Tbe First F fry Years of LP-Gas

An Ind,ustryt Cbronologl

Chapter 1: The Dream of LP-Gas Becomes Reality

Ihis industry history was prepared by. the National I_p-Gas Council as part of the l,P-Gas industrv's celebra-tiop during 1962 of its 50th anniversary. Starting withChapter l in th is issue, I ,PGA t ' lMl ls wi l l pr int th ishistory in monthly installments during 1962.

Although the fifty-year period starts historically withthe cylinder installation at the home of John Gahringnear Waterford, Pa., on May 17, 1912, a great deal ofdevelopment work with LP-Gas was going on in thecarlier years of this century. For this reason Chapter Irecites events which occurred before the historic initlatInstallation was made,'l 'his

complete history is an exclrrsive 'l

IMFIS feature.

Of the nanes c l l ' the rnen associatec l wi th the ear ly de-

. . . rwo NEw Brrs of knowre<rge wcre adcrecr ro nran- ]',il:ll"j} JJ,t8.tJ:*':T"'"T"1ifrTlt5']"JJl;*'j;kind's store in the years that closed the nineteenth cen- C.,."ofof i., pa.. were respectively presi<ient ancl sec_tury and opened the twenticth. One was the d.iscovery r.et1ryi11sis.urer. The vice piesi{ent w1s Chester L. Kerr.that a l iquid fuel called oil nnd a vilpor fuel calle-d nat- a fi i trt,urgn attorney, and the generirl superinten<Jentura l gas were p lent i fu l ly avai lablc beneath the sur face of rvas Ar thur N. Kerr . h is cousin.the earth. Thc other was the news from Eurooe that"btrrning gas" extracted front oil coulcl be tiquil ied 1nd Sconly Knowledge lo go oncontained in steel bottles. Knowledge of thc nature and behavior of thc i lases

The years 1909. l9 l0 and l9 l I are red lc t ter ycars i rnd l iqu ids thesc men were proccssing for markei wasin the history of LP-Gas that led up to the comrrrercial scant in the early days. But it was evident to all that thcntarketing ol'the 20th ccntury fuel. In 1909. LP-Gas sti l l gascs that rcfused to .stay disolved in the glsgline were ofI t dream, the product ion of gasol ine was a pract ica l ancl potent ia l va lue. In 190-9 and 1910. however. Rivers ic leprofitable venture as more and nrclre "horselcss car- hacl to pipe this raw material of the futurc LP-Gas a safc|iages," as they called the early autos. appearecl on the distance awav ancl set it afire. The llares. burning nightst reets ' and day f rom the nozzles set in to thc p ipe, I ighted the

Discovery of new natural gas wells in the western countryside at ir then unavoiclirble but greirt ei.pense toPennsylvania and west virginia border region prompted the new industry.the formation of a conrpany to locate profitable dri l l ing Perhaps the news that a young Gernrrrn of the city ofsites and build processing plants, largely for the extrac- Augsburg. Herntun Blau.

-had invenred ir nrethod for.

t ion of natura l gasol ine that could be conclensecl f ronr nrak ing fuel gases f rc lnr o i l 1nd cqnt i r in ing thent underC o p y r i g h l 1 9 6 1 b y N . l i i o n a l I P G ; , s C o u r r : j l

fhe Coming of t iguefed Gos

this so-callcd "'uvet" gas. The lirm was nanred the River-s ide Oi l Co. and f rom i ts p lant at Sis tersv i l le , W. Va. ,came much of the raw material fronr which the l lrst LP-Gas. ca l lec l Gasol , was la ter obta ined.

Rivers ide, wi th in a ycar of i ts format ion in 1909, hadbui l t n inc p lants in the Sistersv i l le area. southwest ofPi t tsburgh. Twelve ntore were bui l t in 1910, inc ludingthe first blending station where naphth:r was nrixed withthe "casinghead" or "wild natural gasoline" condensedfrom natura l gas. The b lending was donc in an at temptto keep certain of the r.rsefr-rl l 'uel gascs suspended in thcl i r lu id gasol ine.

1887 ' Ihc f irst known printed refercncc

to the manufacture of l iquefiecl petro-leum gas was conducted in . 'A prac-t ical ' f reatise

on Petroleum" by Ben-jamin T. ( lrew, publ ished by HcnryCarcy, Baird & Co., I-onclon.

1890 Pintsch gas was introduced into thcUnited States from Europe. I t was acompressed- not liquelied- gas made bycracking oi l and was a mixture ofmethane ancl heavier hydrocarbon gases.It was known as bott led petroleum gasand among its uses was rai lwav carl ighting.

1903 What is bel ieved to have been thcfirst apparatus for extracting gasolinefrom natural gas was built by WiiliamFasenmeyer. He was joined by Sutton

l 6

Bros. and l ] r lmonds in commcrcia l d is-t r ibut ion of natural gas gasol ine pro-t lucer l at Sisterv i l le . W. Va.

1903-t904 Blaugas, cal led the f i rs t bot-t led l iquic l gas (as opposed lo com-pressed gas), was tlevelopecl by HcrnranBlau of Augsburg, C)ermany. I t was amixture of permanent gases, l iquid gasand l ight f ract ions of gasol ine-al l pro-duced by modi f icat ion in the manufac-tu le of i l luminat ing gas f rom oi l . Thclight fractions of gasoline were rentovedby means of a c lcv ice cal led "Anrylene"

col t rmn.Manufactur ing costs were an expen-

sive lOc a pound plus the fact that theconsumer hacl lo pay f re ight on 7 lb. ofsteel cy l inder for every pound of gas.

Blatrgas was conl i l inc( l r rnder pr .essuresof 7-50 to I . -s(X) psi . I t had ro bevapor izecl by a g;rs- f i red burner and thenconductecl through a ser ies of l iquid an<tvapor regulators and reclucing tankstunt i l the pressure fe l l to t l oz. Insta l la-t ion of the equipmenr cost 9200. so thegas wirs used largely by lhe weal thybcyond the city gas mains. T'he firstBlaugas plant in the Uni ted Statesslar ted operal ions in l90l i .

Nine companies werc organizerJ torranufaclure and market the product inthe Uni ted States. two of the mostprominenl being Northwestern BlaugasCo. of St . Paul , Minn. , and Blaugas Co.of Omaha. Nebr- Both companies surv iveto the present t ime. a l though they havelong s ince been converted to Lp-Gas.

LPGA T imes-Jonuory , |962

Pioneers in LP-Gas Development

great pressure in steel cylinders was known to the nren atSistersv i l le . An Amer ican Blaugas p lant was ah 'eady inoperat ion in 1908 before the hrst known exper imcntswith LP-Gas were reported.

In Washington, D.C. , a young ntan to become afounder of the LP-Gas industry was fascinatecl by quitcanother challenge. Walter O. Snell ing, a doctor of chenr-istry who had received degrees from Harvard, Yale andGeorge Washington universit ies was trying, on his ownvol i t ion in h is US Geological Survey job, to dcvelop anunderwater cletonator for explosives. ln 1907 he ob-tained thc use of laboratory space at George WashingtonUnivers i ty . In a water- l l l led p ipe outs ide th is laboratorywindow Snell ing tested the detonators he nrade for un-derwater blasting necessary in construction of the Pana-ma Canal . The device he produced was credi ted wi thsaving the government hal f a mi l l ion dol lars i . r ye l r incarving the "Big Ditch" frclnr the Atlantic tcl the Pacific.

The following year Snell ing and others on the staflmoved to Pittsburgh to set up the office that later be-came the U.S. Bureau o l ' Mines. From th is governmel l tproject cAme several other men who would play promi-nent par ts in the LP-Cas story. Snel l ing obta ined em-ployment in the Bureau of Mines for a young collegegraduate nanted George A. Burre l l who was later to be-come a leading authority on natural gas and all ied sub-jects. Burre l l la ter brought in to the department George

G. Ober le l l . who a lso contr ibuted grcat ly to thc l iqu ic li lnd gaseor is petro leunl fuc ls industry . And the petro le-unr department head, I rv ing ( ' . A l len. l l ter pooled cf -l 'or ts wi th Burre l l to publ ish in l9 l2 the l i rs t cxtensivL 'government repor t on the var ious fuel gases then known.

Into Dr. Snel l in-u 's o l l ' ice in l9 l0 walked a Pi t tsburghnlotor car owncr who conrpla ined that the gasol ine hcpurchased was evaporating at a rapid and expc'nsive ratL-.He thought the government should look in to the natureof those d isappear ing fumes. The young chcr l is t soonreal ized that gases wcre cscaping f rom the l iqu id gaso-line because thc stopper was repeatedly blown I'ronr themouth of the bot t le . Exper i rnent ing wi th the fuel anclchecking the nature of i ts componcnts, Dr . Snel l ing rc-alized he hacJ butanc. pl 'opane und other hyclrocarbonsto deal wi th.

Since there were no l 'ac i l i t ies for prepar ing thc var iousl ' ract ions of h is sample fuc l , Dr . Snel l ing, having rnc-chanical as wel l as chemical sk i l ls , sct about bui ld ing adist i l l ing apparatus. Using coi ls f ront an o ld hot watcrheater and p ieces of laboratory equipn.rent . hc bui l t ast i l l that could separnte or f ract ionate the "wi ld gaso-l ine" in to i ts l iqu id and gaseous contponcnts. His workbecame the basis of one of the two major patcntcd in-vent ions that contr ibuted great ly to the car ly develop-ment of LP-Gas.

Dr. Snel l ing 's f i rs t gas nray have been t ru ly the l i rs t

Frank P. PetersonWalter O. Snel l ino Arfhur N. Kerr Chesier L. Kerr

Also in 1904 natural gasol ine was ob-t :L ined in commersia l qr . rant i t ies by Wi l -l iam Fasenmeyer near

' f i tusvi l le , Pa. .

f rom the col lect ion of condensat ion inthe natural gas mains. A year later , re-covery was increased by chi l l ing gaspipe l ines rv i th cold water.

Edward I . Hanlon, later to becomeprominent in the natural gasol ine in-dustry, jo incd the f i rm of Heneghan andDaly as bookkeeper. On the death ofDaly. the f i rm became Heneghan andHanlon. Hanlon bought a $300 com-pressor and shipped natural gasol ine indrums down the Ohio River to Parkers-burg, W. Va. , where i t was mixed wi thmotor fuel .

1905 By now the foundat ions of the

LPGA Times-)onuory, 1962

natural gasol ine industry hacl been la idby the exper iments of Wi l l iam Fasen-meyer, of Tompsett Brothers near- f

id ioutc, Pa. , and of Sut ton Bros. atSistersv. i l le , W. Va.

1908 Natural gasol ine development hadbeen extended by work of Wi l l iamMayburg who, in 1905, had purchaseda gas engine f rom Bessemer Cas En-gine Co. to compress gas to obtain j ts

gasol ine content . Thereaf ter the Besse-mer f i rm was act ive in help ing theyoung industry to progress.

Other important work was being doneby Hol l ingshead at Bradford, Pa. ; Mc-Carty at Bol ivar , N.Y. , and Gray atKinzua, Pa.

In 1908. the Reno Oi l Co. bui l t in

West Virg in iu thc f i rs t srrccessful cont-pression plant l 'or natural gasol inc pro-duc t i on .

l9 l0 Researchcs of Peterson ant l theBessenrer company at ( l rove Ci1y. I ,a. ,t ransformed the natural gasol ine indrrs-t ry f rom an cxpcr inrental to : r col l ln ter-c i a l bas i s .

1911 The f i rs t associat ion o1' producerswas formed to promote the natural gaso-l i ne i ndus t r y , b r r t i t was ac t i ve f o r on l ya few years.

At about th is point development be-gan to center around the capture and useof the butane and propane gases forwhich the pioneers of LP-Gas sawcommercia l possib i l i t ies.

t 7

Photo : lmP€r ia l Gas Co.

A l 9 l 2 v i e w o { a n a i u r a l g a s o l i n e p l a n t i n S i s t e r s v i l l e ' W . V a . F r o s f -

i n g o n i h e p i p e a n d d r u m c a m e f r o m v a p o r i z i n g b u l a n e .

"bottled gas" bccause the only container hc had in his

laboratory wils i l wire-ennleshed glass soda welter"squirt" bottlc. Later he obtained a German-made steel

cylinder that enabled hinr to transport the new fuel easily1or denronstration purposes such as l ighting gas lamps,

fueling hot plates for cooking and perfornling a variety

of nretal working jobs.The other early ntajor patent was that of Frank P.

Peterson who had developed by l9 l l a method of l ic lue-

fying thc uscl'ul fucl gases. An employee of the BessemerEngine Co. s ince 1908, Peterson had exper imented wi thgas powered engines of his own design as carly as 1904.He used gas that he had made fronl anthracite coal.

Pcterson lirst encountered natural gas gasoline in

1909 at a plant where one of his company's compressorswas used. About that t inre he also purchased for thc

lJessenrer firnr the rights to John L. Gray's piitent for

making gasoline by the conlpression nlethod. But his

curiosity went furthcr. He succeeded in condensing l iq-

uid fronl the gas by packing tons of ice around the gas

nlains and later used a heat exchanger type of refrigerat-ing device. Later Dr . Snel l ing encouraged and under-

wrote the costs of having Peterson's invention patented.l n l a te l 9 l 0 and ea r l y l 9 l I when Dr . Sne l l i ng was

demonstrat ing LP-Gas to h is col le i lgues at the Bureau

of Mines. his path had not yet crossed that ol ' Peterson

or the Kerr cousins. While Peterson was busy experi-

ment ing at a natura l gasol ine p lant he had bui l t in l91 l

at Follansbee. W. Va., Arthur Kerr had been working

for several nronths with gases and gasoline at Sistersvil le.Dur ing December 1910, Ar thur Kerr repor ted that he

hard obtained 200 gal. of a condensate that he describedlater in a letter of May 9, 1928, to his cousin, Chester,

as "predoninately and preeminently a butane cut." Since

there were no known suitable containers for LP-Gases

at Sistersvil le at that t ime. it is possible this production

was used to blend with the gasoline produced at the

Riverside plant.The Kerrs told in later years of their struggles with

l 8

LP-Gas in the industry's formative period. On one occa-

sion a landlady would have no nonsense about LP-Gasexperiments being conducted in her house and banishedthe mysteriously fueled gas lamp and hot plate experi-ments to an unused chicken coop. In these first years,

the Kerrs also learned of the great heat and extreme coldthat could be generated by the new liquefied gas -

properties that were the forerunners of today's automatichome hetrting and cooling appliantrs and of even morespectacular benefits to humanity coming into use onearth and in outer sPace.

Frank Peterson had worked with George Burrell ofthe Bureau of Mines on his gas compression experimentsbefore Dr. Snell ing first heard of his work from IrvingC. Allen and sought him out. Allen also said that Ches-ter L. Kerr was the one other man who knew most aboutnatura l gas gasol ine, and Dr. Snel l ing cal led on h im afew days later.

Not long af ter , on June 6. 1911, Dr . Snel l ing gaveAllen of the Bureau Mines a full report on his work todate. On June 12. he put in written form the necessaryinformation about his LP-Gas tenrperature-pressuremethod of disti l lation that would be rcquired for a pat-ent. By July -5, Peterson's application for a patent on hisgas compression invention had been subrnitted (granted

July 2, l9 l2) .

The intriguing idea of l iquefying was not entirely con-fined to the men credited with founding the LP-Gas in-

dustry as a comntercial enterprise. Gcldfrey L. Cabot'who had invented a method of producing carbon blackbefclre the turn of the century, had experimentally l iq-

uefied natural gas (mostly methanc) by using l iquid air.

In 1912, with carbon black plants in several Pennsyl-vania and West Virginitt towns, Cabot asked Dr. Snell ingto establish an LP-Gas plant at Cabot, Pa., where hehad an excess supply of gas. Nothing further, however,

c l rnte of th is proposl l .In l9 l l , B laugas engineers. and possib ly Pintsch gas

engineers also, investigated the possibil i ty of preparinga liquified gas from natural gas, but concluded it couldnot be produced in uniforn-r composition.

It is believed that in this same t""t .lj:,,t t".tt::tj.X

5ro."1.-Io"l;

Sketch: Imperial Gas Co

Arthur N. Kerr sketched th is process for using l ighi hydrocarbons fo

cool gases in natural gasol ine processing'

i A ' , " " r . . ' n t - "

: ur.- , l^, lhr

Earua, , la

!!F:'�

-1#ffi$esi€- !a r f ^9-a . . t ' r t

'.,AJt.Jt,*i!'t- tr'oS"

LPGA Times-)onuory, 1962

l o @ ' f a d . t h l . e i h t u y o t i l o r . l b . r r ! D . t g l l l

b / s d ! . r t . . n t r . n i P , P . r . r . o n , o l o r o h r r ! r , ? . b n . y t r d r l r l

p ^ r t y o t r h . 1 1 r . t p . r r , . l a e , L . T . . t t o t P ! ! ! . i : r ; , P d n . j t -

r . n r . , 9 . r l y o ! t h . . . c o i d r . r t , r n d r d t . r O . g n . l l r n A , . t

P l r t . ! [ d r P . n n . y l t . r 1 6 r D . r r J o l . - b o ' t 1 r d p s r t .

l ] @ S , s d c r . n & r . . E . r t o l . v . n & t ! 5 0 r . r t ! h ,

s d ! b t . n d b . t r . . n t r a n l P . P . t e r . o . , l r a h t L b l . . . , a . l .

f , . r r M d 1 5 . 1 1 r d r . r d . 0 1 1 f o 4 . r y , t i ! . p r o ! 1 d . d r f r i r h .

