanks are provided with a surrounding wall to keep the oil from spreading if the tank is ruptured. It has also been stated that such Walls may be easily breached by sabotage, and they might also be overthrown by an earthquake.

While the embankment 55 is also a dam or dike, it is of large size, and preferably an earthen fill, and may be made of such width that many bombs might fail to breach it and sabotage could be made very difiicult. Even an earthquake of major proportions would not necessarily preventand 95.

These stations are shown as'located on the hills '53 and 54, at opposite sides of the harbor, but this location is a matter depending on many circumstances, and as shown is merely illustrative.

It is assumed that one or more operators would be in attendance at each station 95 and 95, day and night. In, order to control the various oil valves from such central control stations, the.

control medium must have the characteristic of certain and reliable operation, when many of its operated parts are put out of commission by an earthquake. In other words, normal conditions are maintained when the control connections between the control stations and the operating apparatus are in good order, and automatic operation of the valves is eifected when the controlling medium is disconnected from the control stations, either purposely or by accident. Successful automatic operation depends in part upon the failure of some of the controlling connections, as will appear later.

To achieve such-results I employ compressed air,'or other elastic gas, as a controlling medium. This air is under static pressure in tanks and pipes, and may be so held at low cost (for leakage only), until definite action is demanded, at which time it may act promptly and reliably.

It may be noted in passing that electric current is not suitable for such controls, for if desired emergency action depends on the supply of current, such supply might easily be cut off by an earthquake, or by sabotage, and if the desired emergency actions are effected by gravity, springs, or other ready forces, a continuous current supply would be necessary toprevent such forces from acting until desired, which would be a constant expense for current, and the devices would be subject to undesired application upon a failure of current supply. On the other hand, a tight air pipe line filled with air under pressure, is subject to practically no operating expense.

, In Figs. 2, 3, 4, and 6, I have illustrated pro tective means for the various pipe lines 16-80 leading from any of the tank farms 6|10 to the close-in storage tanks ll-15. In Fig. 3, the outer storage tanks BI-Hl may be assumed to be located on higher ground than the close-in storage tanks II-J5, and both sets of tanks are above the harbor water level I I I.

If any of the outer tanks til-HI are ruptured, the embankment 55 will stop the flow of oil toward the harbor, but if only one of the pipe lines l689 is ruptured, the oil contained in the pipe, and some of the oil in the tank will flow into the city streets and sewers, between the place of rupture and the embankment 55, or between the place of rupture and the harbor water edge, if the rupture occurs within the embankment.

t is to be'remembered that some of the pipe lines l680 may be several miles long, and some of them may pass for a mile or more under busy city streets. Therefore it is a matter of prime importance to minimize the amount of oil which might escape from a ruptured pipe line, and more important still to minimize the escape of oil when many of these pipe lines are ruptured at the same time, as by an earthquake.

To achieve such results, I propose to subdivide each of the oil carrying pipe lines 16--80 into sections of a length determined by the size and capacity of the line, whether it carries crude oil or gasolene, the slope or fall of the line from the storage tanks til-10, the character of the buildings or of the stored materials on the surface above the line, the funds available for protective purposes, and other considerations.

To do this I supply spaced automatic valve apparatus, which may be designated as a whole by numeral H2. Referring to Fig. 4, this apparatus may consist of a gate valve 23, or other suitable type of valve, on one of the oil pipe lines l680, arranged to be opened or closed by a double acting-air cylinder 22, having a piston 30. For each valve 23 to be operated, there is a small tank 20, which is kept supplied with compressed air at say 100 pounds pressure, through a small pipe 21 leading to one of the control stations 90 or 85.

The air may pass from the pipe 21 to the tank 26 through a bent tube 24, of brittle material, such as thin cast iron, or glass, the latter being preferred, and which an earth tremor may easily break. Between the tube 24 and the tank 20, there is a check valve' 25, to prevent escape of air from the tank 20.

A special four way valve 28, to be described in detail later, is set between the tank 20 and the cylinder 22, and air is supplied to the valve 28 by a pipe 33, from the tank 20. Asecond pipe 26 supplies air to the valve 28, from a point in the line 2?, beyond the breaker section 24.

