Document oMbVnzje2mkXxqN3gn7VRbpGo

1'. 0. 1. Louis, larch 27, 1041 i 7o: r Or;cart ' This let-tor Is to rocord the information given to you ever Ion;: disia nee telephone t' is after noon unu to supplement this with details. is explained to you over* the telephone, fan .':':ov:lc-.:n Airways have been running 1 -.to technical operating difficulties as a result of the very heavy deposits .Coming in the aviation Ethyl gasoline (Tc k a c o ) which they are and Lave ho on using exclusively for prate a:mo time. these operating difficulties have readied a serious point during the last two nextla;, s.ltho tho first indications of the deposits showed up in January, 1741. This trouble v;as manifested in increased gum- formation in the gasoline (by all methods of tost) and the white deposits, sample of M u c h was furnished to cur Hew York office, forming in storage containers and in the piano fuel tanka. From the safety and health standpoint. personnol 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 uiarai. Tho work which is carried out in .the tank repair shop is mostly in tho nature of rebuilding fuel tanks for tho pianos or using tho shoots'from tanks that have boon condemned to' make other units, Sack, 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 tho plane overhaul shop. |This room is ap proximately 25* x 60f and has v/indpws on throe sides. Those windows are actually steel shah v/ith ventilators approximately 5 foot from the floor*. There is no R e 002119! I!r. 0. B. Lewis Pago *8 3/ 27/41 mechanical ventilation. Six non worlc in this room continuously, al though only throe of then arc actually working on iho fuel tanks fron the pianos# However, the throe men who lianclle the fuel tank work are engaged in this activity exclusively, `Those nen are listed hereafter; . The following three nen work in the tank room, but their activities are not concerned with the fuel tanka: After sneezing manifested itself to a serious extent and was attributed to the dust from the deposits in the fuel tanks, instructions were issued to spray all inner surfaces of the tanks v;:1th a mixture of light lubricating oil and kerosene. This 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 3Ubj.o:3ted 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 get 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 the dust of the deposits has been scattered over the laboratory. '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 on the sides of the cans, and tills 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 deposits, 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 r- ' 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 Pan Air . : . for examination* This filter was completely covered -- with a layer of white deposit which caused immediate Y and intense sneezing as soon as the package was opon- r W ' od*: These filters aro being used at practically ' ; . "h all fuelling points in Central and South America, Y* A:.Probably numbering between 25 and 40, and the personnel - at these points are not cognizantWith-id1 hazard -i; Involved at the present time. -\ Y '* * . ' ' , f In order that you may have socio idea of ,;vW - . tho fholXihs setup of; Pan Air, the following is a brief h r y 'b "*;accountroftthe^ lnvolved*h Gasoline is stored ...Y >. r , Y the refining supplier at Port Arthur J Texas and v ' *- A ; two points|on the Eastern Coast of South America. ' \Frb' th8t<three points thsfuel'is dispatched-in most - V W " - as In drum.-containers to the various intermediate . points where the air lines have scheduled stops. Duo . h h.WVh to- the inaccessibility of some of these points, con :";Y W , - W s i d e r a b l e time and expense is. involved in getting Y-"f:Y ^ W Y - the fuel supplies to them. In some instances it is ->/-!rh-'Y ': 2T:-necessary to haul the drums by ox-cart. In view of ?O J1- Mr* 0, 3, Lewis Page </4 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, al though 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 gun content 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" containing a faj rl: high percentage of allsylate to which was added clX* inhibitor, which he told me was lecithin. Mince this trouble showed up the first of this year, the supplying company has changed their inhibitor to UOP #4, which they claim will correct the trouble.: However, there exists at the present tine in field storage throughout the entire Pan Air operations considrable fuel that was shipped between May. 1940 and January 1, 1941* Y7e have endeavored to create as little dis turbance as possible during the 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 tallced apparently are per feetly willing fco do anything recommended from the standpoint of Immediate correction ajid setting up pro coduro3 to prevent any future difficulties. 2 should have mentioned that analyses of the deposits h a v e 1been nado by tho Pan Air laboratory and laboratory of the supplying company* In the first instance the results showed while K 0021194 *0% 0. B. Page #5 o/ 27/ 4: sis showed 52/ c a JI The Pan -air Chemist seemed to feel rather definitely that some of this is organ! c. although he has no definite proof. The inform . . X on given to him by the supplying company, was that th is was largely in the fern of carbonates. I should also have mentionocl that these deposits discolor the gasoline to a considerable extont and v;ill settle out readily. In some of the samples which liave been sent in from outlying points for analysis, there has been as much as BO cubic cent!VI0jl T*0 or more., of the deposit in three or four gallons o gasoline. I have obtained some of this deposit 01 ,3 lid also have arranged to hold the chamois which was nent In for inspection -until someone from Cincinnati J?iV-r'S In checking the disooaition of fuel 4- O: Vi lr taken from plane3 and condemned, it was found that .in some instances this material is sold for junk* How ever, when the tanks are t o m apart for a detailed inspection 'which -would determine whether they are in condition that would permit further use as tank material or for building other parts or whether they are to bo discarded entirely, all surfaces are thoroughly clean ed with a solvent material which is scrubbed on the surface to be cleaned with steel wool by a man wearing rubber glovo3. . 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 pertinentg fc the present time. I will make a later report which v/ill cover all that v/Q have found or may find later, tint has not been covered in this letter. ; y iU u/^ ^Yov^e very tesuly, Q j L rnj e.cf f i t-* -* . < Georg P. Rosser.