. r r d D A r t 1 . . r h . l l l n c o r y o r r i . b . l n . o r y o . . r . d

r c 5 4 r n y t o r t h . p u r t o . . 0 l ' p r o d u c l n a , b ! _ l n a , . . I l l n a ! , d

d . . r r n a r n t . i r o ! . 6 M d . . | ! r d o . . n d ! h d p r ! d : c r . t h . r . o t '

Industry historyContinued from p. 18

pererson, c. L. Kerr "::' 11"ffiil'il;I'il''-1T.'1,l 9 l I l o o r g a n i z e t h e f i r s i L P - G a s p r o d u c i n g a n d m a r -

k e t i n g f i r m , A m e r i c a n G a s o l C o .

Schenck of the Schenck nreat packer I 'ar r i ly of Wheel ing,W. V:r., had either produced son.re LP-Gas or some-r.vhere obtained a supply. In any event. working with J.C. Whitelield of the packing l irm, Schenck converted at ruck to LP-Gas operat ion and demonstrated i t in l9 l2belorc in terested crowds in New York Ci ty . Whi t f ie ld,la tcr to jo in the Consol idatec l L iquid Gas Co. of NewYork and to go on to the Standard Oi l Co. of New Jer-sey. was the l i rs t appl iance and apparatus expert in thencw gas l ic ld .

An industry has i ts real . pract ica l beginning the dayi t gocs in to operat ion supply ing the needs of i ts custom-ers. But thc pre l iminar ies are a lso s igni f icant to i ts h is-tory.

I n Oc lobe r l 9 l I . t he d rean t o f an LP-Gas bus inessbegan to sol id i fy in to real i ty . Snel l ing on Oct . l0 gave('. L. Kerr a full report on all of his work up to thatt in te i rnd asked h im, in h is ro le of at torney, to draw upthe necessary papers to incorporate the world's f irst LP-Gas company. Snell ing offered to underwrite all the ex-penses ol' the new venture during its formative period.

On Nov . l l , l 9 l l , Amer i can Gaso l Co . was i nco r -porated under the laws of West Virginia. Of the 2,000shares of s tc lck, 261 shares each were g iven to C. L.Kerr . Frank Peterson and Wal ter O. Snel l ing, the bal -lnce being held by the corporat ion.

fhe fo l lowing day the three shareholders met at Steu-benvi l le . O. , in an a l l -day nteet ing concerned wi th or-ganization of the con.rpany and its activit ies. C. L. Kerr

was named president; O. D. Robinson, president of Riv-erside, vice president, and E. D. Robinson, secretary andtreasurer of Riverside, as secretary and treasurer. Thedirectors, in addition to Kerr and the Robinsons, wereFrank Peterson and Walter Snell ing.

Dr. Snell ing, as a governnrent enrployee, could notserve as an olTicer of the new company and had agreedfour days earlier that his stock would be held for thetime being in the name of Frtrnk E. McLean.

The founders of the industry started on not muchnrore than a very thin shoestring plus unbounded faith.They had the Snell ing and Peterson patents, Dr. Snell-ing's l i tt le Pittsburgh shop at 15 43rd St. and its LP-Gasdemonstration apparatus. a source of supply at River-side, and a young ofl ice and errand boy, Clarence R.Kerr, a nephew of the Kerrs.

On Nov. 22. 19 | l , Ar thur Kerr wrote to h is cousinthat he had produced a l iquid that he believed was liquidbutane and l iqu id t r i tane. He said " there is no quest ionthat th is product that I have made wi l l be very valuablefor some uses ."

Although nothing had yet bcen published about thenew company or its product, word sonrehow spread, forc rn Jan . l l . l 912 , the l i t t l e shop on 43 rd S t . was v i s i t edby Capt . Anthony F. Lucas, the nran who in 190 I haddiscovered the Spindletop oil l ield near Beaurnont, Tex-as. He said he was interested in l inancing the company.but the corporate partners felt unable to nreet his ternrs.

Chapter 2 of this chronology will tell how the first LP-Gas

installation was sold. Look for it in the I'ebruary '|'IMF)S'

Major sources for th is chaptcr are lhe Antcr ican ( ias Assn.l ibrary, and the f i les of Dr. Wal tcr O. Snel l ing ancl Impcr ia l ( ias

Co. This chronology was preparcd by Johnston Snipcs of theNat ional LP-Gas Counci l s taf f .

F IFTY YEARS LATER. M i ch igan Gove rno r John B . Swa inson ( sea ted )

s i gns o f f i c i a l p roc l ama l i on mark i ng l he wee l o f Jan .28 as "M i ch igan

LP-Gas 50ih Anniversary Weel ." Presenl a l lhe ceremony were in-

dus t r y l eade rs { r om i he M ich igan LPGA: ( s t and ing l . f o r . ) D i ck

Lowe , J . O . Gower , Robe r l Habe rmeh l , Lou Marsha l l , Ed Yo rk and

Ken E i s i nge r .

Union Texas-Al l iedChemical Merger Plan Told

The merger of Union Texas Nat-ural Gas Corp. into All ied Chemi-cal Corp. has been announced by

2 8

Kerby H. Fisk, All ied's board chair-man, and J. Howard Marshall,Union Texas president.

Plans of the two companies tobuild a joint petrochemical complexnear Baton Rouge, La. were madeknown Nov. 12. Further discussions

by officers of both companies re-sulted in the proposed merger onthe basis of 7 rB of a share of All iedstock for each share of Union. Themerger is subject to the aPProvalof the directors and stockholders ol'both companies.

LPGA Times-Jonuory, 1962

Tbe First Fifry Years of LP-Gas

An Ind,uarl Cbronology

Chapter 2: Pioneer Installations Are Made

. . . PROGRESS seemed to be at snail's pace those firstfew nronths of 1912. Potential customers were hard tofind . . . and in the country they were hard to convincethat they could have a gas supply just l ike city folks onthe natural gas pipe l ines. But f inally a Iirm order was ob-ta ined and Dr. Snel l ing had F. T. Todd, manager of theLawrencevil le Machine Co. build the l irst dontestic LP-Gas outl it l 'or the l irst customer-John W. Gahring ofthe no longer existing l itt le railroad stop of Le Boeufnear Waterford, Pa., a few miles southeast of Erie.

The lirst outfit was completed on May tt and shippedthe following day to Union City where A. F. YoungHardware and Plumbing Co. undertook the job of in-sta l la t ion. I t took a l l o f 28 hours to get the sct insta l ledand working, for which the cornpany chargcd Dr. Snell-ing $ I 1 .20, a muni f icent 401 an hour.

To record the fact that even in that day there weregovernment publ ic re lat ions n len, a wr i ter named Wi l -I iam Altdorfer was helping publicize the Bureau of Minesunder the direction of its director, Dr. Hcllrrres. Dr.Holnres was interested in Snell ing's work and strggestedthe possib i l i ty of a newspaper s tory. Al tdor fer fe l t hecouldn't wait for the Gahring system to be installed, sohc hircd a dray, loadcd a Casol outfit then in the shop,ancl drove down the street unti l he found ir l ikely lookinghousc for a photograph. He sct up the cabinet and tanksand took h is p ic turc, which appcared in near ly a fu l l

page article in thc Brooklyn (N. Y.) Dail-v Eagie of Sun-clay, May 12, f ive days before the first set actually wasin operaticln.

' fhe ar t ic le a lso appeared in the Indianapol is SrrndayS/al ol thc sante clate and was widely copied by maga-zincs, newspapers, aud trade and scientif ic books ircross

tlrc country. Thc May issue of Nutiottal Itetroleurrt Nev'scarriecl an article by Dr. Snell ing on his nrcthod of sep-aration ot gasoline by crit ical tenrperatures.

Firsf uses - 6eefting and lighling

May 11,1912, is t l re day the LP-Gas industry urarksas its birth. On that day l iquefied petroleunr gas beganlighting the larnps and cooking the meals in the farmhomc of John Gahr ing. Noth ing toc lay remains of thathor.ne or the gas installation, but just up the road standsthe honre of the second custonter , E. E. Wheeler . On theback porch is thc first steel cabinet that replaced thewooden box used to shel tcr the tanks and equipnrent of

the Cahr ing sct . The or ig inal ce i l ing f ix tures that sup-pl ied gas l ights are st i l l in p lace. The sanre fanr i ly ownsthe home.

Other carly custonlers in Pennsylvania in those firstmonths were the St . Paul Luthcran Church at Penryn,the Henry S. Dombach honte at East Petersburg, and thehome <ll ' Dr. George W. Gcrwig, ft lr nrany yeitrs sec-retary of the Pittsburgh schools.

Copyr igh t 196 l by Nat iona l LP-Gas Counc i l

John W. Gah r i ng ( i nse i ) i n spec t s t he f i r s t LP -Gas

ins i a l l a t i on made a t h i s f a rm home (above ) . Pho io

taken May 11 , 1912 .

When A . F . Young d i d h i s i ns i a l l a l i on wo rk 40c

bouqh t an hou r ' s l abo r . Th i s b i l l cove rs i he Gah r i ng

and Whee le r i obs .

4IJounq

r r . s / 6 ' o r t . ) t . r 4

r ' ! / . ' . 1 " r '

, ! / ^ ' 1 . "r r / 6 , ' _ ' n r I r "

, o r 5 l . ' . 1 h ' .

\ - 3 / u h t , , n .

. . n

r - r 7 . ' * 1 . n . r !r . 1 / i . r . .

} t t ' u 1 d m

r - r l , ' . r r o ' .

! . ! r , r ^ . n l a t h u . r e n t . . I h . ' r a 3 . 6 oi o . E f t ,

, 5 3 r / , b . . ' d i r f t . . r d J

r . ; ! . ! r 5 n . ! / . ' F r ' . , ' : -F r l { r r ^ t ! . . I b r .F 3 7 r " u D p r - ' . r .

tttS-

Dr. Snelling on June 18 believed that the companywas on a footing sufficiently sound to enable him toresign from government service. Although he submittedhis resignation that day, he did not completely sever hisconnection with the Bureau of Mines until that fall.

By September, Snelling felt that he could no longercarry the full financial load of the new company. Afterconsultation by the partners it was decided to seekfinancial assistance from M. L. Benedum and J. C. Treesof Pittsburgh who had been financing the Riverside OilCo. Benedum and Trees agreed to put up $10,000 inreturn for 200 sharcs of stock each and the AmericanGasol Cg. was given another chance to prove it had asalablc product.

By the end of that year of 1912, Amer ican Gasol waswidely known throughout the petroleum industry andby the public at large through articles by Snell ing andPeterson in Scientific Arnerican, a full page Sundaysupplenrent story in the Pittshurgh l:'ost, and many othernewspaper items.

Often the ntagazinc and newspaper editors gave prom-inent display to a Gasol denronstration kit built by FrankPeterson. It was a snrall suitcase containing LP-Gascylinders not nruch larger than those used 50 yearslater for hand soldering torches, paint rernovers andcamp stoves. To the gas set was connected a small gaslanrp on a pedestal, rcsembling an old-fashioned gasstreet l ight.

" Mirdcies" seen by firsl wrilers

One writer, thinking he was foretell ing the miraclesoi tonrorrow, fell far short of cnvisioning the manyserviccs that LP-Gas performs today. He predicted thatthe woman of the future would carry a suitcase gaslamp to l ight her way in the dark.

The bright, prosperous future for LP-Gas seemed dimindeed by the t ime the suntmer of 1913 ro l led around.There had been no rush of customers despite brochuresand catalogs issued by American Gasol and newspaperadvertisements.

An impressive appcaring building housing the com-pany's laboratory, showrooms and warehouse had beenrented ̂ t 7440-7460 Finance St. in Pittsburgh . . . butall was not as it seemed in the company catalog. Picturesand descriptions of the Gasol set, the available gaschandeliers, and the Century Co. range and hot platewere more factual than the building. The warehousebuilding had been rented to Dr. Snell ing by the Robin-sons because it was along the railroad tracks and litt leboys kept the windows in a constant t inkle of breakingglass. No one else wanted it. American Gasol occupiedone room on the second fioor where Dr. Snell ing had hisoffice and additional space was used by his six em-ployees. But the greater part of the building was unused.

The day of Aug. 25, 1913, dawned with no ominousthreat that sunset would see the end of the first AmericanLP-Gas Company or yet any promise that the in-dustry would survive to circle the earth with its productand services. But during that day American Gasol'soffice door swung open to admit a visitor-E. W. DeBower, the man who put the LaSalle Extension Courseon the map. A man of few words under the circum-stances of his visit, he placed on the table a certifiedcheck for $50.000 and announced that on beha'lf of an

LPGA Times-Februqry, 1962

The E. E. Wheeler home, st i l l s tanding, was lhe second Snel l ing in-

s ia l lat ion. This home was c lose lo Gahr ing's which is no longer

standing. Pic lure taken al l ime of gas insfal la l ion.

interested investor he would give the three partners just

30 minutes to accept his offer to buy the company.Snelling, Peterson and C. L. Kerr hastily conferred.

Peterson was general manager of the Riverside WesternOil Co. which had been set up by Benedum and Treesto handle Riverside's gasoline plant operations in Okla-homa, but he said his share of the $50,000 would bemore than he ever expected to make in his life. Kerralso voted to accept, as $50,000 was a great sum ofmoney indeed in 1913. Snell ing, having equal stockvoting rights, reluctantly agreed to sell the contpany inwhich he had placed so much hope and work.

Chapter 3, to be found in the March TIMBS, carries the his-tory through World War 1 and the early 1920s when some oftoday's marketing companies were being organized.

Major sources for Chapter 2 are the files of Dr. Walter 0.Snelling, the Wheeler family and Imperial Gas Co.

Correction: The captions in Chapter I under the Kerr photosshould be reversed; C. L, Kert's name should appear under thephoto originally shown as Arthur N. Kerr, and vice versa.

Early Gasol promo-

iion {ealured blow-

torch appl ical ions.

i : ,w

23

I

I

I

Tbe Fira FifU Years of LP-Gas

An Ind,usny Cbronologl

Chapter 3: The Years of Slow Growth

. . . THIS ERA OPENS after the init ial group of in-stallations had been made by Dr. Walter O. Snell ing in1912 andcloses in 1925 when Imper ia l Gas Co. - s t i l lactive - opened its f irst California plant. In those yearsLP-Gas was largely in the hands of its developers. Afew "new" nilmes appear as do several companies whichhave for the most part passed out of the industry's his-tory, plus two or three firms which have since beconteorominent.

Many of the recorded events center around patentand stock transactions. Apart from these managementtransactions a few pioneers were exploring sales anglesin this new industry: home installations, plumbers'torches and metal cutting were a few early outlets. In-novations in handling and transportation were recorded. 1915

Blaugas was sti l l popular in those years before andshortly after World War I. The big sell ing point for itand for LP-Gas was that they kept city-bred cookscontent with their suburban jobs.

From this point on LP-Gas history wil l be told in achronology of events drawn from countless sources.l9l2 Arthur Kerr built a large plant at Sistervil lc

1 for Riversidc Oil Co. This plant later suppliedLP-Gas to Consolidated Liquid Gas Co. of NewYork, successor to the American Gasol Co., thcpioneer producing and marketing firm. At thistime, there were 250 compression plants extractingnartural gasoline from natural gas.

Frank Y. Locke, president of NorthwesternBlaugas Co. of Minneapolis, built the l irst suc-cessful Blaugas plant. Manufacture of this gascontinued unti l l92U when LP-Cas was adoptedby the firm.

1913 The purchasers of American Gasol Co. createda new lirm under the name of Consolidated LiquidGas Co. of New York with American Gasol re-ceiving stock in the new company. It obtainedLP-Gas from Riverside Oil and from a specialplant built by Sloan & Zook at Bradford, Pa. Formany years this Bradford unit was the only oper-ating plant in the East.

General American Tank Car Co. of Chicagobuilt the first insulated tank car for the naturalgasoline industry.

Frank Peterson went to Tulsa, Oklar., as gen-eral manager of Riverside Western Co., later tobe merged with Riverside Earstern into the Trans-continental Oil Co.

In May, early customers John Gahring, E. E., Wheeler and Henry Dombach wrote American

Gasol expressing their perfect satisfaction with theLP-Gas outfits installed a year earlier.

t 9 l 6

I9l4 May 28: Wallace R. Lane of Parkinson &Lane, noted Chicago patent attorneys, said thatthe four Snell ing and Peterson patents wouldgive " the Consolidated Liquid Cas Clom-pany . . . full protection on the only knowncommerciallv practicable methods or processes ofproducing their l iquid natural gas product irs wellas the product itself, however obtained." Thefirm had not discovered any earlicr work in thisIield to null ify the patents.

Godfrey Cabot built an LP-Gas plant at NewElizabeth, W. Va. He contemplated barging thegas in large quantit ies, but the venture was a fi-nancial failure.