When the line 21 is under full normal pressure, the tank 20 is also under normal pressure, and the air from pipe 26'sets the valve 28, so that air flows through pipe 2| to the front end of the cylinder 22, and operates the piston 30 to open the main gate valve 23. If however, the pressure in the line 2'! is purposely released by the operator in a control station 90 or 95, or if the breaker section 24 breaks, or if any other section of the line 21, between the tank 20 and the control station fails, then the valve 28 is so actuated by this release of pressure in the pipe 26, that the pressure of the stored air in thetank 20, is released from pipe 2|, and applied to pipe 29, thus pushing the piston 38 to the left, and closing the main gate valve23, to shut offthe flow of oil in one of the main oil lines 1683-, or any similar pipe J controlled or modified by one or more small oil cushioning cylinders 34, of well known types,

connected to the piston rod 32 by a rocker arm 35, or other suitable means. The operation of the main gate valve 23 may be tested manually by a 3-way valve 3| in the pipe 25.

It will be noted that this is emergency apparatus, and it must operate with certainty and promptness. When the breaker section 24 is ruptured by an earthquake, the action is immediate, since the required motive force is stored in the tank 23, ready-for instant action.

If however, the control is exercised from the control station 33 or 95, and this is a mile or more distant, some few seconds may elapse before the reduction of pressure in line 21 is suflicient to change the setting of the valve 28, to actuate the piston 30 to close the main valve 28.

The air lines 21 may be small, since there is ample time available to recharge the tank 20. These lines may be laid in ditches, carried over houses, strung on telephone poles, or laid in sewers, or even in the inside of the oil carrying pipe lines.

They may be easily diverted, detoured, or concealed to render sabotage difficult, or impossible. While the apparatus just described has for its prime purpose the prevention of loss of oil from pipes, to avoid the fire hazard due to wild oil, and is not primarily for the purpose of conserving the oil itself, yet by preventing free escape, it also saves the oil.

Fig. 6 shows one suitable form of the valve 28, in vertical section. This comprises a hollow casing having two aligned cylindrical bores 36 and 31, in which may be mounted a plunger 38, having a collar 39, and a. spring packing ring 4|, the bores 36 and 31, being respectively provided with cylinder heads 42 and 43.

A coiled spring 44 may be placed between the head 42, and the end of the plunger 38, of suflicient strength to move the plunger and the connected D valve 46, when there is no air pressure supplied to the bore 31 from the air line 26. The valve 40 operates on a fiat valve seat 45, having an exhaust port 46, and two cylinder ports 4! and 4B The pipe 33 supplies pressure to the inside of the valve 28, and the port 48 supplies pressure to the pipe 2 I, to open the main gate valve 23, when pressure exists in the pipe 26. When there is no pressure in the pipe 26, the spring 44 moves the plunger 38, and the connected valve 43 to the right, which exhausts the air from the pipe 2|, through the port 46, and permits air to flow from pipe 33 and port 41-, to pipe 29, and to the right end of cylinder 22, thus closing the main gate valve 23, and shutting off the flow in one of the oil lines 16-80.

Instead of having the breaker member 24 located as shown on the pipe 21, it may form a part of the pipe 26, as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 4. It is also to be noted that such breaker sections may be located at other points along the line 21, between the tank 20 and one of the control stations or 95, so that more certain operation might be had in case of a minor earthquake, or a local explosion.

Fig. 5 is a diagram showing a possible arrangement of several sets of automatic valve apparatus H2, to control several pipe lines 16-19,

' in parallel relation such as might occur in a city in a concrete vault H3 under the street, which may be reached by stairs H4, from a small house l-|5-,'on adjoining property. An air line or group control pipe H1 may be led from one of the control stations '33, or 95, to the house H5, or to a store or other occupied building nearby. From the pipe I I1, branch pipes 21 may lead t'oeach tank 20, and each pipe 21 may have a 3-way control valve H6, which may be operated independently to exhaust the contained air from one of the pipes 2 1, thus allowing the associated main gate valve 23 to shut off one of the main oil pipe lines 16-19.

