PIPE LINES, OIL AND GAS. Wrought iron pipes jointed to form conduit, of great length, used to transport petroleum oil or natural gas from the wells or fields to the point of utiliza tion, or, in the case of oil, to the refinery or mar ket. In the trunk lines the oil is pumped, often surmounting great elevation, and requiring heavy pressures. Gas is often pumped, the frequency and intensity of pumping pressure increasing to a marked extent with the diminution of the pressure from the well..
Ou. PIPE LINES originated in the Pennsylvania fields. They were first suggested by Gen. S. D. Icarus, in November. 1860. Ilis idea was to lay a line from Burning Springs to Parkersburg.. awl let the oil gravitate to the Ohio River. where it could be loaded and shipped. The distance was about 36 miles. The line was never laid. In 1S62 J. L. Hutchinson, of New York, laid a siphon over a hill from the Tarr Farm to a re finery at Mintier, Pa. In 1863 he laid a second line, three miles in length, through which lie pumped oil from the Sherman well to a refinery. He placed 10-inch air chambers 50 to 100 feet apart. The joint leakage was so great that both these lines were abandoned.
The first suceessful line was laid in 1865 by Samuel von Syelle. of Titusville, Pa. Other lines followed and numerous companies were or ganized and consolidations new mode of transinmtatilm met with violent and riotous opposition from and others interested in hauling oil in wagons. In 187.5 a 4-inch line. about 60 mile, long, was laid from the lower oil country to Pittsburg. Up to this time most of the refineries had been bwated near the wells, but it being found more advantageous to locate the refineries on the seaboard and the Great Likes, pipe were rapidly laid to the chief cities so situated in the n rtheastern part of the United States. The second pipe line of great length was laid from Bear Creek to Cleve land, Ohio. It was II 1 miles long. II inches in diameter at the outset, and 5 inches in diameter after passing the final pumping stati.m. By 1892 the National Transit Company. alone. had secured control of or built the following great trunk lines: Bear Creek to Pittsburg. 53 miles;
Olean to Buffalo. 56 miles: Bear Creek to Cleve land. 111 Coleerove to Philadelphia. 235 miles; Millway to Baltimore. 66 miles: Olean to New York, over 300 miles. Later, it added a line from Lima. Ohio, to Chicago, eight inches in diameter and some 205 miles long, which has since been duplicated. Besides the National Transit Company there were a dozen or so other companies in 1892. In 1901 two companies con trolled practically n11 the pip. line in the United States, but most of the mileage belonged to the National Transit ('onqmny. The extent of main, branch, and field pipes controlled by the Na tional Transit Company (Standard Gil) has been placed by n representative of the company at as high as 35,000 miles.
At river crossings the pipe is either carried on bridges: or fa id on and anchored to the bed of the stream. At the lludson Paver crossing a trunk line laid prior to 1893 is anchored to two sets of heavy chains, parallel to and some 25 feet from the pipe, held down by heavy weights. This line is inclosed in a second pipe. Across the salt marshes near New fork the line is incased in concrete, to prevent corrosion.
The first oil pipe line was laid in Russia in 1879 to reach a refinery at the so-called Black Town of Baku. It was eight or nine miles long. In or about 1895 there were 22 pipe lines in Russia, some of which were eight inches in diameter. In July, 1900, n pipe line 143 miles long, from to Bohem, was put in use. It is for relined oil only, from the Baku deposits, supplementing the railway over a section where transportation is difficult.
Pumps are required on the pipe lines, since these climb hills and mountains many hun dred feet high. The pumps are of the high pres sure, compound, condensing type, the later ones being high duty. (See Pumps AND PC MPINU MA CH ERY. ) The head under which the pumps work may vary, of course, with the topography of the (toutly through which the line is passing, but it is largely dependent on the friction alone in long lines of small pipe.