Aug. 30-3 l: Representatives of ConsolidatedLiquid Gas Co. and American Gasol Co. met atthe Hotel Wolcott in New York City to discussreorganizirt ion. Present were C. L. Kerr. WalterO. Snel l ing, Dr . J . Dennis O'Hagan and h is at -torney, Patrick Lyons and his attorney, irnd JohnM. Ewen. They attempted to reorganize by sell-ing Consolidated Liquid Gas and forming Indus-trial Liquid Gas Co. with $ l.-500,000 in stock.O'Hagan, Lyons and McCarthy, and Gasol inter-ests irgreed to put up $10,200 in cash to pay press-ing obligations (the company was in debt for asum of more than $172,000). Snel l ing and Peter-son are known to have paid their cash assessmentbut nothing further is known of this reorganizationeffort. Consolidated, at that t irne, wirs sell ing gasoutfits and gas around New York City for somedomestic use, but largely for nretal cutting.

A. N. Kerr was elected president of the Cirs-inghead Gasol ine Assn.

Early air-butane nrixes were called "greased

air . "Dr. J. B. Garner of Hope Natural Gas Co. be-

gan work with LP-Gas in cutting steel in the Pitts-burgh area.

Jan. 3 l : J . F. McCarthy, thrc lugh Thomas A.Sheehan as receiver, purchased the Gasol-Con-solidated Gas patents of Snell ing and Peterson ata receivers sale of Consolidated in Chicago.

Feb. 3: American Light & Heat Co. wirs in-corporated under laws of Delaware with author-ized capital of $ 1.500,000 as successor to Con-solidated Liquid Cns Co.

Feb. 3-9: In a series of American Light andHeat board of directors meetings, J. F. McCarthyollered to sell to the new company the Snell ingand Peterson patents he had purchased. ThomasJ. Ryan offered to purchase a substantial amountof stock.

LPGA Times-Morch, 1962

Copyr igh t 1961 by Nat iona l LP-Gas Counc i l

21

Gas tor The Farm

Out6ts wrll be rca.lv for distriLutiorr aLoutJ a n u a r v ' l s l . 1 9 1 3 .

AtvlIflIIAI{ [ASOL COillPAIIYPITTSOtJRG, PI .

LlQulo GAS lN B0l l l t l loR C0UTIIRY t l0t ts

The ear l iest pr inted LP-Gas sales maler

ihus far seen is Gasol 's l9 l3 bool let .

One o{ the ear ly paienls for processes

fr inging on LP-Gas was th is l92l docu-

ment cover ing a recondensing Procest .The late George A. Burrel l la ler headed

At lani ic Stales Gas Co., mar let ing

chief ly in New Yor l and Pennsylvania.

l9l7 Walter O. Snelling moved to Allentown, Pa.,where he became research director for the Tro-jan Powder Co.

Riverside Eastern and Riverside Western com-panies were merged into Transcontinental Oil Co.and the two Kerrs decided to set up their ownLP-Gas business. They called their company theRockgas Products Co. of Pittsburgh and contin-ued to use the old name of Gasol for the prod-uct. Later they built a plant on Neville Islandnear Pittsburgh. The plant was supplied by three9,000 gal. high pressure tank barges whichbrought up liquid gas from Charleston, W. Va.,300 miles away. Most of the gas was sold formetal cutting. The vice president was I. N. Mc-Nay who later engaged in the LP-Gas business forhimself, first in Connecticut and later in Ephrata,Pa.

At this time Roy Eichleay was spending muchtime and money pushing LP-Gas in New YorkCity, Long Island and the suburbs. Eichleay laterbought Blaugas tanks and patents.

1918 Rockgas obtained agents in eastern New Yorkstate to sell its gas outfits for $150 each and thegas at 259 a pound but all agents went broke be-cause they didn't understand the important serv-icing end of the business.

Apr. 4: At a special board of directors meetingof American Light & Heat Co., C. L. Kerr pro-posed an agreement under which Rockgas Prod-ucts Co. would be licensed under the Snelling-Peterson patents owned by American Light &Heat.

Apr. 5: Special meeting of directors of Ameri-can Light & Heat approved agreement of "April

24" giving Kerr license rights. (This agreementlater declared void by the directors.)

Hope Natural Gas Co., under J. B. Garner,introduced Butane as trade name for product. Itwas used largely as a cutting gas.

2 2

1919 Feb. 3: The board of directors of AmericanLight & Heat discovered that a supposed 49,970shares of stock had never been issued, so theboard authorized issuance as of "October 20,1916." Shares previously supposedly divided asfollows: A. N. Kerr - 5, C. L. Kerr - 10, Gasolinterests -�9,298, J. Dennis O'Hagan - 15,223'P. J. Lyon and J. F. McCarthy - 6,298. At thismeeting C. L. Kerr, A. N. Kerr, and I. N. Mc-Nay elected respectively as president, secretaty- 4treasurer and vice president, and all three as di-rectors. (This election declared void on Feb. 28,1921, because none was a stockholder as of thedate of election.)

During World War I, George A. Burrell servedas a Colonel in the Chemical Warfare branch ofthe U.S. Army in charge of research and develop-ment of gas warfare. He played an important partin the development of activated carbon as an ab-sorbent for war gases. After the war he collabo-rated with G. G. Oberfell, who had worked withhim both at the Bureau of Mines and in Chemi-cal Warfare, in the development of the activatedmethod of extracting natural gas liquids fromnatural gas. Gas chromotography, a modernmethod for analyzing gases quickly, is an out-growth of this work.

Walter O. Snelling married Marjorie Gahring,daughter of John Gahring who was AmericanGasol's first customer.

J. B. Anderson, Liquefied Gas Appliance Co.of Sharpsburg, Pa., worked with C. H. Allen,General Engineering and Model Works of Pitts-burgh, in developing a pumpless blowtorch. An-derson also developed a pencil arc burner, aplumbers furnace and a soldering iron for produc-tion l ine work. F:.

1920 The Association of Natural Gasoline Manu- *-

facturers was founded in Tulsa, Okla. The presentname is Natural Gasoline Processors Assn.

@

LPGA Times-Morch, 1962

7h, FVELof the

UGIIT.HFAT.FJ\\tR

RE I 'N IC] I ]RAI ' ]ON

American Light & Heai Co. pr in led anelaborale brochure in l92l lo promolethe Fuel i te brand. The f ront cover isreproduced at lef t . The l is t of usesshown on one inside page (r ighi) wouldsi i l l s tand as a cala log of maior appl i -cal ions.

d a b . d ^ d L E F € d ht..6 Pil6. 'n rkldld'qtu'#'_

Ud 9'..tu &t1. hd

di Dbd

k 6 dlftt(. hrltrni

td.nF Arld ld r. G@r^e 'nd Ra'

The Follnning Are lrchded, Anwg the ManyPtactical C.rrr"t nrcial U*s of Fuelite

FOR UOHTINC PURIOSES

F-bic.d bJdlq $hL^ od Cdnq l|ffUu@-&hfte F.m bUE.d Dr|'nFtuF od hn& Runl Gurb rd $bLO.F.db&lM $r.hd r^d hEE lo&

w'Titffailillr"r tuqbtnthM';-J;;

- - &.kll[{hh'nt

fol' HFJ\NNC AND As A FUELbtd th 6r&{-6 $.dF $d d

Hl',*Y:$1t ",' &i5'3'&IJTtffT:k ; ;ho- . m.dRod|EEFruil RlFft.d htiqbb B6;d elh. 'n uh#.8d tunLil-'i-t'illq."aomr B.tlsa. *bbt 'n dloPM6 d Hshhr' Td(b .d lodtolrd

#.fr-f,*iff'n * ".-t.* H6r'ss.6n.vuti."u,ir rl& &h6 $ lN .d dd dcVarh.@@6il tulld'@ hd* rDIuMa

FOR POWER AND REruGERATION

tuliE s r r6.tr.1 tud lot .6t to.[E!.tr'(*'1.*6'd'r'

in ;.,J11 1;yy.11 :iil,l'liHml-#,:,T;ab.. tr ! nsr m Er unro dr;6no,eLrasth<h.d | !v* f t ,6 t tu In t r .s kn .@l l rud f . t (@lq6dF h d. ilnuhEd tfrn<trr r'

MISCELI.ANTOUS USES OF FUELITE

$d t ! tq : M. l t 'na- ivD. r r td .d [d ! ryJo tk rF d ' ' t li a tA-w-q ' rm; roh f f i r ldk ik |ev.d u h Ado Rqhsl4

|l r crrcnctv idu.bt. In rhfd NLh tu*.St. in Me 6rh6'of i66(rlrE.!.nd ob . lo r FFdr .d f f i r td r ry ld . .d .sbffifr.dhtddE qitur. rd r(d@ .d &oIn th F.tiq d Bl4 hnE md [lLq

About this time Tappan Co. employed D. O.Meese to study gases in a tour of Europe. Thisled to formation of Superfuels Co. in a joint ef-fort with Phillips Petroleum Co.

J. M. Kelley, at Rochester, N.Y., built a catchbasin burner at suggestion of the Kerrs of Rock-gas Products who got the patent. This was thefather of the LP-Gas burner. Kelly started theterm "bottled gas."

I. N. McNay, who was vice president of theRockgas Products Co., was in business with aMr. Small of the Nugas Co. and installed a goodmany sets at Greenwich, Conn. Rockgas Productssupplied Nugas in Connecticut.

McNay started his own company at Coraopolis,Pa., and sold McNay Gas (wet), but later switchedto propane and dry gas. He was one of the firstto sell wet gas.

Other firms in the field included Fuelite NaturalGas Co. of Belmont, Mass., Rockgas, Hope Nat-ural Gas, and Pittsburgh Thermoline Co.

Carbide and Carbon Chemical Corp. (laterUnion Carbide), manufacturer of Presto-lite, builta plant at Clendennin, W. Va., with Pyrogen formetal cutting and Pyrofax for domestic use. Whit-field helped the firm originate the 1001b. contain-er which the company made at Indianapolis.

The first modern distribution ooint was atGreenwich, Conn., and was supplied by RockgasProducts. The gas was sold largely to millionaireswho wanted the convenience for their estates andto hold their city-bred domestic help in the coun-try.

Rockgas Products was making an LP-Gasblend and regular gasoline and aviation gasolineat its Neville Island plant.

Frank Peterson became valuation engineer forKansas & Gulf Co. where he served for one year.

l92l Union Carbide developed the first column stillwhich it called a stabilizer. It reduced costs ofproduction. James A. Rafferty and Harold E.Thompson developed the stabilizer, which pro-

\- duced the first sharp propane cut. This permittedlarge volume production of LP-Gas.

Feb. 11: H. L. Mandeville, a New York brok-er, wrote J. F. McCarthy, president of American

LPGA Times-Morch, 1962

Light & Heat Company (successor to Consoli-dated Liquid Gas Co. and American Gasol Co.)ofiering to buy control of the firm for $137,295.However, he required that Rockgas Products can-cel the patents license of Apr. 24, 1918, (the onethat directors of American Light & Heat had de-clared void). This offer of Mandeville was neverentered in the company minutes book and salewas never consumated.

Feb. 28: J. F. McDonald was elected presidentof American Light & Heat Company. The direc-tors refused to approve the minutes of the specialdirectors meeting of Feb. 3, 1919, in so far asthey attempted to elect C. L. Kerr, president; I.N. McNay, vice president, and A. N. Kerr secre-tary-treasurer; and all three as directors, for thereason that none of them was at that time a stock-holder. The board also declared forfeit the con-tract dated Apr.24,1918, with Rockgas Products,because it had been entered into without the au-thority of American Light & Heat.

1922 Feb. 6: American Light & Heat directors elect-ed N. O. Hendricks, president; W. H. McDonald,vice president; John F. Robinson, treasurer andC. E. Drake, secretary. This was the last notationin the minutes book until Walter O. Snelling onFeb. 4, 1927, reinstated the company's charterthat had been forfeited by the state of Delawareon Mar. 18, 7925, for non-payment of taxes.

1924 Frank Peterson became production engineerfor Mid-Continent Petroleum Corp. at Tulsa,Okla., where he remained until his retirement in1942.

1925 Mar. 18: Delaware forfeited charter of Ameri-Condnued on p. 5l

23

I--

Thestar tofwide-sca|cmarket ingandthecomingof thettbig name" companies are recounted in ncxt monthts

chapter of the LP-Gas industry's history'

Malor contributors to Chapter 3 -include Walter O'

Sneiting, the files of Imperial G19 Co", Butane'Propane

News, I-PGA TIMES and the Natural Gas Processors

Assn.

Pennsylvania To Mark First LP Site

The site of the f 'rrst LP-Gas installation wil l be

memorialized in a roadside marker to be installed on the

. 50th annivers i t ry d l te ' Mrry 11 ' 1962't- ""A;*tS

,fon e"nn.ytvania LpGR urging the state his-

t o r i c a l z r n d n r u s e u m c c l m m i s s i o n a g r e e d t o p r o v i d e t h emarker, according to John Paulding' the association's

5Oth birthday committee chairmnn' The commission alsc'r

oereed to have the sign availablc to display at the na-

can Light & Heat Co. for non-payment of taxes'

an unrisual method of terminating a company's

activit ies.Rockgas Products Co. set up lmperial Gas Co'

in California and Arthur N' Kerr went West to

ooen the new area for LP-Gas. Imperial devel-

oped the first successful tank-vapor domestic sys-

tem, using a single tank and one regulator' The

company harketed a dry gas, a 70-lb' sharp cut'

low lressure Rockgits. This first gas wirs pur-

chased from Santa Fe plant No' 3 of the.Pacific

Gasoline Clo. The following year girs was obtnlneo

from Standard Oil Co. of California' For many

years Imperial sold through distributors' shipping

iCC cyt inaers by ra i l throughout Cal i forn ia, Ne-

vada. t)reson, Arizona and New Mexico'

tional conventton.Paulding's committee plans tentatively to stage a

..r"-ony -ot

ttt" site of the former John Gahring home

near Waterford on MaY 17'

The marker is one phase of the 20 man committee's

pr.,gronl. Other projects include a speakers' bureau to

iell the anniversary story to .local

organizations in the

r,",., u public relit ions kit and exploration of a state-

wide TV ser ies next SePtember 'The mirrker wil l be a rectangular plaque' bearing a

nototion on the l irst installation, mounted on a standard

implanted in the roadside'

RED HEAT

I n l r a - r e i l . . . t l r c n r o s t c l l i c i e r r t c o l r r f t l r t h c a t p o s s i l r l c l i l r . h i g l t

c c i l i ng bu i l d i ngs . . . l . r ow a t t hc l owcs t cos t cvc r o l l c r cd ! Spacc -

Ray gas Infra-Red hcat ing instal lat ions rrc no\ \ 'bc i t rg nrat lc i t t

bui ld ings ol 'avcrage construct ion for 25c pcr sc1' f t ' (of hcntcd

l l oo r a r ca ) . ' . and l ess . ' l - h i s c ( ) s t covc r s i ns ta l l a t i c t t t s cvc l l l l l

co ldcr scct ions.

Space-Ray overhead hcatcrs beanr inf ra-rcd lays t l i rect ly dt lwn

in a widc. c i rcular pat tern. No f i r r rs or b louers to st i r t tp t l t rs t '

Mul t ip le hcatcrs, htrng synlmetr ical ly , b lankct t l rc worki t rg

area wi th inf ra-red rays, lo bcst heat l loors ' n lct l ' n l i tchi r rcty

and tools. Thesc t l raf t - f ree rays hei i t only sur laccs lnd obiccts

thcy touch, not the ai r . " leave thc uppcrcci l ing arca rc lat ively

runhcalcd, which nrc i t t ts a lowcr cost of opcr l l t l ( r l l '

l f you havc problenrs hcat ing indtrstr ia l bui ld ings' u ' r i tc lbr

informat ion on Spacc-Ray " ' thc inf ra-rc i l heat lhat can bc

instal led for less than 25c per sq ' f t ' in most normal btr i ld ings

with average heat loss'

HistoryContinued from P. 23

lPargas Net uP in '61: Purchases Made

A 30.5% increase in net income last year and pur-

chase of operations in Ontario and West Virginia were

announced in January by Pargas, Inc' president C' J'

McAllister.Last year's net amounted to $396,666 on revenues of

$3,434,488. Revenues showed an8'3o/o rise over 1960's'

A 7.5c dividend was declared, also in January'

- The Maryland-based operation bought Chaudane Gas

Co. Ltd., with units in North Bay' Sudbury and Sturgeon

Falls, Ont., and Newkirk Bottled Gas, Keyser, W' Va'

McAllister also announced that Pargas common has

qualified for published over-the counter quotation'

I I I I I I I I I T

I st_r9r-^L1Y coRPoRottooll,.,: P . o , B o x 3 4 8 5I C h o r l o t l e 3 , N . C .

I i l " o , " s e n d i n f o r m o l i o n o n S p o c e ' R o v l l i g h l r r '

t t e n s i t y I n f r o - R e d G o s H e o l e r s '

IIII

UsesNaturol or

Propone gosa

APPROVED SYAMTRICAN

GASAssoclATloN

SPACE.RAY

| ^ ^ A T : - ^ - r l ^ ' - l r 1 A 4 7

N o m e -

1 / .

