science

List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900

List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 rather than just read about it. In short: The following is not a complete list of natural gas and petroleum product accidents before 1900, which run into the thousands. The oil and gas industry was as yet unregulated, so leaks and explosions were not tracked in an organized fashion except by city fire departments.

Key takeaways

List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The following is not a complete list of natural gas and petroleum product accidents before 1900, which run into the thousands. The oil and gas industry was as yet unregulated, so leaks and explosions were not tracked in an organized fashion except by city fire departments. Many natural gas accidents were not recorded unless they occurred in population centers with newspapers to report them. In the twentieth century, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a U.S. Department of Transportation agency, would be established to develop and enforce regulations for the safe and environmentally sound operation of the United States' pipelines, and to collect data on pipeline leaks, accidents, and explosions.

1860s

1860 A manufacturer was marketing a portable or domestic gas works to produce gas from coal for a household beyond the reach of city gas lines. The “gasometer” was about six feet in diameter and five or six feet deep, and worked something like a cook stove. In March 1860, a "gasometer" exploded during a fire at New Orleans, Louisiana. Two men were burned to death, but the building was saved.

1861 April 18 – In Tidioute, Pennsylvania, benzene escaping from a newly drilled oil well rose 50 feet in the air and was ignited by the engine of another well 400 rods away. In a second the air was aflame with a roar like artillery. “As soon as the gas took fire, the head of the jet of oil was in a furious blaze, and falling like water from a fountain over a space 100 feet in diameter; each drop came down a blazing globe of boiling oil. Instantly the ground was aflame.” The men and boys working on the site were set on fire; 15 died and 34 were injured. Another source says this occurred at Titusville, Warren County, Pennsylvania, and the drill pipe was 5½ inches in diameter.

1862 April 17 – In Eaton, Ohio, a supposed vandal left in charge of the “gas-o-meter” set off an explosion that damaged a local business.

1863 May 1 – Workmen remodeling a house in San Francisco, California accidentally broke a gas pipe. Not knowing where the meter was to turn off the gas, they plugged the open pipe with a piece of bottle cork, then held a candle close to see if the pipe was still leaking. It was. The resulting explosion burned a woman and three men, and shook the neighboring buildings, whose inhabitants thought they were having an earthquake. November 22 – A gas explosion took place in a building occupied by the U.S. provost marshal at New Orleans, Louisiana. Workmen refitting the gas fixtures had neglected to shut off the gas completely so as soon as a match was lighted, the gas exploded with a noise like an earthquake and did great damage to the building. No one was seriously injured.

1866 January – In Covington, Kentucky, a fruit storage warehouse's gas line broke and the building filled with natural gas which exploded when a workman with a light in his hand entered the building. Property damage was estimated at $40,000. March 23 – In Cincinnati, Ohio, an opera house and newspaper office were destroyed by an explosion thought to have been caused by a leaking gas pipe that ignited. The resulting fire spread, destroying several other buildings and their contents, for a total loss of $2 million in property damage. April – A Baltimore, Maryland barber shop was destroyed and its occupants injured when a leaking gas pipe under the floor exploded, throwing them against the ceiling. An adjacent jewelry shop, cigar store and hotel were also damaged.

1867 June 1 – In Washington, D.C., two men searching the Clarendon Hotel with a lantern, looking for a gas leak, found it when it exploded, shattering walls and injuring the engineers and two watermen. July 30 – In Gloucester, Massachusetts, three gas explosions occurred at a mansion house on the cove. By the time of the last explosion, at least 15 firemen and others had been badly burned; one died from his injuries.

1868 1868 – The Detroit Gas Company, suffering from a serious leak in their main pipe, and having discovered the probable locality, began digging down to the pipe, building a fire to thaw the ground. An explosion ensued, but the workmen were not seriously injured. December 5 – In Cleveland, Ohio, a gas explosion and subsequent fire destroyed a house and all its contents. The homeowner set it off when he carried a candle into a cellar where he noticed a faint smell of gas. All five family members escaped with minor burns.

1869 May 19 – A gas explosion blew a Brooklyn, New York woman out of her house through a window and onto a shed, where she landed unhurt. A gasfitter working in her apartment had set off the blast when escaping gas reached his lighted lamp. May 27 – A large gas holder at the Cincinnati Gas Works holding 375,000 cubic feet of natural gas, exploded just after 20 workmen left the site. The explosion killed one painter still onsite, and broke glass nearly half a mile away. The cause was unknown. December 7 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while the Commercial Exchange Association building was being lit up in the evening, a large chandelier in the upper hallway fell, breaking the gas pipe that supplied it. The gas ignited and seconds later the building was on fire. The nearly new $250,000 building was gutted, but everyone escaped.

1870s

1870 November – In San Francisco, California, the wealthy Chinese doctor Li-Po-Tai and another man suffered severe flash burns and scorched lungs when an unsecured gas jet filled a room with natural gas that ignited when a match was lit. The elegant home was damaged and a third man was injured when he fell down the stairs trying to escape. December 19 – In Cincinnati, Ohio, natural gas-holder number 5 exploded at the Cincinnati Gas Works, shaking the city. When it was destroyed, it was holding 450,000 cubic feet of gas valued at $75,000. The total loss was estimated at $100,000. There were no deaths in the explosion but one man was “slightly burned.” The gas-holder's predecessor was destroyed in similar fashion in May 1869.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900

In research: List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Lists of pipeline accidents in the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
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Frequently asked questions

What is List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 in simple terms?

Why does List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900.