If a telephone message is received at one of the-control stations to shut off line" at the pointshown in Fig. 5, this message may be re-' layed 'to the store operator, who may open the appropriate valve H6, and report back to the control station. If such report is not promptly forthcoming, the operator at the control station may exhaust the air-from the group control line H1, and thus close all the main gate valv'es'23 at this point, or in his judgment, he may close them all atfirst, without calling the store operator.

The air pipes connecting any of the apparatus herein described may be of ordinary steel pipe, drawn steel tubing, or copper tubing, which lat ter is proof against rust, but more expensive.

The use of a non-oxidizing gas such as carbon dioxide would be conducive to protecting the interior of steel pipes against rust caused by the water vapor in compressed air, and such gas may be easily generated, and might be used in any of the piping herein described as a working fluid, instead of compressed air.

The diagram Fig. 2 illustrates the relation of the control station 90 and 35 to the various pieces of apparatus previously described. Each control station is provided with an independent air compressing plant comprising one or more compressors, each preferably provided with two independent sources of motive power, such as electric and gasolene motors.

In addition, each station may be provided with one or more air storage tanks, and a fuel oil or gasolene tank, all of these being preferably under ground.

The prime purpose of having more than one control station is that if one is put. out of commission the other may still function, although other advantages also accrue, such as giving better visibility over a wide area such as amodern harbor, and the provision of duplicate personnel at each station, for emergencies,

If there are two stations as shown in Fig. l, and one of them put wholly out of commission, from any cause, it will be useless, but minor accidents to machinery or piping may occur, in which case one station could assist the other.

To obtain the fullest possible co-operation between the stations, they should be connected by telephone, telegraph, and electric power lines, and also by fuel and air lines, so that fuel or air pressure lacking at one station could be supeach station should control the apparatus located in approximately one half of the harbor area. This has been assumed in Fig. 2, andonly one station 90 will be described. Various service lines are shown between the stations at I60. An air compressor and its driving means is indicatedat I6I, air storage tanks at I62, and a fuel storage tank at I63. A main air line I64 leads from the air tanks I62 to a header I65, preferably located in the control room.

From the header I65, branch lines I66 may lead to various groups of automatic valve apparatus H2, controlling oil pipe lines such as 18-80, or to a single important valve.

Each air line having a separate function may be provided with a 3-way valve I10, so that air pressure may either be maintained in, or exhausted from that line.

To sum up, the present invention provides protective devices for oil in pipe lines contiguous to a harbor, .or city, and adapted to minimize the fire hazard, and to some extent the loss of the oil, as follows:

Protecting valve apparatus for oil pipe lines located under city streets, or leading toward a harbor, which will retain the major portion of the contained oil in the pipes, in case of rupture thereto, and which may either be closed by an operator in a distant control station, or which will shut off such oil flow automatically upon a distinct earthquake shock.

The value of the above described protective devices depends first, upon the fact that an earthquake may rupture many pipe lines consabotage may produce practically the same effeet. In either case, without some such protection, the entire port may be consumed by fire, including that portion of theshipping unable to get out to sea.

I claim as my invention all the patentable subfeet matter covered by the following claims.

1. Apparatus for controlling the flow of fluid through a pipe line, comprising a main stop valve in said line, a conduit which may contain an elastic gas under pressure, a pressure reservoir supplied by said conduit and adjacent to said main valve, means for preventing the escape of elastic gas from the reservoir through said conduit, means operated by pressure from said reservoir for opening and closing said valve, and means for controlling the application of said pressure in a manner to eiTect opening of said valve when pressure in said conduit is above a predetermined value, and in a manner to effect closing of said valve when the pressure in said conduit is below said value.

2. Apparatus for controlling the flow of fluid through a pipe line, comprising a main stop valve in said line, a conduit which may contain an elastic gas under pressure, a pressure reservoir supplied by said conduit, and adjacent to said main valve, means for preventing escape of pressure from said reservoir to said conduit, pressure operated means for opening and closing said valve, means for controlling the application of pressure in a manner to effect opening of said valve when the pressure in said conduit is above a predetermined value, and in-a manner to effect closing of said valve when the pressure is below said value, the pressure for closing said valve being supplied from said storage reservoir.