Tbe First Fifry Years of LP-Gas

An Ind,ustry Cbronology

Chapter 4: "Big Names" Rally To LP-Gas

Brand narnes commence appearing with the supportof professional promotion in the 1926-33 period of LP-Gas histgry. The curiosity stage was parssed as majorproducers arrived on the scene. With domestic salespatterns rapidly being refined, both gas suppliers andequipment makers stepped up their probing of the in-dustrial, carburetion and uti l i ty markets. By 1933 theindustry had organized its trade association, later namedLPGA. and discovered that LP-Gas seemed to bedepression-proof.

1926 As the leading natural gasoline producer, Phil-l ips Petroleum Co. became interested in LP-Gasand turned its extensive research facil i t ies to theproblen.rs involved. G. G. Oberfell and R. W.Thomas played prominent roles in this work.

At this time. Union Carbide sued Phil l ips foralleged infringement of its patent on the stabil izerdcvcloped in l92l . This sui t was seen later as anrajor turning point because it shifted Oberfell 'sinterest from natural gasoline to LP-Gas and ledto the creation of the company's extensive LP-Gasresearch program. He worked with Thomas, Paul

1' Endacott and others in surveying the possibil i t iesof nrarketing LP-Gas on a large volume basis.

1927 Phil l ips Petroleum "turned cln the gas" for amomentous forward leap for the LP-Gas industry.It designed and obtained approval for special tankcars (a plea made eirrl ier by Rockgas Co.), gaineda realistic railway freight classification and rate,set up bulk plants to receive tank car shipments.arranged for tank truck delivery to customers andprovided a "one drunt" system for receivingtrucked delivery at the customer site.

The first tank car of butane was shipped May3 | for city gas enrichment tests and the first tankcar fuel contract was signed in October. A bulkplant at Hudson, Ohio, started operations Dec. -5when tank car shipments of propane were re-ceived.

In July , the Shel l Oi l Co. in t roduced Shel lane,ir mixture of propane and propylene produced atthe Martinez and Wilmington (Calif.), refineries.Shellane was handled, for the most part, throughcompany-owned depots.

Day & Night Manufacturing Co. of Monrovia,Calif., made the l irst concave-head butane cylin-ders on the West coast.

Pressed Steel Tank Co. developed a cylinderweighing only 1.25 times the weight of the gascontents. (Today the weight is only .7 of a pound

'\r ' per pound of proPane.)'u ti '-Gas po*"rbd the first train, from Lep,

Okla. , to Mol ine, I l l ino is .

Copyr iqh t 1951 by Nat iona l LP-Gas Counc i l

LPGA Times-April. 1962

The tirst National Fire Protection Assn. pam-phlet No. 58, for "Compressed gas systems (in-cluding LP-Gas) other than acetylene, for l ightingand heating" was issued.

Tappan Co. developed an insulated gas rangeto uti l ize the fuel more economically.

Ford of Charleston, W.Va., developed a two-regulator vaporizing system in which heavy LP-Cas cuts were vaporized in a coil set in water.

Walter Snell ing obtained reinstatement of theDelaware charter of American Light and Heat Co.through payment of all past taxes and fees. Theminutes book was then found in a Minneapolistrust vault. LP-Gas was being produced by Snell-ing-Peterson methods during the preceding years.

The Association of Natural Gasoline Manufac-turers became Natural Gasoline Assn. of America.

Frank E. Pil l ing, Sr., later president of CenturyGas Equipment Co. (now owned by Marvel-Schebler Products Division of Borg-WarnerColp.), obtained his l irst gas carburetor patent.He worked with George Holzapfel of RichfieldOil Co. at Long Beach, Calif. Holzapfel startedthe Algas systems, the Eclipse butane carburetorsand the Roadmaster systems. Holzapfel and Bar-ton Brown are believed to have been the first tobui ld product ion uni ts .

Skelly Oil Co. entered the field with Skelgasancl was among the l irst to recover LP-Gas ex-per inrenta l ly f rom the cracking st i l ls used in

P h i l t i p s ' e a r l y s a l e s m a k e r , i s s u e d a b o u t 1 9 3 2 , h a d a l e c h n i c a l s l a n t

because i t appeared in Swee i ' s Arch i tec fu ra l Ca la logues . Key le t le rs

tha t may no t be {ami l ia r lo newcomers are E, f lex ib le hose, and F ,

mercury sea l Iow pressure sa{e iy re l ie f .

1 7

S l a n d a r d O i l o f C a l i -

f o r n i a , R e a d y g a s m a r -

ke ter , pu ls lhe da te o f

t h i s d i s p l a y r v i n d o w a t

Y u m a , A r i z . , a s e a r l y

1929. Mot ion p ic iu re

ihea l re l ie - in p romo-

l i o n s w e r e p o p u l a r i h e n .

RemFyn ber?

gasoline production. Pure Oil Co. was also work-ing successfully on this technique.

1928 The first Bureau of Mines report on LP-Gasproduction gave thc following figures:

New York Blaugas and Southern Blelugas Com-panies went out of business.

LP-Gas was the fuel uscd on the epoch ntakingworld voyage of the Graf ZePPelin.

Reported production of 4,522,899 gal. wasmore than was marketed in all previous years.

1929 Standardization of f itt ings for cylinders beganto show benefits to industry.

Standard of California pionecred Calol cuttinggas for steel cutting irnd pre-heating.

Phil l ips and Suburban Gas Co. (predecessor ofSuburban Propane Gas Corp.) were the first tointroducc leased user storage equiprnent. Prior tothis time uscr storelge was sold. This was animportant development because unti l that t inte theprincipal marketer. Pyrofax, sold a two-cylindermanual systenr for $ 125 to $ l -50, and sold thegas for l6d a pound. The Phi l l ips and Suburbanlease systems reduced the in i t ia l insta l la t ion pr iceto $29 .50 o r $36 .50 , and gas to l 0 t o l 2 ' l apound. This put the systen.r within thc pricc langcof the general consumer.

Rernarkable increase in the use of LP-Cas bythe gas industry for gas enrichment, recarburetionand d i rect manufacture. At the beginning of 1929only one gas plant produced a butane-air car-bureted gas. At the end of the year tlrere wereseven such p lants in oper l t ic ln ; two under con-

Th i s sca le l oad ing man -

i f o l d b l uep r i n l cdmefrom a Bast ian-Blessingnole book issued in1928 , p robab l y f he ea r -l i e s t handbook on LP -

Gas . The man i {o l d , l e ss

scales, t ip and vent ,

sold for $42.50 each i fyou bough t on l y one o ff he 2 - cy l i nde r mode l s .

Year192219231924192519261927r 928

Gallons222,641276,836376,488403,67446-5,08-5

1,091,00_54.522,899

Bastian-Blcssing Co. produccd an carly auto-matic cylinder chirrging system and issued thefirst book on the industry, "Notes On LiquefiedPctro lcum Gas." Chapl in-Ful tc ln Manufactur ingCo. was lirst to produce special propane rcgu-lators which are basical ly thc samc as those usedtoday.

Stanclard uti l i ty gas mcters were aclapted forLP-Gas serv icc wi th specia l indexes by the Anrer i -can Meter Co.

Re liancc Regulator Co. was taken over byAmerican Meter Ct).

The start of Suburban Propane Gas C'orp. ol 'Whippany, N. J .

Phi l l ips insta l led the l i rs t butane-ai r p lant atL inton, Ind. Later . work ing indcpendent ly . Ar thurN. Kerr installed ir comparable plant at E,l Centro.Calif. Other plants of this type were erectccl clur-ing the next two years.

Union Carbide bui l t the I i rs t cy l inder- f i l l ingplant in New York.

Servel Co. in June introduced the l irst LP-Gasrefrigerator.

Phil l ips, at Pontiac, Mich., mirde the first sim-plif ied vaporizing set for dry gas used for appli-ances.

Pyrofax advertising in Saturday Evening Postand Rockgas radio advertising in California didmuch to popularize LP-Gas.

Standard Oil Co. of California began testketing of Readygas in the Imperial Valley

Shell Oil Co. started manufacturingdistributins on the West Coast.

mar-area.

and

l 8 LPGA Times-April, 1962

T h i s g r a n d { a i h e r o f L P - G a s w a t e r p u m p s { o r r a n c h e s w a s o p e r a l i n g

i n 1 9 3 2 , a c c o r d i n g f o A l 9 a s . T h e g a s l a n k c a n b e s e e n a t r i g h t , o n

a w h e e l e d t r a i l e r .

struct ion and l ive nrore being designcd. l - in ton.lnd. , the l i rs t . had bcen in cont inuous opcnt t ionfor over l9 nronths. Industr ia l c lperat ions inc ludedglass nrelting, nrotor block testing, diecnsting,and forging.

Standard of California started sell ing Flanto in4l - lb . and 9 l - lb . cy l inc lers, wi th l i rs t insta l la t ionn r l r dc i n Augus t .

Bastian-Blessing's hanclbook of data anclequipment started a trend toward uniform prac-tices and improved safety procedures.

American Gas Assn. undertook a progranr oftesting appliances and equipment and developrnentof satisfactory burners and conversion equiprnentto change from natural and manufactured gas toLP-Gas.

Lone Star Gas Co., Dallas, a uti l i ty, com-menced sell ing LP-Gas under the Stargas brand.

The Bureau of Mines estintated a total of 55,-000 domestic LP-Gas custonters in the US. andreported that distribution had been extended titall states.

The first undiluted LP-Gas plant using lt vapor-izer system went into ttperation at Moorpark'Calif.

Marketed production for the year: 9.92-5,698gal .

1930 Fully automatic gas ranges itnnounced."Degree Day Heating Book" published by Na-

tional Trade Journals. Inc.The {irst l iquid propane cut from refinery tops.Spring-loaded pressure relief valve adapted to

LP-Gas.Natural Gas Properties, Inc., was organized by

Standard of California to supply butane-air mix-tures through piped town plants in Pacific Coastcommunities. Most of I7-5 plants projected werenever built, but the publicity helped many bottledgas dealers to expand their operation. About 45such plants were in operation by the end of theyear.

The idea for an LP-Gas trade association wasborn in a luncheon conversation at the AmericanGas Assn. convention in Atlantic City, N. J. Threeof the four men at the table founded the NationalBottled Gas Assn. (later renamed Liquefied Pe-

LPGA Times-April, 1962

troleum Gas Assn.) that began its work officiallythe fo l lowing year . They were Mark Anton. thenpresident of Suburban Gas Co. t George G. Ober-fe l l and H. Emerson Thomas. both of Phi l l ipsPctro leurn Co. The four th ntan at the luncheon.Richard Hudson. d id not become a factor in theassociat ion.

Fi is t p lant se; 'v ing undi lu ted ut ix ture propane-b ' r tane inst r l led at Moorpark, Cal i f . , by SouthernCo:rnt ies Gas Co. , Los Angelcs. The f i rs t motort r . lnspo; t t i 'a i ler for LP-Gas. dcs igncd and bui l t byGencral Petro lcunr Corp. . was p laced in serv iceby Southcrn ( 'o t rnt ies t t t s t rpply thc Moorpark 'n l an t .

Anrong l i rs t c lealcr-operated bot t l ing p lants wasonc orvned by Mark Anton. His tse lv idere (N. J . )p lant was the I i rs t contb inat ion bot t l ing and p ipcdgas p l i rn t . the la t ter us ing the l i rs t copper t t t r t ins.

In Fcbruary the l i rs t pLrb l ic showing in theNorthwest ol ' a Flan.ro installation was nradc atthc Eugcnc (Ore.) aut t lnrobi le show. I t cc lns is tedof a cabinet , two 9 l - lb . cy l inders, a RegO No'l l49 regulator and Wedgewood rangc.

First tank-car ntovcntent of butane-propancnr ix ( ( 'a lo l Industr ia l Gas No. l ) f rom thc Rich-nroncl rc l inery of ' Standard of Cal i forn ia to thcl i r s t bu t r rnc - r r i r p l l r n t s .

The buscs of the [-tts Angcles Transit ( ' t l . werc

fuelcc l wi th but i tne.Delctt introclucecl a new, sinrtl l i l iecl fornr of l-P-

Gas ruachinc.Marketcd product ion for thc

gil l.193 I NGAA int roc luccd i ts f i rs t

t ions.Na t i on i r l Bo t t l ed Gas Assn . . ; l r edecesso r o f

t-iquclied Pctrolcurtr Cas Assn.' was l i lrr led with

Mark Anton i rs pres idcnt . Hc was re-c lectcd thrcct i r les.

A loti l l of 123 tJS cit ics wcre served bybut i rne-a i r nt ix tures through undcrgr t luncl mains.

The US Bureau of St i rndarc ls issued a c i rcu larout l in ing the nr i tnufacture. propcl t ies ancl t r t i l iza-t ion of LP-Gas. Need for pressure re l ie f va lvesin conta iners notec l .

The LIS Navy c l i r ig ib lc Akron was cquippcdContinucd on P. 36

Algas goi advert is ing value around 1932 f rom the bulane lank that

was too big io insta l l ins ide ihe auto body anyway. By '33 l ra ins and

consiruct ion vehic les were LP-powered.

y c a r : 1 8 . 0 1 7 . 3 4 7

LP-Gas spcci l ica-$z

t /

2 l

LP-Gas history

Continued from p. 21

with LP-Gas for cooking and water heating; rangeby Tappan.

Compressed Cas Manufacturers Assn. formu-lated suggested regulations for the storage andhandling of LP-Cas.

Phil l ips' products pipe Iine from Borger, Texas,to East St. Louis, Mo., started operations inMarch. Many engines on the original l ine usedbutane.

Nat ional Electr ic L icht Assn. warned i ts mem-'

b"r, against the rising competit ion from LP-Gas,"the bcst fuel obtainable for cooking, water heat-ing, and refrigeration."

More than l3 mi l l ion fami l ies beyond gasmains st i l l us ing coal , wood, gasol ine, and kero-sene for cooking and water heating.

Marketed product ion: 28,502,819 gal .1932 All cooking and water heating performed with

propane at Olympic Vil lage, housing for athletespart ic ipat ing in the lOth Olympiad at Los Angeles.

Dctro i t Lakes Gas Co. (now Consumers GasCo.) , Detro i t Lakes. Minn. , served c i ty consumersthrough p ipe l ines and rura l consumers throughindiv idual bulk s torage tanks and insta l led netersfor rural custonrers, thus nraking service uniformfor both c lasses of users.

University of Californiir E,xtension Division an-nounced il coursc in "Util ization of Liquid Gas".

First two-piece propane cylinder introduced.Marketed product ion for the year : 33,630,236

gal.1933 National Bottled Gas Assn. and Compressed

Gas Manufacturers Assn. affi l iated for joint workon common problems. Franklin R. Fetherston wasmade secretary of both groups.

Southern Pacil ic Railway operated two-car trainon butane between [-os Angeles and Santa Bar-bara, with Parkhil l-Wade equipment. Servings of49 per mile over oil were claimed.

Sun Oil C-'o. equipped three refineries to manu-facture propanc and marketed the product underthe name of "Solgas."

Bureau of Mines and Mellon Institute developeda satisfactory odorant for LP-Gas in cooperationwi th Phi l l ips fo l lowing an invest igat ion in i t ia ted

By 1932 expor ls by lmper ia l Gas Co. (Ca l i fo rn ia ) were under way.

These cy l inders were bound {o r Hawai i . Ten years la le r G ls who

s a w s i m i l a r c y l i n d e r s o n o l h e r i s l a n d s w e r e t o w o n d e r a b o u t " s e c r e l

w e a D o n s " .

in 1926 by the Bureau and AGA.Construction canlps lclr Los Angeles Metro-

politan Aqueduct and Nevada's Boulder Damtransmission l ine were equipped with propaneutil i ty facil i t ies designed and supplied by Parkhil l-Wade Co. Mine locorlotives on the aqueducttunnel job wcre converted to butane, with notice-able reductic'rn in noxious exhaust odors and car-bon monoxide content.

Lone Star Gas Co. equipped a Texas & PacificI{lt dining car with propane for cooking andwatcr heuting.

Standard Oil of California started bulk sale ofbutane on a direct basis, principally for stationalypurrping engines, farm tractors, orchard heatersl rnd consl ruct ion cquipnrcnt .

Parkhil l-Wade installed a patented over-the-fence, water displacement nretered service station.

LP-Cas provided emergency fuel for the natu-ra l gas ut i l i ty in Long Beach. Cal i f . , fo l lowingan ear thquake.

Imperial Gas Co. exportcd the l irst cylinder ofLP-Gas to France.

LP-Gas was mnrketed in l-5 foreign countriesi n 1 9 3 3 .

The LP-Gas industry code, adopted under theNRA program, recognized the prinrirry impor-t i rnce c l f market ing.

LP-Gas kitchen installed 7-50 ft. underground,at Carlsbad Cavern, N.M.

Marketed product ion was 38,93 l .00U gal . .with largest increase in industry use.

Next month's TIMES will report the post-depressionprogress of this depression'proof industry which was wellon the road to widespread consumer acceptance whenWorld War II contributed both setbacks and progress.

Substantial contributors to this chapter were, in additionto those credited in previous chapters, American LiquidGas Co., Parkhiil-Wade Co., Phillips Petroleum Co. andLiquefied Petroleum Gas Assn.

ttt' f

't

t['it

, $ ,

"Gas uni ly" was apushing ihe natural

a l l about.

