Document K8gg6RRn837j0LyvrLvdJpEr

September 8, 1954 Mr. A. J. Baldwin Mr. L. R. fleck Ethyl Corporation 100 Park Avenue New York City i? Gentlemen: I send you herewith copsea {rxtv-. copies to Mr. Fleck) of the analytical findings on the hose iir.es sent some time ago. (The results v;erc side tracked vn rough some vagary *, the vacation period.) The further copies can oe dealt with as you may desire. Your critical consideration of the data and the interpretation are invited. It is possible that we may wish to carry these observations further. I have asked Mr. Chciak to study the effects ci parsing air threucn a t egnoent of this hose, then to clean it with dilute acid and -water (cn the inside) and to repeat the observations. After that we shall see what, if anything, might be done further. Cordially yours. RAK ef Euc. Robert A. Kehoe, hi. D. 0010431 INTERPRETATION AND COMMENT The samples were so chosen and analysed as to portray. i possible, (1) the influence of external contamination of the hose with tetraethyl lead; (2) the extent of the penetration of tetraethyl lead into and through the rubber, thereby giving rise to contamination of the interior surface {and air passing through}; {3} the extent of the contamination of the inside of the hose at the \\ noint of the break.in its structure; and (4) the extant of deposits of particulate load (decomposition products of tetraethyl lead and/or other possible compounds of lead in particulate form) on tho outside and the inside of the hose. That is, if sufficient differences in the quantities of tetraethyl lead and its decomposition products era* ol inorganic lead could be found, at various points represented by the sample*, it might he possible to discover,* the nature and origin of the contamination, whether by penetration of tetraethyl lead through die intact rubber or by the entrance of sludge and/or other foreign material into the lumen through the break in the wall of the hose. The following conclusions appear to be justified; 1. It does not appear that the interior of this hose line was contaminated with organic lead to any very much greater extent at the break than at the other point, Such contamination as occurred appears, therefore, to have been the result oi the penetration, of organic lead through the rubber structure of the hose* 2, The contamination of the inside of the line with organic lead was greater than that on the outside, this fact tending to support the conclusion arrived at in {1} above, and indicating that the cleansing o the outside of the KE 001048 N 25044.01 hose from time to time had reduced the external contamination. 3. The meaning of the results an inorganic lead is not clearly avident, since the amount of inorganic lend in newly manufactured hose is unknown. It is probably a significant amount* and it may not be much less titan the lowest analytical value obtained, i.e. 1&. 9 mg. per foot of hose. The highest value obtained on the outer part of the hose is probably an expression of the uneven external contamination of various outer parts of the hose line, 'fire essential uniformity of the results obtained by the analysis of the two inner samples indicates that the break in this hose was not a factor in its internal contamination. Cue might make the guess that the inorganic lead found in the inner portion of the hose is the combined result of some initial quantity of lead which entered into the original compo sition of the hose, plus some quantity of the decomposition products of tetraethyl lead which penetrated through the rubber wall of the hose, plus some considerably greater source of lead deposits on the internal surface of the hose. On the whole, it is scarcely credible that a hose line containing the quantities of volatile lead found by these analyses, could continue to yield from its inner surface to the air stream flowing through it, such quantities of lead as to contaminate the air to any significant extent. It is believed that if such a hose line as this were cleaned in the ordinary manner, by being washed inside and out with a stream of water, and then dried out by a stream of air, it would not give rise to a significant amount of contamination of the air flowing through it at normal velocity. This is to say that, in our opinion, a significant degree of contamination of the air in such a hose line would be an expression of foreign material 3. penetration of tetraethyl load from the sludge through the wall of the hose Some further observation will be made to test this opinion. It seems likely that hose lines should be inspected carefully, cleaned inside when necessary, and discarded when they begin to go to pieces. Further comment will be forthcoming on this procedure when the further observations have been completed. September 3, 1954