Document 702vz8bNKX7yjqGYk9YZa40wj

" ' *>> iU-\ A 7 Lewi 3, IJfcreil 27, 1041 i 3'or.r Oscar: This letter is to record the 4niorrxatj.cn given to you over long disia nee telephone t'in after** no02a ana to supplement this v/ith details. :,b explained to you over the t -leclone, fan hm.oriccn Airwave have been running into technical operating difficulties as a result of the voi'y heavy deposits foming in the aviation Ethyl gn no lino (Je*Acc>) vfiieh they arc and have teen using exclusively for prate sure tine. these operating clifflaxiltieo have reached a serious point during the last two months, s.lthc tho first indications of the deposits showed up in Jar.uary, 2241. This trouble v; as manifested in increased gun- formation in the gasoline (by all methods of test} and the white deposits, a maple of which was furnished to cur Hew York office, forming in storage containers and in the plane fuel tanks* From the safety and health standpoint, per-* sonnel contact with the dried deposits has caused noticeable symptoms of snoozing, headache, aching in the .joints, eye burning and shortness of breath. This has occurred mainly with the personnel in tho tank repair shop and in the control laboratory, both of these in hiami. Tho work which is carried out in.the tank repair shop is mostly in thd nature of rebuilding fuel tanks for the planes or using the sheets' from tanks that have boon condemned to\ make other units, Sach one of the fuel tanks has a capacity of 170 gal lons. This work is carried out in a room on tho second floor of the plane overhaul shop, i This room is ap proximately 25* x 60* and has windows on three sides. These windows are actually steel sash with ventilators approximately 5 feet from the floor*. There is no I.r. 0. 3. Lewis Pago ife 3/27/41 mechanical ventilation. Six non Work in this noon continuously, al though only throe of than arc actually working on tho fuel tanks from the pianos# however, the throe man v/ho handle the fuel tank work are engaged in this activity exclusively, These nen are listed hereafter; . The following three nen work in the tank room, out their activities are not concerned ;yith the fuel tanka : XA4.fi>4U* or the sneezing manifested itself to a serious extent and was attributed to the dust front the deposits in the fuel tanks, instructions were issued to spray all inner surfaces of the tanks with a mixture of light lubricating oil and kerosene. Tills has re duced the amount of sneezing and other symptoms and it is only noticeable when the floor of the tank room is swept or when work i3 done on the tanka after the spray has dried. The laboratory personnel has been subjected to the deposits with the resultant sneezing and eyeburn, due to the fact tliat gasoline samples sent in for analysis from points in Central and South America have been filtered to got this deposit out of the fuel. These deposits have been saved, in some instances * after having been dried and the filter papers contain ing the deposits have been thrown in open wastebaskets with the result that th dust of the deposits has been scattered over the laboratory. H.E 0021192 ' There are evidences of these deposits on the outside of sample cans which have contained the gasoline in question* This is due to the evaporation of the gasoline that has been spilled or. the sides of the cans, and this would undoubtedly: occur at any point where gasoline was.wasted and permitted to evaporate to dryness. Since the operating difficulties have been experienced with this gasoline due to the excess ive depositst it has been necessary to use chamois filters at each point where the planes are fuelled in order that the deposits in the fuel tanks would be reduced to - a minimum. I had an opportunity today to observe one of these chamois filters that had been forwarded to the Miami Control Laboratory of ban Air for examination* This filter was completely covered with a layer of white deposit which caused immediate ;p'_ and, intense sneezing as soon as the package was open- V V'-p od*;:- These filters are being used at practically pi ' , ".v all .fuelling points in Central and South America, vpir'p' d/p probably numbering between 25 and 40, and the personnel P p i ; ; at these points are not cognizant with-the hazard ':.V. r.' ' involved at the present time. -\ h- h * , f In order that you may have sohe idea of ..... the faelXifcg setup of Pan Air, the foilcjwing is a brief \vp "t -p 'V'bilhftdCQimfcioftthap^ Gasoline Is stored , p^i. , % by the refining supplier at Port Arthur j Texas and p ; two points|on the Eastern Coast of South America. : -/r.p o . Froiri thesoithree points the fuel' is dispatched-In most ' I' p cases in djhim ''containers to the various intermediate points where the air lines have scheduled stops. Duo hp inaccessibility of some of these points, con- ' 'Wp-hA^ppSifierable time and expense is involved in getting - 'C' the fuel supplies to them* yin .some instances it is ;:Vp: ; ; necessary to haul the drums by ox-cart. In view of -Xth'OM '.Jhf Mr* 0, 3, Lewis Page 3/27/41 these difficulties, it is necessary to store the fuel at some points for periods of eighteen months or more. In most instances storage is maintained in the drums in which it is shipped and' under cover, althou'^h there are tines when it is impossible to keep the drvn3 under cover and then they aro subjected to the intense heat of the sun. At some few points the gasoline is transferred from drums to underground storage tanks of approximately 2,000 gallons capacity, from whence it is pumped into the plane tanks. The formation of these deposits has been tied in with increase of gum content1 of the gasoline by the head of the Pan Air laboratory. It is his contention that the supplying company has been ship ping thorn since May of 1940 a fuel containinge a fair! high percentage of alkylate, to which was added an inhibitor, which he told me 'was lecithin, Mince this trouble showed up the first of this year, he supplying company has changed their inhibitor to HOP #4, which they claim will correct the trouble.: However, there exists at the present time in field storage throughout the entire Pan Air operations considerable fuel that was shipped between May. 1940 and January 1, 1941* V/e hove endeavored to create as little dis turbance as possible during tho course of our inves tigation. The natter has only been discussed with Mr. Toonoy, three department heads and the donpany doctor. All persons with whom we t a Deed apparently are per fectly willing fco do anything reconmpndod from the standpoint of Immediate correction apd setting up pro cedures to prevent any future difficulties. X should have mentioned that analyses of tho deposits have1been nado by tho Pan Air laboratory and laboratory of the supplying company. In the first instance the results showed f-Mui- while Ke 0021194 Mr* 0, B Page #5 o/27/4: the supplying company analysis showed 52/ Jc a A The Pan -air Chemist seemed to fool rather definitely that some of this is organic, although he has no definii uroof. The informal; ion given to him by the 3Uppl,r^ ~*0 company, was that this was largely in the 'em. cf ca_rbona..ates# 1 should also have mentioned that these deposits discolor the gasoline to a considerable extent and v;ill settle out readily. In some of the samples which liavs been, sent in from outlying points for analysis, there has been as much as 20 cubic centimetors or more, of the deposit in three or four gallons of gasoline. I have obtained some of this deposit and also have arranged to hold the chamois which was sent In for inspection until someone from Cincinnati arrives. In checking the diecosition of fuel h V-1 ^ taken from plan3 end condemned, it was found that .in some instances this material is sold for junk. How ever, when the tanks are t om apart for a detailed inspection 'which would determine whether they are in condition that would permit further uso as tank material or for building other parts or whether they are to bo discarded entirely, all surfaces are thoi'oughly clean ed with a solvent material which is scrubbed on tho surface to he cleaned with steel wool by a man wearing rubber glovc3 There are a number of other details on which I have made notes during the course of our in vestigation but believe that the information contained above is the most pertinent a t the present time. I will make a later report which will cover all that v/q have found or may find later, tint has not been covered in this letter* ' Yoxxp very trjuly, V-jbmiL JTp^v-a. George P. Rosser. (ILa u 0. Kf 0021195