36

{ac io r in '27 .

In land Empi re seems to have been

gas i ie - in , ra ther than exp la in what LP-Gas was !td$! !

'{*

IN EFFECT DECEMBER sTH 1927,

NATURAL GAS IN TANKSON RANCHES AND COUNTRY HOMES

l' irst Tank, Complete With Gas .. . . . . . . . . . .929.00Extla Tank, Complete With Gas .. . . .- . . . . . . 24.00Exchange Empty for Ful l Tank .. . . . . . . . . . . 7.00

( 'harse to r tns ta l la t ion o l rank6 and ad j t rs tment o l aDDl tances w i t l b€ hade ona t ihc and nra ter ia l bas is . TaDks may be exchanKed e t E l Cent ro o r . by hardwaredeo ler8 . In o th . r c i t les ln the Va l ley . Th is i s Nat r r ra l Crs and may be used to r th6same purpose as GaB in the c l ty ma ins ,

INLAND EMPIRE GAS COMPANY' 1 6 N O R T H S I X T H S T R E E T E L C E N T R O , C A L I F . P H O N E 8 2 5

LPGA Times-April, 1962

Tbe First Fifry Years of LP-Gas

An Ind,ustry Cbronologl

Chapter 5: The Years of Pre-war Growth

Whi lc thc rcst o l thc nat ion was making a skrw cco-nonr ic recovery thc c lepression-prool l -P-Gas busincsschi r r tec! ncw highs in sales ancl opcnecl new nrarkets.Many anglcs o l ' thc cngine fuc l business wcre bc ingprobccl bctwccn 1934 and 1939. Now-f i ln lous narrres inrnarkct ing wcrc t 'ec l ing thei r wuy towarc l greatncss.l -Pa;A cnl i r rgcc l upon i ts hot t lec l gas beginnings to bc-col l lc ln inc lust ry-wic lc , nat ion-wic le associat ion. "E,asy

payurcnt p lans" ancl cash-and-c i t r ry conta incrs helpedthc inc lust ry nrovc out of i ts estate orb i t in to nrass ntcr-chancl is ing. A "w<lnc lcr inc lust ry" a i r hung over LP-Gasrvhich i r t t r i rc tcc l u ncw group o l long-v is ionccl busincs: ;l l r cn .

1934 ' f hc API-ASME issued prcssure vcssel cocle forthc LP-Gas industry . appeared as a rcsul t o f jo intcornrn i t tcc act ion star tcd in 193 I by thc Anrer icanPctro leum lnst i tu te i rnc l thc Anrcr ican Society ofMcel l rn ierr l En-qinccrs.

Paci l ic Gls ( 'onrpany, S.A. , began market ingpropanc l rnc l bt i tanc in L- in ta. Peru. ancl the C'ani r l1,one.

Purkhi l l -Wlc ie c levc lopecl u scrv icc stat ion c l is-pcnsing l)r. lnlp, sll 'cty hosc nozz.le ancl "internal

or- l tagc tank" vchic lc tank.Wright lnd MLrc l ler opened l i rs t nrar ine LP-

( i i rs serv ice st i r t ion in Sln Diego, Cal i l ' .Honolu lLr Gas Co. . Ltc l . , bu i l t a denronstnr t ion

ki tchcn on a t ruck to c levelop Rockgas businessin thc l lawai ian ls l i rnc ls ancl the Or icnt .

Rcfrigeratecl trucks I 'clr perishables wcre clevcl-opecl, using l propanc rcfrigcrating systerl. Ex-panclcr l vapor suppl iec l the t ruck engine wi th fuel .

Inclustry changecl over to spring loaded safetyv i r lves ur fus ib lc p lugs instcad o l ' th in copper c l iscsth i r t 'uvould rupture under excess pressure.

Phi l l ips Pctr 'o lcum Co. inauguratcc l the ckrnrcs-l ic sc l t -scrv ice casl r -und-carry type systcnt .

MutLr l l L iquic l Cas uncl Equipntent C'o. waslirunclccl ancl bcgan nraking plumbers' furnlceslnc l torches.

The lirst "[]aso" therr.nclcouple operatecl set'v-icc v i r lvc in the l ie lc l , was made by I la l t in tc l reAutonrat ic Shut-Ol I C 'o. . soon to be a product ofMi lwaukce Gas Specia l ty C<1.

Marke tcc l p roduc t i on : 48 . 173 ,000 ga l .

1935 H. E,ntcrson Thontiis of Phil l ips was clcctcdsecond president of Nat ional Bot t led Gas Assn.

The I r t tcrs tate Corrmerce Commission issuedrules soverning the t ransportat ion of LP-Gas byra i l . h i ghway and wa te r .

Inrper ia l Oi l 's - I 'oronto

ref inery star tec l l i rs t( 'anadian procluct ion of LP-Gas.

Instu l la t ion charges for LP-Gas dropped f rom

.12

$3-5 to lcss than t i 10. [ -ong- tcr t t l c i tsy l layt t tcntp l i rns in t roc luccd f t r r i rppl ianccs.

( 'o l . f i . A. Bur lc l l . pres ident o l ' At lant ic States( ias ( 'o . . i r rvurc lcc l Lutnnrc Mccl l l by Ohi t l StatcIJnivers i ty l i r r - huving c l iscovercc l i rnc l c level t lpecl' l

c ras hc l i un r supp l y l nc l i n i t i i r t i ng t l t c uovc rn -n lcnt 's hc l i r rnr prosr i lnr .

- l -hc Ar-r r ry h i rc l a l rc lc ly

g ivcn h inr thc l ) is t inguishccl Serv icc Mccl l r l ior thcs i rnrc uccor t rp l ishnrcnt .

A ncw lc i tsc l t lan tor bot t le systc l l rs . i tc loptcc ll ry I lockv Mount i t i t t c lc i r lcrs . ac lc lcc l 15.000 to20.(XX) nc$ 'cr . ls tor t ters in s ix t t tont l . ts .

Nl t ion i t l l lo t t lcc l ( l ls Assn. lppointec l conl -nt i t tcc hei tc lcc l l ry Mcrcc l ' Ci . I -arrar o l Pyro lax.to rvork rv i th ACiA on i t t t l t rovc l t tcnt o l g ls appl i -ancc e l l i c i cncy .

Parkhi l l -Wlc le bui l t r tnc l ownccl t r p t ib l ic serv iccst i t t ion in Los Angcles which handlec l LP-Gas'gasol ine ln i l c l icsel . I t wls possib ly thc f i rs t pr i -v i t te ly ownccl ancl contractcc l LP-Gtrs I 'uc l s tat ion.

( lcncr l l Petro lcur t t ( 'orp. ac l r tp tcc l 20 o i l l ic lc lpunrp cngines to opent te on bt t tanc.

Ci l i l l i th ( 'o . suvccl an est i r r t i r ted $-50.000 byrusing [ rutunc in t rLrcks c l t r l ing construct i t tn of Ca-ja lco Danr. wcstcnt tcnt t ina l o l thc Los AngelesMctropolitan Aclrecluct. l 'arklt i l l-Wacle rl lacle thcLP-Gas suppl l " insta l lu t ion.

Mlrkctcc l proc luct ion: 76. t3-5-5.000 gal .

1936 ( 'h ic lgo & Northwcstcrn I la i lway a i r -condi t ionccl2 lJ Pul lnr i rn cars. us ing Wlukcshl t propi tne-oper-lu tcc l cngincs. wi th lu l l u t i tontat ic thcrntost l t iccontro l f ronr ins ic lc t l rc cars.

H. Enrcrson ' l 'hotlus rc-clcctccl lt lcsiclcnt of

Nut ional l lo t t led Gas Assn.l r t tpcr i i r l Gas ( 'o . c levc lopccl an cxchange LP-

Girs scrv ice l 'or t r -a i lc ls a l l across thc nat i t tn .Thc first nrcters specil ically clcsignccl for LP-

( ius usc rvere prr lc lucccl by Anrcr ican Meter Co. ;

E a r l y n r a r k e l e r u s e d " m o d e r n

e q u i p p e d b u s p a r k e d i n a T e x a sCopyr igh t 1961, Nat iona l LP-Gas Counc i l

Photo : Lone Star Gas Co.

m e r c h a n d i s i n g , " s u c h a s t h i s g a s -

f o w n s q u d r e .

LPGA Times-Moy, 1962

211"40 r r rc tc l having iL solderecl brass case, a ca-paci ty of 40 C'FH ol ' propanc, und nume-rous in-dexes rcucl ing in thcrnrs, c lec i thernrs, pounds andgir l lons.

Ut i l i t ics Dist l ibuto ls . Inc. , Petc l A. Anderson,p les ident , inst i r l lcc l i ts l i rs t bulk p lant t t Por t land,Mc .

Nir t ion l l F i rc Protcct ion Assn. issucd i ts oanr-phlct on " l {csulat ions f 'c l r the Design, C. lnst l 'uc-t ion. ancl C)pcrat ion of Autontobi le Tank Trucksand Tank Tra i le ls for thc Transportat ion of L ic l -uc l icd Petrc l lcr r r t r Gas."

A 2(X)-nr i lc . lJ- in . butanc-proprrnc p ipe l ine la ic lI ' ronr E,ast ' fexas

o i l Uclc ls to u Baytown (Tcx.)rc l incry.

Palonrar Obscrvatory was equippcd by Parkhi l l -Wacle rvith butlnc-propane for domcstic use ofstall ancl to heat obscrvatory builcl ings and of ices.

Usc ot l -P-Gas to luel t ractors increased rapid-ly in ( ' l l i forn ia. Trap-wason t ra i lers wcrc dc-vclopcd as portirble scrvice stations to care l 'ort ractor l lccts in thc l ic lc l .

Twcnty-pound (propanc caltacity) cylinders in-troduccd for rcacly portabil ity. Also introduccclwcre 150 to 400 lb. conta iners and tanks of -50 to2,(X)0 gal. caltacity for above or bclow-groundruse. Fusion welclecl tanks gaincd in popr"rlarity.

F irst autonrirt ic changc-over dcvice for "two

clrun.r" systcnts.F lccts o i t rucks ancl ear th nrov ing cquipnrent in

Inrpcr ia l Dunr uncl Al l -Antcr ican Canal pro jccts,in the Inrperial Valley of Clali l 'orniir, were con-vertccl to brrtanc. Operators noted the absence ol'vaprlr lock at 120 cleg. atnrclspheric temperaturc.

Clhuractcr is t ics of idcal LP-Gas range burnerswere c le l incc l by jo int conrmi t tee of Nat ional Bot-t led Gas. Comprcssccl Gas Manuiacturers andAnrcr ican Gas Assns. ' fhe

100% saf tey shut-o( Iwas recomnlcnclecl for all pilots.

[( '(] authorizecl Union Tank Car Co. to build100 addi t ional fus ion wclded tank cars for pro-pane, following acceptance oi 2-5 cars previouslybui l t on exper imcnta l basis .

US Forest Scrvice fought f ire with propanetorches. Small backpack outl lts were developedlirr backJiring by Ransonre Co. This companyirlso made a coll irpsible field range for cooking,the f i rs t o f i ts k inc l .

LPGA Times-Moy, 1962

New Standard of California and lnrperial plantsat Huntington Beach, Calif., were equipped withair-operated automirtic shut-oft valves on cylindercharging scales. Output per man increased greatly.

Marketed product ion: 106.6-52.000 gal .

1937 Wal ter : Verkanrp, Verkamp Corp. , C ' inc innat i ,e lected president of Nt t ional Bot t led Cas Assn.

C. G. Oberfe l l , v ice pres ident of Phi l l ips Pe-troleunr, pointed out t lrat the LP-Gas inclustry ex-panded l0OO% dur ing the depression years be-cause "we d idn ' t know what coulc l not bc done."

( - rceknrore Dr i l l ing Company was l i rs t Mid-C'ont inent operator to use LP-Cas for dr i l l ing o i lwells - Amerada Petroleum Corp.

'Iravelers No.

I wel l , C 'oal County, Okla.Hami l ton Manulactur ing Co. in t roduccd the

l -P-Gas c lothes dryer .C'anadian Pacil ic Railway equipped l rel 'r ' iger-

ator car with propane-opcrated tentperatut'c con-trol ecluipmcnt, to maintain refrigerirt ing tc-rnpcr'-ature in sumnter and prevcnt freezing in winter.

Nat ional Bot t led Gas Assn. issuccl a l is t o f ap-pliances approved for LP-Gas by Anterican GusAssn.

"Philgas" introducecl rlnges, refriscratols. andwatcr heaters bear ing conrpany t radcntark.

Spokane Uni ted Rai lways convertcd renra inderol ' i ts bus l leet to a butane-; l ropane nr ix ture.

In an cllort to brcladen its f ield. the NationalBot t led Gas Assn. s tar ted act ion to changc i tsnanre to the L iquef ied Pctro lcunr Gas Assn. int 9 3 7 .

F-ord Motor Conrpany installed a butane stand-by system at i ts River Rouge (Mich.) p lant .

Marketed product ion: 1.1 I ,2100,000 gal .

1938 Undcr the in i t ia t ive and guidancc of El lsworthL. Mi l ls , Nat ional l lo t t led Gas Assn. broaclenedits scope to include thc entirc inclustry, changcdi ts nanre to L iqucl iec l Pctro lcunr Gas Assn. , andeflected a nterger with the fornrcr undergroundsystems div is ion o l the inc iust ry . Wal ter Verkanrpcont inued as president .

Safety codes based on National Boarcl of FireUnderwr i ters Panrphlet 58 adopte d by Tcxas.Michigan, Kansas and Louis iana.

Arnerican Mcter Co. brought out thc l irst harcl-case nleter designed specifically I 'ol LP-Gas.

Parkhi l l -Wade designcd and put together thel i rs t and only l -P-Gas operatcc l s t re lml incd t ra in.

Cont inued on p. {12

An ea r l y i ndus t r i a l i n s ta l l a t i on ,s i one , Pa . , was se rv i ced by ato Sun O i l Co . The gds came

a l Gene ra l S l ee l Cas t i ng Co . , Eddy -375 9a l . bob ta i l wh i ch Ph i l l i p s l eased

{ rom a Marcus Hook (Pa . ) r e f i ne r y .

l l o t r ! r x r r r i to { l r f , t P .c . r

D

. A

L P G A ' s f i r s t f o r m a l

p u b l i s h i n g v e n t u r e c a m e

i n 1 9 3 9 w i t h i h i s " V o l .

l , N o . l " o f J e t , i s -

sued by lhe New York

C i t y h e a d q u a r t e r s .

F r o n f p a g e s t o r i e s w e r e

s i g n e d b y p r e s i d e n f J .

W o o d w a r d M a r t i n

( r o p ) a n d i h e l a l e

W a l t e r V e r k a m p , a p a s l

p r e s i d e n t ( b e l o w ) .

F r a n k l i n R . F e t h e r s l o n ,

t h e n L P G A s e c r e l a r y ,

w a s l h e J e t ' s " s t a f f ' .

Photo : Sun 0 i l Co

4 3

History('ontinued from p. 4,1

the City of Salina, for the Union Pacific RR. Thisoperation between Salina, Kans.. and Kansas City,Mo., was highly satisfactory for some nine yelrsunt i l a wreck destroyed the t ra in. Parkhi l l -Wadcsulv i rged the 600 hp p lant lnd i t is today punl l l -ing water at Kelso. C'a l i l ' . . for the Union Paci t ic .

C'arnation ('onrpany, Los Angelcs. ctlnvertecla 1936 F-orc l t ruck to LP-Cias. Per f t l rn tance wasso super i t t r in fuel costs and repai r c 'xpense thatt l re ent i re l leet of 210 vehic les was convt- r tcc l .

/ [ - ln ivers i r l Oi l Proclucts ( 'o t t tp i tnv t levc l t lpcc lcata ly t ic polyntcr izat ion proccss l t l r t r lak ing g ls-o l ine f rom buty lenes. propylenes and ethy lenc.Union Oi l Co. had new proccss for- se lect ive rc-l in ing o l lubr icat ion o i l . us ing propl tnc solvent torenrove undcsi rable ingredients.

At lant ic States Cas ( ' t l . repor tcd insta l l l t ion o l '9(X)9 urctered ct lnsut t rer bulk systenrs in l i rs t l 5rnonths of t tpcrat ion.

Marketec l proc luct ion: 165.20 I .0(X) gal .

1939 George G. Ober lc l l , v ice pres ic lcr l t in charge of

research l 'or Phi l l ips Petr t l lcunt ' g iven Hanlon

Awit rc l by Natura l Gast l l inc Assn. c l l ' Ar l rer ica.

l)ulttnc-ltrrtpune llew:; establishccl as a tt lonthly'

the t i rs t LP-Gas t rade ntagazine.Safety codcs b i tsecl on NFPA Panrphlct -5 l i

adopted by Oklaht l r r l l r , Kcntucky. Arkansi ts lnc l' l 'enncssee.