3. Apparatus'for controlling the flow of fluid through a stationary pipe line, comprising a main stop valve in said line, a reservoir of compressed gas adjacent to said valve, a fluid pressure motor for opening and closing said main valve, means for supplying compressed gas from said reservoir to said motor including an automatic pressure operated valve for reversing said motor, means for keeping said automatic valve normally set to keep said main valve open, and for automatically reversing said automatic valve to close said main valve upon the occurrence of an earthquake, or similar shock to the apparatus.

4. Apparatus for controlling the flow of fluid through a pipe line, comprising a main stop valve in said line, a reservoir of compressed gas adjacent to said valve, a fluid pressure motor for opening and closing said main valve, means for supplying compressed gas from said reservoir to said motor including an automatic pressure operated valve for reversing said motor, a piston controlling the position of said automatic valve, a cylinder therefor, a threeway operating valve at a distant point, a conduit connecting said threeway valve and said cylinder, and a spring opposing said piston, whereby the pressure in the conduit effects the opening of said main valve, and release of said pressure operates to close said main valve.

5. Apparatus for controlling the flow of fluid through a stationary pipe line, comprising a main stop valve in said line, a reservoir of compressed gas adjacent to said valve, a fluid pressure motor for opening and closing said valve, a source of compressed gas at a distant point, a conduit leading from said point to said reservoir, means for preventing escape of gas from said reservoir into said conduit, means for supplying pressure from said reservoir to said motor to open said main valve when pressure above a predetermined value exists in said conduit, and to supply pressure from said reservoir to said motor to close said main valve upon a reduction of pressure below said predetermined value, and a breaking section in said conduit which may be broken by a minor earthquake to cause said main valve to close.

6. Apparatus for controlling the flow of fluid through a pipe line, comprising a main stop valve in said line, a fluid pressure motor for opening and closing said valve, a conduit which may contain an elastic gas under pressure, a pressure reservoir supplied by said conduit and adjacent to said main valve, means for preventing escape of gas from said reservoir to said conduit, means controlling the application of pressure from said reservoir to said motor in a manner to open the valve when the pressure in the conduit is above a predetermined value, and in a manner to close said valve when the pressure in the conduit is reduced below said predetermined value, a valve in said conduit for lowering said pressure located adjacent to said main stop valve, and a second similar pressure lowering valve located at a distant control point.

'7. Apparatus for controlling the flow of fluid through adjacent pipe lines, comprising a main stop valve for each of said lines, the said valves being adjacent to each other, an air motor for opening and closing each of said valves, an individual air reservoir for each of said valves, individual conduits to supply each of said reservoirs with compressed air, means for preventing escape of air from said reservoirs to their respective conduits, means controlling the application of pressure from the several reservoirs to their respective motors in a manner toopen one of said main valves when the pressure in its respective conduit is above a predetermined value, and in a manner to close said valve when said pressure in said conduit is reduced below said predetermined value, separate means for lowering the pressure in each of said conduits located near each of said main valves, a single conduit connecting With all of the said individual conduits and leading to a distant control point, and a valve in said single conduit for reducing pressure therein to obtain the simultaneous operation of all said main valves.

8. A system of protective controls for oil carrying pipe lines, comprising one or more main stop valves in said line or lines, a central control station having a source of compressed air and a main air reservoir, a fluid pressure motor at each of said main stop valves arranged to open and close said valve, an auxiliary reservoir nearby each of said main valves, an air pipe connecting said main reservoir with each of said auxiliary reservoirs, means for preventing escape of air' from said auxiliary reservoirs to said air supply pipes, means at the control station for admitting compressed air to each of said air pipes to charge said auxiliary reservoir connected thereto, or for exhausting air from said air pipe" to lower the pressure therein, and an automatic control valve located between each auxiliary reservoir and its connected fluid pressure motor, said valve being responsive to full air pressure in said air pipe so as to operate said motor to open said main valve, and also responsive to a decrease in pressure so as to operate said motor to close said main valve.

9. The elements of claim 8, in combination with a breakable air container connected to each of said air pipes, which may be broken by a minor earthquake to automatically release air pressure from said pipe to cause the air motor controlled thereby to close its connected main valve.

WALTER W. MACFARREN.

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