Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Petroleum-Storage Installations at Avonmouth and at Cardiff [1890] . . . .

Barreling-Off Department

This is situated at the end of the long painting floor, which is elevated to about the level of the bottom of the railway trucks, and is arranged similarly to the one already described at Avonmouth. Two men can fill and bung 1,200 barrels per day.

Under the present system of distribution by barrels great loss is incurred, not only in filling and in carriage, but also from the large waste of space between the barrels when loaded, the expense on the returned empties, and the necessary repairs and cooperage.

To avoid this loss this company have adopted the use of 10-ton tanks, mounted on railway trucks, which are filled and consigned direct to the dealers, carriage being paid only on the net weight of the oil. The dealer can either retain the tank in his siding until emptied, or he can have his own small storage tank into which the oil is discharged, the portable tank being consigned back to the depot. It is probable that this system of distribution will shortly become general.

The Author expresses his thanks to Mr. Robert Johnston for supplying him with information concerning the Cardiff installation.

The Paper is accompanied by six tracings, from which Plates 7 and 8 have been prepared.