P h o l o : S t a n d a r d O i l C o . o f C a l i { .' ' M o s t

s a i i s f a c t o r y f u e l " w r o t e l h e u s e r o { t h i s l r a c t o r c o n v e r l e d i n

1 9 3 4 { o r a C a l i { o r n i a c o n i r a c t o r . T h e h u n d r e d c o n v e r s i o n s m a d e { o r

the f i rm burned 600,000 9a l . in e igh t months .

P h o t o : S u n O i l C o '

l i l o o k s l i k e a g a s o l i n e r i 9 b u t i t h e l d 2 0 0 0 g a l ' o f p r o p a n e w h e n

b u i l t { o r S u n O i l i n 1 9 3 4 . l i ' s a W h i t e i r a c t o r a n d T r a i l m o b i l e l a n k

u n d e r c a r r i a g e .

Stanclard Oi l o f ( 'a l i lorn ia rccorded i ts l i rs t

su les o l ' b t i lk pro; r lnc l ts Pro-Gas through d is t r ibr r -

tofs .Vltpor l)ressure dil lcrential systenl devclopccl by

[ - . C ' . Roncy ( 'o . for t ransferr ing l iqu id between

trirnspctrtitt i t ln ancl storage tanks. First installation

l t ( ' i r ter -HLrnter Oi l ( 'o . p lant . Inrper ia l , Cal i l ' '

S igni l ic i rnt ncw uses l t l r LP-Gas: Champion

Spart Pltrg ('o. usetl propanc l irr l ir ing ccrltnlics

t i i tn in ntantr f lc t t t r ing c lcct roc les. Propane uscd

I 'or prc l rcat ing ra i l cnc ls prcparatory to bui ld ing

trp by c lect l ic wclc l ing. Lt lsses of gar l ic crop pre-

vcntccl by clrying l 'rcshly harvcsted bulbs' Fuel

costs cttt onc-third by l ir ing l l lcat-curing smoke

houses with butane. Ricc crop losses in Californiapreventcd by artif icial drying. Marysvil le 1M-oa) )Ilt 'cord-Jottt-rral melted l inotype mctal with LP- J

( i as .LPGA Convention at Oklahoma City elected

J. Wo<ldwarcl Maltin of Lone Star Gas Co' pres-

ide nt .ACA' I 'cst ins Laborator ics apprc lvecl heat ing

lppl iances for LP-Gas.Univcrs i ty t l f Cl l i forn i i t opcned cxtension course

in butanc Power.Rtrss ia 's l l rs t I -P-( ias scrv icc stat ion insta l led

in Moscow.l \4arketcc l product ion: 223' -5t '10,000 gal .

Substantial contributors to Chapter 5 included Standard

Oil Co. of California, Parkhill'Wade and the early files

of [,PGA.Chapter 6 takes the LP'Gas story through the war years

when the industry met a dozen new demands whilc

waging its own war for recognition among the material

rationing agencies - in the June TIMES.

, - J

Petro lane Buys Chemical F i rmln Diversif ication Move

Petrolane Gas Service, Inc., Long

Beach, Calif., in a major diversif i-

cation move, has acquired the three

Coberly & Plumb companies, dis-

tributors of agricultural chemicalproducts in the San Joaquin (Calif.)

Valley. R. J. Munzer, Petrolanepresident, announced the purchase.

8 2

The transactittn invcllves a conl-bination ol cash ancl Petrtl lane stocktota l ing approxinrate ly $ l mi l l ion.

The Coberly & Plumb coll lPa-

n ics. wi th annual sa les volumes of

about $4 nr i l l ion. wi l t be operated

rus whol ly owned subsid i l r r ies of

Petrolane. The present l lranagenlentwil l be retained, headecl by Wheeler

Coberly, founder ot' the first conl-pany in 1946.

Farmers Hydra iane OPens

Farmers Hydratane Gits, Inc.,Moultrie, Ga., recentlY held itsgrand opening. Hil l MaYs, Jr. ispresident of the firm. In irddition tohandling LP-gas the comPanY willalso serve as wholesale and retaildealer for Phil l ips 66 products. Thefirm has employed servicemen toinstall and service all types of LP-gas carburetion equiPment.

LPGA Times-MoY, 1962

Tbe First Flfry Years of LP-GasAn fnduary Cbronology

Chapter 5: War Brings Growth and ProblemsCopyrighted 1961 by National LP-Gas Council

LP-Gas shared in the boom of the early Europeanwar phase, then went into a mixed climate of expansionand re3triction when the US entered the hostilities. Useswhich furthered the war effort expanded; productioncontrols curbed other markets. By the end of '45 LP-Gashad received valuable introductions which resulted intremendous expansion once wartime curbs were removedand consumer demand could be translated into sales.

1940 ICC authorized use of deck-mounted containersto transport butane to Puerto Rico and the VirginI s l lnds.

Servel, Inc., produced LP-Gas all-year air con-ditioner for summer cooling and winter heatingwith one fuel and one unit.

Army adopted LP-Gas field kitchens for usewhere portabil ity was required.

First year in which LP-Gas customers passedthe mill ion mark.

About 1,200 railroad tank cars for butane andprtrpilne in service.

A rash of discriminatory ordinances, promotedby electrical industry, broke out across the coun-try. LPGA organized to combat the program.

First national directory of highway service sta-tions dispensing LP-Gas.

After years of preparation, the US Departmentof Agriculture published Leaflet 191, "Liquefied

Gases in the Household." It cited the faster cook-ing speed with LP-Gas (88% of the time re-quired for electric cooking) and stated that 100lb. of propane equals 635 kw hr of electricity.Bureau of Standards published same Btu ratio.

Production of synthetic rubber from LP-Gascomponents (principally butane) became impor-tant as military needs increased and supply ofnatural rubber diminished.

Pacific coast section of LPGA organized theWestern Liquid Gas Assn.

In February, LP-Gas Magazine was started byMoore Publishing Co., New York City.

Alabama Butane Gas Dealers Assn. organizedat a meeting in Birmingham. Cecil Gardner ofSehna elected president.

l94l The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec.7,changed industry plans for expansion to plans forsupplying present 1,789,000 customers.

The government banned steel for cylinders.The industry took on the job of installing stand-

by plants in armament factories.Newport News Shipbuilding & Drydock Co.

built 1200 homes for workers, with propane forall cooking and water heating equipment. Many

20

other similar installations followed in other de-fense industry areas.

George W. Bach of Skelgas elected presidentof LPGA. National advertising campaign planned.Steps taken to raise $100,000 promotion fund.

Industry employed "Old Stove Round-up" pro-gram to collect scrap metal for munitions produc-t ion.

All is-Chalmers operated all new engines onpropane for preliminary "break-in" period.

Mexican airplane flew from Mexico City toWashington, D.C., on butane.

NBFU issued Pamphlet 90, on the use of gasin air conditioning installations.

Magnetic type constant reading tank gaugeintroduced by Rochester Manufacturing Co.

Minneapolis-Moline introduced first tractor tobc factory equipped for operation on propane.

LPGA set up first Technical and StandardsCommittee to carry on earlier work of all officersand directors.

Marketed product ion, 462,852,000 gal .

1942 Plans for LPGA national convention cancelledand national advertising and promotion plan de-ferred on account of war.

Gerber Products Co., baby food producer, in-stalled propane system for cooking.

Propane tirnks provided instant and adequatepressure for operation of air-raid-warning sirens.

Texas dealers and distributors formed state-wide associat ion.

LPGA opened Washington office to keep gov-ernment agencies and industry in closer harmony.

George W. Bach reelected president of LPGA.Butane used to pre-heat coke ovens at Kaiser

steel plant. Fontana, Calif., saving time in cokeproduction and producing more uniform quality.

Louisiana established a new regulation body,Liquefied Petroleum Gas Commission.

The spheres saved s leel - impor lant in l94l-42 when Algas usedlhis unique l ranspor l design.

IPGA Times-June, 1962

Frank Peterson retired from Mid-Continent Pe-troleum Corp.

Franklin R. Fetherston, LPGA secretary-treasurer, was granted a leave of absence whileon duty in the Army; Major Fetherston was as-signed to the Service of Supply in Washington.Miss Florence Jacob, his assistant, was appointedacting secretary-treasurer.

Blood plasma for war shipment dried andsealed by propane heat.

Marketed production, 585,440,000 gal.

L943 A dozen LP-Gas companies supplied essentialindustries in Easton, Pa., for 12 days followingthe explosion and fire which destroyed Metro-politan Edison Co.

Underground storage, to conserve 25 millioncubic feet of natural gas a day, approved forSouthern California. This was forerunner of un-derground storage program of LP-Gas.

Louis Abramson, Jr., elected president ofLPGA.

Hanlon Award of NGAA went to Frank P.Peterson, for outstanding accomplishment in theearly development of the LP-Gas industry.

A large number of trucks in the Minnesotairon range was converted to propane.

James E. Pew was named assistant director andlater director of the natural gas and natural gaso-line division of the Petroleum Administration forWar. Paul K. Thompson moved from War Pro-duction Board to serve as chief of the LP-Gassection.

On Dec. 13, LPGA authorized a 935,000 con-tract for publicity work for the association andthe LP-Gas industry.

WPB authorized construction of 100.000 do-mestic vegetable dehydrators.

Farm survey showed 20,000 tractors in SanJoaquin Valley, Calif., converted from gasoline toLP-Gas.

Central heating of emergency war housing withLP-Gas began to assume large importance as itload builder. Industrial applications were expand-ing in number, especially in outlying plants mak-ing war materials.

Marketed production, 675,233,0O0 gal.

1944 George R. Benz, Phillips Petroleum Co., warnedthat butane is on its way out of the domesticmarket. because of its usefulness as chemical rawmaterial. He advised the industry to make all newstorage tanks suitable for propane, even wherebutane was still available.

Shortage of domestic fuel again became critical.Additional storage of summer surplus recom-rnended.

A. N. Kerr predicted the industry would sell5,260,000,000 gal. in 1950, and showed thatenormous summer storage would be necessary tomeet winter demand.

Louis Abramson. Jr.. and other 1943 LPGAofficers reelected for 1944.

War Department ordered construction of 400new high pressure tank cars.

De{ense housing - usual ly bui l i in of f -mains areas - was a new

markel for LP-Gas which was encouraqed in war l ime.

Dominion National Gas Co. at Bradford, Ont.,Canada, constructed 26 emergency propane stor-age tanks by capping 24-in. seamless steel tubes,each 425 ft. long.

WPB announced that electric ranges fail threetimes as frequently as gas ranges.

Disastrous brush lire outside of Santa Monica,Ceilif., burnt dozens of homes, but left propanecylinders intact with no explosions or loss ofproduct.

The Alabama Circuit Court, having reexaminedearlier decisions and the priniciple followed bycourts and commissions in other states, ruled thatGreen's Fuel, Inc., was not a public uti l i ty.

Limited production of civilian durable goods,including gas appliances, resumed on spot basis.

The Hanlon Award was presented to MeinhartH. Kotzebue, president of Gasoline Plant Con-struction Co. of Houston.

Marketed production, 1,060,156,000 gal.

1945 Japan surrendered and all war restrictions wereabolished. Industrial and chemical consumptiondropped and domestic consumption boomed. Alltank car restrictions revoked.

Use of LP-Gas by uti l i t ies increased 138%during the war. Appliance sales were off to allying start with new model ranges being 11ownto key dest inat ion points.

Dr. Walter O. Snell ing was appointed a mem-ber of the Control Commission for Germany, USGroup.

Continued on p. 37

A {ew p lan ls c ropped up , even in p roduc i ion con i ro l days , lo serve

la rge new marke ls con i r ibu l ing to the war e f fo r l .

LPGA Times-)une, 1962 21

HistoryContinued from p. 21

Flame cultivation expanded. Earlier tests incotton and sugar cane fields showed great reduc-tion of cost of controlling weeds.

National LP-Gas Institute organized in Tulsa.Okla., to train technical and ."iui.. men for theindustry.

In 194-5, LPGA resumed its national conven-tions and trade shows interrupted by the war.Major Fetherston returned as executive secretary.Ernest Fipnin was elected president.

At the fall LPGA meeting it was voted to movethe association headquarters from New York toChicago. Howard D. White was employed asexecutive vice president.

National Butane-Propane Assn. was formed bya group of LPGA members who were dissatisfiedwith some membership and voting provisions asthey then stood in LPCA's constitution. With thesupport of John Locke of Minneapolis and others,the new organization opened headquarters inMinneapolis with Elwin E. Hadlick as executivesecretary and J. Richard Verkamp as president.A program of consumer education, merchandis-ing and promotional functions was projected.

Suburban Propane Gas Corp. was formed toacquire Mark Anton's Suburban Gas Co. and the13 eastern retail properties of the Phil l ips pe-

troleum Co. The formation of this new companyand issue of 590,000 common shares representedthe first Wall Street recognition of the growingLP-Gas industry.

The Hanlon Award for 1945 was presentedto James E. Pew of Sun Oil Co.

Marketed production, 1,27 6,7 66,000 gal.

Major sources for this chapter were the files ofParkhill-Wade, Suburban Propane Gas Corp. and LPGA.

In Chapter 7 you will read of the days of rapid ex-pansion following the end of World War II when LP-Gasbecame the wonder of the business world, showing themost rapid gains of any industry.

Bus Counf Down, LPGA Survey Shows

An LPGA survey covering approximately 85o/o of theLP-gas-using bus l leets shows the vehicle count for 196 Ito be at 2356, down from the last survey total of 2425.

Most of the other items in the operating characteristicssurvey are also down, except the miles-per-gallon figure,which now stands at 3.64, the most economical sincel9-56. Factory equipped units represent 82.4o/o of thel leet .

The total amount of product used by buses showed uptrt 32.676,147 gal., a slight decline from the record 1960h i r : h o f 3 .3 m i l l i on s i l l .

QUALITYCHECKPtlIl{TQuality control at Union Texas Petro-leum is our constant concern through-out the process of manufactur ing,

storage and d is t r ibut ion . . . f rom feed-stock to f ina l del ivery . TEXGASdealers, therefore, can be sure that theproduct they market wi l l produce sat is-

f ied customers, wi thout except ion.

Qual i ty contro l a t the source of supply

means prof i tab le customers at your

point of sa le. TEXGAS has a p lace inyour prof i t p ic ture. Ask your Union

Texas Petroleum representative to showyou how. \

TexqasI

Lt N I o N ^TH:5*=.,r.F. .T.no LEu n rENTERPRISE BUILDING TULSA. OKLAHOMA

LPGA Times-)une, 1962

For more inlormqtion write 6ll on Reply Ccrd

3 7

Tbe Firsr Fifry Years of LP-Gas

An fnd,ustrl Cbronologl

Chapter 7: Sharing in Post'war ProgressCopyr igh t 1961 by Nat iona l LP-Gas Counc i l

ln th is f ive-year per iod ( 1946--50) LP-Gas ruovedinto nequsing fields which a decade later would providesubstantial loads. At the sanre tinre this period saw thebeginnings of such diverse facets of industry ir.nprove-ment as underground storage, water hauling, industry-wide promotion and systematic training. At the sametime the customers were unleirshing their pent-up buyingpower which had been building through the years ofwartime restriction. By l9-50 LP-Gas was truly big busi-N C S S .

1916 NFPA analysis showed ten times as many lircsfrom electrical causes as from gas - and thatincluded both uti l i t ies ancl LP-Gas.

Automatic hone laundry and autornatic dish-washers welcomed as creators of demand formore hot water.

Socony-Vacuum entered LP-Gas east coastmarketing with Mobil-Flanrc scrvicc tcl consumersfrom Maine to South Carolina.

Three out-of-four orders fclr new Hall-Scotttruck engines specified LP-Gas carburetion equip-ment.

LP-Gas Rcscarch Conrnrittee of the NationalClonservation Bureau published panrphlets on safeoperat ions in the LP-Cas industry .

Carter Oil Co. described results of f ive ycarsof exper imenta l work in s tor ing scveral mi l l iongallons of sunrmer surplus LP-Gas undergroundin depletcd oil l ields. This was more econonticaland safer than above ground tank storage. How-ever, the product had to be re-refined to removeother petroleum products rnerging with the LP-Gas.

ICC regulations amended to permit use of fu-sion welded cylinders with longitudinal seanrs.

There were now 3.5 mill ion LP-Cas homeriand 763 mill ion gallons used domestically.

LPGA opened its new Chicago office with atotal of 77 paid memberships with Howard Whiteas executive vice president and F.R. Fetherstonas vice president of the technical division. C-'harlesO. Russell was elected president.

Marketed product ion, 1,70-5,282,000 gal .

1947 Warren Petroleum Corp. built the SS NatalieA. Warren, f irst ocean-going tanker built especial-ly for LP-Gas. Design included 80 tanks with atota l capaci ty of 1,386,000 gal .

LP-Gas distributors supplied emergency serv-ice to Rutland, Vt., when flood destroyed thelocal uti l i ty gas plant.

LP-Gas clothes dryers were introduced.The Natural Gasoline Assn. of America pre-

LPGA Times-)uly, 1962

sented i ts Hanlon Award tc l Wi l l ianr K. Warren.president of Warren Petroleum Clorp., in recogni-tion of his sponsorship and financing of a tre-mendous storage program.

Lang Motor Company's Long Beach (Calif.)bus operertion completed ten nril l ion miles on LP-Gas, saving $ l -50,000 in engine maintenance.

There were 4130 producing plants in 22 states,with 40 recovery plants under construction orprojected.

T'allent H. Ransoure was elected LPGA presi-dent .

Developrrent of tobacco curing equipmentopcned up big. new rnarket for LP-Gits.

Use of l-P-Clas by uti l i t ies doubled in the year;nrotor fuel use reached 100,000,000 gallons.

Marketed production, 2,209,791,000 gal.

1948 Kenneth Koach elccted president of LPGA.Virg in ia Bcach (Va.) Gas Co. , insta l led an

LP-Cas-uti l i ty system, laying copper mains as in-surance against salt water corrosion.

Kenneth R. D. Wolfe, Fisher Governor Co.,headed thc Educational Committee of LPGA,which instituted thc sectional service schools thatlater proved so valuablc to industry men acrossthe country.

Indiana Public Service ('ontntission stated thatthe LP-Gas dealer business beirrs no relation toa publ ic ut i l i ty oper i r t ion. LPGA part ic ipated inthe casc.

NGAA conceived the idea of acquainting thepubl ic wi th or ig ins and funct ions of the producingbranch of thc industry. l irst by nreans of an edu-cat ional mot ion p ic turc. Subsequent ly invest iga-t ion indicated a nat ional publ ic i ty program wouldhave greater nterit because education and promo-t ion of sa les could both be accompl ished.

Marketed product ion, 2,136,8O1,000 gal .

1919 After a legal battle of three years' duration,an Arizona court decided that LP-Gas is not sub-ject to the state's Corporation Commission con-t ro l as a publ ic ut i l i ty .

Cylinder deliveries by airplane prevented hard-ships in Montana rural homes isolated by the bigblizzard which closed some mountain roads forthree months.

Frances E. Rice, vice president of Phil l ipsPetroleum Company. received the Hanlon Awardfor pioneering in superfractionation and for es-tablishing the first research laboratory devotedexclusively to the study of the properties of nat-

l 9

trral gast-rl ine and LP-Gases.A course in gas fuel technology was established

at Southern Technical Institute, a unit of GeorgiaInstitute of Technology under LPGA sponsorship.

S. G. Darling was elected LPGA president.The Bureau of Mines publ ished the f i rs t regional

breakdown of LP-Gas sales.National LP-Gas Council founded. Through the

jo int ef for ts of LPGA, GAMA and NGAA theNat ional Conrnr i t tee for LP-Gas Pronrot ion -la ter nanted the Nat ional LP-Cas ( -ounci l - wasorganized in the fa l l . The three industry associ -pt ions formulated a conrbined adver t is ing and ed-ucat ional program. John Pankow of Detro i t Mich-igan Stove Co. was elected president. Unfortunate-ly Mr. Pankow died shor t ly before the f i rs t fu l lmeet ing of the Nat ional Cornmit tee scheduled forNovember; his post was fi l led by Lee A. Brancl of'Empire Stove Co. The Nat ional Commit tee ra ised$265,882 in less than a year through the ef l 'or tso l Brand, LPGA president Dar l ing and menrbersand staf ls of the three sponsor ing associ l t ions.

Marketed product ion for thc year wls 2, [J36,--599,000 gal .

1950 Clonference of Weights and Measures of l ic ia lsadopted uni fornr s tandards for nreasurement o lLP-Gas by the pound and gal lon o l ' l iqu id and thccubic foot of gas in culminat ion of LPGA work.

Rain-making method using LP-Gus to vapor izcs i lvcr iod ide c i rnre in to use.

Portable crop dryers offered savings for farmersand summcr volunre for LP-Gas distributors.

Chicago Transit Authority ordered -500 LP-Gaspassenger buses us ing Parkhi l l -Wade equipntent .

Warren Petroleum Corp. built a barge for trans-portation of LP-Gas from Gulf C-'oast productionplants to points a long the Intercoasta l Canal ancllower Mississippi I{iver system.

Milwaukee taxicab 1leet of 279 vehicles con-verted to LP-Gas.

There were an cstinrated 7.500,0(X) LP-Gasinsta l la t ions on farms and in suburbs. Approxi -rnate ly 4,000 bulk p lants were in operat ion.

Tractor conversion kit sales equalled nrore than22o/o of the total donrestic shipment of wheeleclfarm tractors.

Decentra l izat ion of manufactur ing industr ies tolocat ions beyond thc gas mains boosted industr ia lr rsuue of LP-Cas.

C o n l r i b u t i o n s 1 o t h e n e w l v b o r n N a t i o n a l C o m m i l l e e { o r L P - G a s

P r o m o l i o n a r e s h o w e r e d o n i h e t h e n c h a i r m a n . l h e l a f e J o h n P a n -

l o w , a t a n e a r l y m e e f i n g o f t h e C o m m i t t e e .

LPGA and Kansas State C'o l legc conducted thcl i ls t serv ice school devotcd cxc lus ively tc l LP-Gasas an engine luc l . The associat ion a lso developeda nrocJel LP-Gas cclntainer law subsequentlyaclopted in several strtes.

Lee Brand to ld the LPGA convent ion that thePronrclt ion C-ommittee was ready to go into oper-i r t ion and that the l i rs t adver t is ing would appearthat sunrnrer in somc -50 consunrcr and industr ia lnr i rg i rz ines.

The l i rs t LPGA Dist inguishcd Serv icc L i feMenrbership award wcnt to Mark Anton in recog-ni t ion lor h is car ly c l l i r r ts in the organizat ion o l 'thc industry . Petcr A. Anderson was e lected presi -c lent .

Marketed product ion. 3,4u2.-567,000 gal .

Major sources of events noted here are the files ofI,PGA and the National Council, the industry's trademagazines and the firms whose achievements are reported.

In Chapter 8 the industry chronology will be carriedwell into the 1950s when the promise of earlier days wasbeing realized <ln all fronts of marketing and technology.

Pa rgas Ne f Ea rn ings R ise

The net income of Pargas Inc.,Waldorf, Md., for the first quartel1962 was $ 166 ,638 , l n i nc re l sc

of 11.5% over the same oer iod in1961 . Cu r ren t t i r s t qua r te i ea rn ingswere equivalent to 27p per shareon the 616,800 shares outstanding,a 5oo/o increase over '6 l.

Sales in the quarter were $1,200.-000, an increarse of 41.1 % overlast year's corresponding period.

2A

I tP-GAs co.New-marketer SchoolsPlanned in South Caro l ina

Carl R. Dickert, state fire nrar-shal in South Caroliner and head ofLP-gas activity there, has plannedclasses for new dealers entering theindustry .

Dickert estimates he wil l conductfour sessions a year, using state reg-u lat ions and Panrphlet 58 as h istexts. Establ ished dealers wi l l a lsobe welcome.

LPGA Times-)u ly , 1962

Tbe Fira Fifry Years of LP-Gas

An Ind,ustry CbronologyChapter 8: The Upward Pace Quickens

Copyr igh t 1961 by Nat iona l LP-Gas Counc

These l95l - ,55 years saw a merger of a l l the factorsthat spell success for an industry and during them LP-Gas virfually doubled its already multi-bil l ion gallonvolume. Consunrer spending continued high, even with-out the extra impetus of the Korean action nnd its eco-nonric side-eflects. The motor fuel market attracted sup-port from both highway and industry truck makers. In-side the industry underground storage contributed itssolution to the seasonal sales problem while increasinglysuccesslul promotion added new customers and new gal-lonage.

1951 Tota l LP-Gas insta l la t ions were est imated at 8. -000,000 and bulk p lants at 4, -500. More than l , -000 buses were operating on LP-Gas.

The National LP-Gas Council secured andpublicized ir statement fronr Secretary of InteriorChaprnan urging "summer storage fi l l-up" by LP-Gas custonters.

First dealer-owned underground storage cirverncornpleted by General Gas Corp., Baton Rouge,La .

First four-wheel frameless trailer for transporta-tion of LP-Gas rnade by Superior Tank & Con-struction Co.

With the help of Phil l ips Petroleurn Co. theCouncil launched a progran to promote adequateconsumer storage. The Council also published itsfi rst consunrer booklet.

Arthur N. Kerr and George G. Oberfell re-ceived the LPGA Distinguished Service LifeMemberships. W.S. Lander was e lected associa-tion president.

Marketed product ion rose to 4,227,21 5,OOOgals.

1952 Twenty-six producing and distributing com-panies by this year had planned or completed atotal of 77 underground storage projects with anaggregate capacity of 246,204,000 gals.

Phil l ips Petroleum Co. completed LP-Cas pipeline fronr its Borger (Tex.) plant to the Chicagoarea.

International Harvester Co. and Reo Motors,Inc., brought out the first production ntodel trucksfactory-equipped to burn LP-Gas.

ICC extended lO-year retest period for cylin-ders to l2 years

LP-Gas accounted for approximately half of alll iquids produced at natural gasoline plants.

Six manufacturers produced factory equippedLP-Gus t ractors.

Marked gains reported in the use of LP-Gas forcrop dehydration, tobacco curing and irrigation.

LPGA Times-August , 1962

The Nat ional Butane-Propane Assn. d iscoun-tinued its activit ies and its mernbers began joiningLPGA.

LPCA's Distinguished Service Life Member-ship went to Mercer C. Farrar for meritoriousservice to the industry in development of techni-cal sttrndards and the promotion of safety. FosterN. Mabee was elected president.

A Council consunrer survey showed that thenunrber of people in LP-Gas markets understand-ing the generic term "LP-Gas" and what it doesas a fuel had increased from an average 3",,10 oflVo Io 42o/r, in two years clf Council operation.

The Counci l pronrotcd the publ icat ion o l ' sev-era l large edi tor ia l fcature sect ions in s tate andregional f irrm papers.

The 1952 Hanlon Award wcnt to Theodore W.Legatsk i of Phi l l ips Petro leur l Co.

Marketed product ion lbr the yei t r was 4,4 '77,-379.000 gals.

1953 Several portable crop dehydratrtrs appeared onthe market .

An est in . rated lO % of to ta l LP-Gas sales werefor engine fuel; the l igure was bclieved to be ashigh as 5g /r, in certain sections of the South andSouthwest.

Manufacturers of industrial tractors and lifttrucks became interested in LP-Gas and severalfactory equipped models were nrarketed.

Railroads studied reports of cost saving in l lameweeding of right of ways.

Fifteen LP-Gas production plants with a ycarlycapacity of 5-50.000,000 gals. were added duringthe year.

A new sea-going barge. the l irst designed ex-c lus ively for LP-Gas, was launched to begin serv-ice to Florida and Cuba.

As the result of an industry study by LPGAwhich wirs forwarded to the ICC through theCompressed Gas Assn. and the Bureau of Ex-plosives, the requirement for retesting ICC cylin-ders was e l iminated. Visual inspect ion was sub-st i tu ted for retest ing.

Howard Whi te, C.J. McAl l is ter , H. EmersonThomas and Peter A. Anderson met with the Fed-era l Civ i l Defense Adminis t rat ion 's Nat ional Ad-visory Committee on Emergency Feeding. Mc-All ister was appointed LPGA representative onthe committee. An LP-Gas demonstration by Mc-All ister convinced federal olTicials of the value ofthe fuel for emergencv as well as normal house-hold use.

25

The 1955 a lomic energy-c iv i l de{ense les ts showed lha l la rge and

smal l LP-Gas con la iners w i l l be ava i lab le to serve pos i -a t iack needs.

ISr j : t t " r

a round lhe bu lk tan ! i s { rasmenls o f a sheet -meta l f i l l

M.L. Trotter was elected LPCA president.Council advertising appeared regularly in 50

publications to reach the small town, farm andsuburban markets. Total CounciI expenditures inthe l irst three years of operation totalled morethan one mill ion dolltrrs.

Marketed production for the year was 4,932,-009,000 gals.

1954 Use of LP-Gas for house heating nroved north-ward with the installation of larger dealer andcustomer storage facil i t ies.

Companies converting l ift trucks to LP-Gas in-cluded Lockheed Aircraft, Johns-Manvil le, Cer-ber Foods, Ford Motor and many others. Elinti-nation of exhaust fumes was a rnajor factor inthese conversions.

With LP-Gas service stations becoming a ntorefamiliar sight along the highways, the ICC re-

Al ihough elecl r ic l ines are obviously vulnerable io A-energy LP-Gaswas rerdy to cool the post-b lasl meals. LPGA members wor led on

the equipmenl test and mass {eeding prolecls.

26

ported that the LP-Gas fuel system was safer thansystems used with the other two major fuels.

The total LP-Gas water fleet included twoships, three dual cargo ships, four propane barges(two of thenr sea-going) and one butane barge.

"Ihe Hanlon Award went to Geoge P. Bunn of

Phil l ips Petroleum Contpany.A demonstration by C. J. McAllister at the

Stall College Civil Defense Training Center atOlney, Md., led to federal certif ication of LP-Gasfor civil defense feeding and hospital operationsand for its stockpil ing for emergency use. Allareas of the industry were organized to wclrk withlocal and regional defense organizations.

Rotation of Council presidents among pro-ducer, appliance and equipment manufacturersand marketer segments of the industry was intrugu-rated.

The National LP-Gas Council was incorporatedunder its own management under thc laws ofl l l ino is . in order to:l . Enable the Counci l to carry on i ts funct ionsentirely through its own resources and make itsolely responsible for its own acts.2. Achieve a better organization.3. Protect from future crit icism any one of theparticipating interests which might be asked other-wise to assume any substantial responsibil i ty ofnranagement as was originally asked of LPGA.4. Maintain a smooth balance among the some-what differing viewpoints of distributors, equip-nrent and appliance manufacturers and producers.

It moved to its own quarters, and ended itsprevious public relations services to LPCA whichhad been in exchange for clerical services. JamesE. Pew of Sun Oil Co. was named the first Councilpresident under the new setup. Lee Brand wasoflicially commended for his four years of Councilleadership as president.

The Council publicized mass feeding tests con-ducted in Chicago by the Chicago Civil DefenseCorps in which LP-Gas cooking appliances wereused. It also set up and publicized a "Dream

Kitchen" at the National Plowing Contest irnd twoall LP-Gas homes at the Research Vil lage projectsponsored by U.S. Gypsum Co.

The Order of Ancient Gassers was formed ata Chicago meeting May 9. The social group ofveteran LP-Gas men was established by an organ-izing committee headed by Charles Russell of' l-hernrogas

Co., who became the Ancient Gassers'f irst chief officer. Other organizers were FrankCarpenter, United Petroleum Gas Co., ErnestFannin, then of Fannin's Gtts & Equipment Com-pany; Paul Shannon, Standard Oil Co. of Cali-fornia; Norman A. Evans, Pressed Steel TankCo.; K. H. Koach, Green's Fuel, Inc., the lateWalter Verkamp, Verkamp Corp.; Louis Abram-son, Jr., then of Petrolane Gas Co., Peter A.Anderson, Cargo-Guard Co., and K. R. D. Wolfe,Fisher Governor Co. A minimum of 20 years ofservice to the industry was required for member-ship, to r ise to 25 vears in 1964.

Continued on p.48

LPGA T imes-August , 1962

fu. :"ffi",''s.krcIi

qr

,,,r.|

Industry History

Continued from p, 26

W. R. Sidenfaden was elected LPGA president.Marketed production for the year was 5,125,-

533,000 gal .1955 The 17.2o/a annual gain in sales was the largest

in the industry history to this date and pushed thetotal annual marketed production past the sixbil l ion gallon mark.

More than a quarter of a mill ion LP-Gas trac-tors were reported in use; in some areas they wereoutsell ing gasoline or diesel units l0 to one.

/ LP-Gas came into use for uranium refining.LP-Gas containers, equipment and appliances

were exposed to the heat, blast and radiation ofan atomic explosion in the government's Opera-tion Cue at the Nevada proving grounds. lmmedi-ately after the explosion, all the itenrs were inperfect functioning order and ranges were usedto cook meals for the test personnel. W. D. Cookof Suburban Propane was chairman of the engi-neers subcommittee of LPGA's Technical andStandards Committee. C. J. McAllister of Pargasheaded the mass feeding team.

LPGA TIMES published its first issue.C. J. McAllister elected LPGA president.Superior Tank & Construction Co. made the

first use of T-1 steel in the manufacture of Lp-Gas transport tanks.

Kenneth R. D. Wolfe, vice president of FisherGovernor Co., became president of the Councilfollowing the death of James Pew. Robert Bordenresigned as Council secretary and was succeededshortly afterwards by George J. Schulte, Jr. asmanaging director.

The Council began a "grass roots" public rela-tions program including tailored releases to HomeDemonstration Agents, more than 5,500 womenradio program directors and radio farm directors,and an LP-Gas promotion news letter waslaunched.

A consumer motivation study conducted by theCouncil showed that customers preferring Lp-Gasranges over electric cited: l) faster cooking withthe hot blue flame, 2) more economical operationand 3) no worry of service interruption becauseol power failure.

Marketed production for the year was 6,635,-763,000 gal.

Maior sources for this chapter have been LPGA andNational LP-Gas Council files, records of the AncientGassers and publications of governmental agencies con-cerned with the atomic €{rergy and civil defense tests.

Next month's installment brings the industry chro-nology up to the 50th aruriversary. It will be the finalchapter of the history prepared by the National LP-GasCouncil and published exclusively by LPGA TIMES.

History commentary by J. Woodward Martin, p. 53

48

LP-gas quality

Continued from p. l8

UILD SEVERE VERYSEVEREFi9 . I An t iknock behav io r o { LP-9as fue ls .

90.5PROPTTE}IE

Z PROPANE 50 Z PROPYLEIIE

1006 rf,

G

o=z

-F

o

PROPANEt0 t I

40 50 60z EurAllE SUTANE

90.?F i g , 2 E n g i n e s e v e r i t y r e s i s l a n c e p r o p e r l i e s o { { u e l s ( S O N } .

scale. The significant observation is that the l ines of con-stant antiknock value have a substantially steeper slopethan those shown in Figure 2. All LP-gas wil l be up-graded somewhat under less severe engine conditions.

The reasons lor the high severity levels of some LP-gas engines are not now apparent but there are undoubt-edly a number of contributing factors. Such engines, forthe most part, are factory adaptations of gasoline enginesand this may be the chief reason since the peculiar anti-knock sensitivity characteristics of LP-gas probablyrequire features not now present in gasoline engines.

Pending the development of better LP-gas engines, weare faced with the problem of describing satisfactory fuelsfor those engines which are presently in existence. So let'stake a look at the antiknock characteristics of presentlymarketed products as related to their vapor pressuresand see how they compare with the current ASTM D-1835 specilication limits. In Figure 4 we present our bestestimate of the boundary curve (outer envelope) whichwould include all currently marketed products, ir-

Continued on p. 51

LPGA Times-August, 1962

Tbe First Fifry Years of LP-GasAn Ind,utry CbronologlChapter 9: Fifty Years Young

Copyr iqh t 196I by Nat iona l LP-cas Counc i l

As the industry prcpared to celebrate the golden an-niversary of Dr. Walter O. Snell ing's init ial installationthe LP-Gas business was sti l l demonstrating the vigorof youth. Wi th gal lonage at the lO-bi l l ion mark in1961, predict ions were heard of double that vo lume by1980. These predictions did not anraze knowing LP-Gassers who were seeing the shifts in such economicfactors as transportaticln - more pipelines and largerroad and ra i l haul ing uni ts - and the spur t in promo-tional work - by rlarketers and suppliers individuallyand col lect ive ly through the Nat ional LP-Gas Counci l .Among the "rrew" uses were those bringing LP-Gasinto the power tield through such developments as thefuel cell and thernroelectric generation. A further evi-dence of a wel l establ ished LP-Gas industry was theincreasing in tercst anlong thc f inancia l conrnruni ty .

By 196 I Dr . Snel l ing 's poincer hook-up had mush-roonred into approxintate ly I 3 nr i l l ion insta l la t ions inthe US alone. LP-Gas wus st i l l a "wonder" industry -but the wonder was not caused by such aspects as "bot-

t led heat" but by i ts seenr ingly l inr i t less rnarkets and thesteady gains in i ts ranking in the fuel business.

1956 -

Severc drouth in thc Southwest incrcascd de-nrand for LP-Gls to burn spine f rom pr ick ly pearcactus to nrakc i t ed ib le by cat t le .

Asphal t aggrcgate dry ing wi th LP-Gas openeda ncw nrarkct .

Undcrground storage capacity totalled nearlyonc b i l l ion gal lons and anothcr one- th i rd of abi l l ion gal lons capaci ty was p lanned or underconstruct ion.

Industry action started to obtain approval ofan uninsulated tank car for t ransport ing LP-Gas.

A National LP-Gas Council market patternsurvey among LP-Gas dcalers showed that thecurrent I-P-Gas market was approxin.rately dividedinto 409tc on farms. 40oZ in small towns and20o/o in suburbs. Dealcrs cxpectcd the future ratiowould soon be 50% on farms, 35% in small townsand l5% in suburbs. Publ ic i ty act iv i t ies wereextended to rnetropolitan readcrs to reach thesuburban nrarket.

The Hanlon Ar.r,ard wers prcsented to Will iamH. Vaughan, Tidewater Associated Oil Co.

K. H. Dickson was elected LPGA president.Marketed production for the year was 6,635,-

763,000 gal lons.

1957 LP-Gas accountcd for the major portion ofcargo truck refrigeration unit fuel.

LP-Gas for tar and asphalt kettles, plumber'spots, preheating torches and in oxy-propane met-al cutting becams more widespread.

2 2

Domestic LP-Gas range sales were estimatedto account for 2OVo of all domestic gas rangesales.

LP-Gas came into use for the miscible displace-ment of crude oil. In this process, LP-Gas isstored for future usc while it is being used to bringoil to the surface.

Charles E. Webber, Sun Oil Co. received the1957 Hanlon Award.

Warren Petroleum Corp. acquired all gasolineplants of Gulf Oil Co. and thereafter marketedall l iquid products from them.

According to a five-page report in ElectricLight & Powcr magazine, the more than twomill ion dollars spent by the Council since its in-ccption in 1949 had made impressive inroadsinto thc electric marrket. One headline read"How're Ye Gonna Kcep KW Down On The FarmAfter Thcy've seen LP?" The editor's commentwas that LP-Gas is "the greatest threat wc havetoday. to the futurc growth of kilowatt hoursalcs in rura l i l reas."

The ('ouncil set up a new Dealer Sale,s Aidprogranr to providc dealers with printed informa-tional and display materials, local promotionalprograms, and other selling tools developed tocoordinate Council advcrtising and publicity into"grass roots" sell ing. Frank Carpenter was thel i rs t DSA chairman.

A. H. Cotc, Suburban Propane Gas Corp., suc-ceeded K. R. D. Wolfe as Council president. JohnHartzell became the Council 's f irst f ield repre-sentative, with ofl ice in Washington, D.C.

Talmage Lovclady was elected president ofLPGA.

Marketed production for the year was 6,939,-121 ,000 ga l .

years inc lude in-hold and on-docl industr ia l

LPGA persuasion paved way {or opening lh isNew loads o{ recent

i rucks {o r s levedores .

marke f ,

LPGA Times-September, 1962

In 1950 Suburban Gas became f i rs l markeler lo have s locl l is fed onNew Yor l Slock Erchange. Suburban presidenf W. R. Sidenfaden( l ) notes in i l ia l l ransacl ion wi th Erchanqe of i ic ia l .

1958 Outdoor LP-Gas l ights bccanre increasinglypopular.

An increasing numbcr o l a i r l ines wcrc con-verting their industrial tractors to Lp-Gas.

An LPGA directory l isted rnore than 4,000service stations and bulk plants sell ing Lp-Gasfor motor fuel.

Industrial and gas uti l i ty plants relied heavilyon LP-Cas to maintain operations during thc un-usually cold wintcr.

LP-Gas sales increascd 3Ook more than theaverage increase of the preceding nine ycars.

Hanlon Award winner for ths ycar was ClarcD. Gard, Union Oi l Contpany of Cal i forn i i r . whobui l t the f i rs t LP-Gas p lant in that s tate.

A. E. Bone was elected LPGA president.Prcsident Eisenhowc'r und thc Department of

Conrmerce conrntended the Council for its partin the "Lick thc Reccssion" progran through itsncwspaper "Changing Scene" cartoons emphasiz-ing the advantagcs of buying ntodern LP-Gasappliances.

Thc Council begrin sponsorship of newscastsfour t imes weekly on 400 Mutual radio nct-work stations in small towns. E. Carl Sorby ofthe Gcorge D. Roper Corp. electcd Councilpresident.

Marketed production for the462,000,000 gallons.

1959 Petrolane Gas Service, Inc., sentGas to Alaska by barge.

year was J, -

the first LP-

George G. Oberfell reccived the Walton ClarkMedal of the Franklin lnstitute for "original

and notable work in the gas industry."From a bil l ion gallon year in 1944, LP-Gas

sales reached the bil l ion gallon a month markfor December 1959, a new monthly rccord.

Acceptance of built- in LP-Gas ranges appearedassured with an 88oZ increase in sales over 1958.

An absorption air conditioner to add to existingLP-Gas forced air furnaces became available.

The use of high purity LP-Gas as propellant inpressurized containers of insecticides, paint, shav-ing cream and similar products expanded rapidly,although accounting for only a small pelrt of totalindustrial usase.

With interest increasing in 20,000 gal. (watercapacity) tank cars, one company was reportedstudying the possibil i ty cf 30,00C gal. cars forr l r i l roud t runsportat ion.

F. L. Fagan was elected LPGA president.Hanlon Award winner was Wi l l iam F. Lowe.

secretary of the Natural Cas Proccssors Assn.Nat ional LP-Gas Counci l annual income passed

the hal f mi l l ion dol lar mark for the f i rs t t ime. TheCouncil 's f irst "Win-A-Home" sweepstakes pro-mot ion. advcr t ised on the ABC "Breakfast Club"prosranr and in leading magazincs. drew 2-53,000entr ies. The mul t i -page support ing ad appearcdin Reuder'.t Dige,st, with other insertions in BetterHomes & Curden.r, Atnericutr Horne, FarnrJournul and Pro.gressive Fortner.

A fornra l annual repor t was publ ished for thel i rs t t inre by the Counci l . A headquartcrs wr i terand Western regional manager at [-os Angeleswerc addcd to the stafl <lrganization. Frank De-Voe. manager of LP-Gas salcs for Phi l l ipsPetro lcunr Ccl . . was Counci l pres ident .

Marketed product ion for thc ycar was 8,9 19,-000,000 gal.

1960 Suburban Gas stock l istcd on New York StockE,xchange and Pacil ic Coast Exchunge. Suburban'ssalt cavcrn storagc in Moab, Utilh, wcnt into serv-icc. Tidewatcr C)il Co. pr-rrchascd Vangas of Cali-forn ia.

Tota l undergrouncl s tor : rsc lac i l i t ies for natura lgas l iqu ic ls in the U.S. reached a capaci ty of ntorethrn2t /+ b i l l ion gal lons. Much of th is was in rn inedcavcrns neal heavy market ing arcas. Rcfr igcratedstoragc capaci ty tot i r l led nrorc than I 1 ,000.000ga l .

LP-Gas rail tank cars "grew" again withint roduct ion of t l tc f i rs t 30.000 gal . tank car byTulonra Gas Products Co.

Kar l H. Hachnruth. Phi l l ips Petro lcunt Co. . wonthe year 's l {anlon Award.

A transport klading rate ol' -500 gal. a ntinutebecanrc a rcal i ty wi th thc dcvelopnrent of newcquioment dcnranded by thc l i t rger capaci ty tanksused in transDort.

Thc 2,200-mi le Mid-Amer ica Pipel ine wasopened to stretch from Eunicc. N. M., to Mc-

Continued on p. 38

Both s ize and des ign

hau ler shows the new

o{ tank cars changed. This ACF 30,000 gal ."bel ly-bot lom"

design.

LPGA Times-September, 19622 4

br lreezing therl with l iquid pro-pane. This n.ray be all r ight but careshould be taken wi th res idual fumes.

Every attenrpt is ntade throughthe LPGA staf l o l l ices to correctth is nr is infornrat ion. l f you runacross such i tenrs you would be c lo-ing the pcople involvcd a favor by 'correct ing thenr . l f you need help.contact the sta l l o f i ices in Chicago.

Industry Historl '( 'onl inued f rom p. 2 i1

Phcrson. Kans. . wi th branchcs t t rt o Mad ison . W is .

Green's Dealers Tolk Sales, Commerc ia l Load

S p e a k e r s a l S a r a s o t a m e e t i n g i n c l u d e d ( f r o m l e f + ) K ' H ' K o a c h '

G r e e n ' s p r e s i d e n l ; W . P . W y r i c l , U n i o n T e x a s v p ; D r ' C ' E ' l r v i n

a n d O . M . B a i l e v , a n o l h e r U n i o n T e x a s v p .

Merchandis ing thc wholc gas l inc ancl cn l l lhasis t ln

the contnrcrcial ntarkct wcre- l l l i l jor tt lpics I 'ttr the 2(X)

Green's l ruc l c l is t r ibutors I l rcet ing June l l l -20 at Sara-

sota. I r l l . K. H. Koach. Green's pres ic lent . pres idecl and

O. M. Bai lcy, v icc pres ident t l f Unic ln Tcxi ts Petro lc t t tn

c l iv is ion of Al l icc l C 'hcnt ica l Corp. ' Grecn's parcnt l i l t t t ,

spokc.

Hendricks

Cont inued f rorn p. 26

n. loderniz i t t i ( tn , d is t r ib t i t ion, ac lver t is ing ' thcse arc th ingsyou do cvery clly. Strategic clecisions itrc lt lng-rantc tlr

long- ternr p lans.l ,s your town going to grow'? In which c l i rect ion is i t

go ing to grow' l What arc the th ings that i t t 'c gc l ing to

al lect thc cconol l ly in that town' l Wi l l y t l t t r busincssgrow'l ls it going tt l sri lw at thc ratc forccast'J Do not lct

hasty or tact ica l c lcc is i t lns upset thc st rategic c lcc is ion re-

qui rec l for I 'u ture growth. This is whcrc wc c l tn gct in to

i tn r twl 'u l lo t o l t rouhlu.Thc growth of th is inc iust ry in 50 years has bcen f ronl

noth ing to rot rghly l0 b i l l ion gal lons. Thc l igure that

in terests nre is not past h is tory, i t is not in t r ry t tp in ion

as inrpor tant ls the f igure way up l t the top. l3y 1970

th is inc lust ry should be sel l ing at thc rate of 20 b i l l iongal lons a year .

'fhe past is all ancient history. I 'nl ntlt tt 'ro nruch in-

terested in it. Let nte make one quotation fronr CrawftlrdH. Greenwal l , pres ident of DuPt lnt : " l f one industry

docs not supply the products or serv ices wanted, anotherone does. An industry which bur ies i ts head in the sand

ancl declines to move from its traditional nloorings nrustin th is day and age expect to f ind that the future hc l ldsnoth ing bet ter than a pedestr ian growth rate and u l t i -

n r i r t c s tugnu t i on . "I would l ike to reconrmend that a s t r t lng organlzat lon

be fornted wi th in the f ramework of the LPGA to han-

dle a full and powerful progranl on research and devel-oDment to inc lude not only product ' equipnlent and ap-pl icat ion. but a lso how tc l market i t . E

Jo inLPGANow !

Minneapo l i s and

Council hcitdcluartcrs was tntlved frclnr down-to'"vn C'hicagrt to larger. ntttre cfl icicnt qulrters inEvanston, l l l . A seconcl "Win-A-Home" swcep-stakcs pronrotion clrer'v ntore than a cluarter of ltnr i l l ion cntr ics and incrcascd st t l rc t rafT ic by 27pcr cent . F. 1 ' . C ' l rpentcr , Uni ted Petro lcunl Gas( 'o. , v ias Counci l prcs ident .

I i . . J . Munzer was e lected LPGA prcs ic lcnt .Markctcc l proc l t rc t ion for thc year was 9 ' -5(X) ' -

(XX).0(X) gal .

l96 l Mobi l Oi t ( 'o . p t t rchasecl Anchor Petro lcunl Co.Union Oi l C 'o. o l Cal i forn ia purchasccl the I 'ue lscrv icc c l iv is ion of Anrcr ic ln L iquic l Gas Corp. of[ -os Angclcs.

E. O. N. Wi l l iams was c lected LPGA president .l )ca lcr Sales Aic l inconrc o l ' the Counci l doublcd

ovcr 1960 to rcach a new high record of $3-5,000in ac lc l i t ional C'ounci l investntcnt by dealcr menl-bcrs. Farnt ancl hontc p l ize g ivcaway contests 'toscther wi th publ icat ions of LP-Gas t ln thc Farnrancl l -P-Gas For Al l Industr ia l and Ccl tnmcrc ia lUses producecl clicctivc "grass roots" sales results.( 'ounci l ac lver t is ing l i r r thc fa l l honre g ive- l rwl rywas extcndccl 50o/, by tie-in advertising byCounci l n tenrbcr produccrs and n lanufacturcrs.An industry-wide progral l t was prepared by thcCot inc i l for nrark ing the 50th annivcrsary of LP-Gas i n 1962 .

Dixie Pipeline Co.. a prttducer-tlwned firnl,started c<lnstructittn ttf i ts l ine frorrr E,ast Tcxas toNorth Carol ina. Conrplet ic ln was schedulcd lor1962.

J'o nrakc the gencric name "LP-Cits" moreacccptable to edi tors, thc Counci l approvcd usagcof the ncw fornt "LP-gas." D. G. O'Meara ofPyrol'ax Gas Cclrp. was Council president. Elcctedas president for thc year ahead was A. B. Ri tzen-thaler of thc

' I -appan Co.Natura l Gasol ing Associat ion t l f Amer ica

changcd its name to Natttral Gas Processors Asso-c ia t i on (NGPA) . ' f he l 96 l NGPA Han lon Awardwas presentcd to John C. Diehl of Amer icanMeter Co.

Est imates of 196 I marketed product ion of LP-gas approximated I 0 ,000.000.000 gal .

Chaptor 9 concludes the LP-Gas industry history prepared

b1 the National I-P-Gas Council and printed exclusively in

I -PGA ' I ' I I l IES.

J d LPGA T imes-September , 1962