Testing oxygen and other high pressure cylinders.

[atex57]

So it cracked the valve, but didn't shear it off.
As Mythbusters showed it's a lot harder than you might think to completley shear the valve off and produce a rocket.

No, the valve sheared off clean.

 

[jim rozen]

The large helium tanks that had been buried at Lakehurst NJ were dug up and transported to Brookhaven Nation Labs, for use by their helium liqufier setup, as storage and buffer volumes. These are about 40 feet long, and either 2 feet or 3 feet diameter. Originally they were rated 1500 psi but the BNL group de-rated them to 500 psi.

They're still there.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

 

[Ox]

Mid/late 80's - Airco in Adrian, Mich had an Oxy (?) tank that had been hit by lightening in their lot.
The top 25% was gone - somewhere....
Could still be there for all I know.

That was an eye opener!


--------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

 

[john.k]

I once had an ex army big O2 cylinder ,round bottom type that had test stamps going all the way back to WW1..........I used to saw them up for heavy steel tube ...they are about 1/2 wall.

 

[PDW]

I once had an ex army big O2 cylinder ,round bottom type that had test stamps going all the way back to WW1..........I used to saw them up for heavy steel tube ...they are about 1/2 wall.

Yeah I cut one up a couple years back - shit of a job with the 9" angle grinder but you're right about the wall thickness. Still haven't used the tube section but one of these days...

PDW

 

[daryl bane]

Tried to post a link but didn't work. You can see it on YouTube. Welding Supply in Dallas going up 2007. Pretty impressive, I remember this.

 

[dana gear]

Years back we had a unrestrained 2265 oxygen cylinder roll off the side of a steel frame work that was about 45 feet above ground, the cylinder hit on the bottom. It was full and bulged about a third of the way up on the edge side of inpact, cylinder held its pressure. We donated it to a local welding school for safety training. Fun fact, on a early Linde high pressure cylinders, if you ever see a square with what looks like a tee stamped inside the square and the INT (new)date is pre 1942 it is what was called the Linde window. Pre WWll Linde stamped there cylinders with a swastika, WWll starts and Linde got all these cylinders with Swastika's stamped on them ,answer, stamp a square box over the swastika, now it looks like a window, The Linde window. You almost never see them anymore.

 

[metalmagpie]

Those tanks are spun from 3/8" alloy steel. A little drop from 5' won't hurt the cylinder body. Had it hit on the valve, it might have been different. That is why you are supposed to keep the cylinder cap on.

metalmagpie

 

[john.k]

The army auctions here used to sell big stacks of the 6ft long oxy cylinders,dished and round bottom............acetylene cylinders too ...all ex WW2 stock ..........I never touched the acetylene as they were full of a chalky asbestos material......a guy had a front fence made of them just up the road from here .....looked very impressive.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

One place I worked at used to repair rubber mixing machinery. The mixer rotors would be turned down on the diameters, submerged arc welded over size, then turned and ground back to size.
After the sub arc welding process the rotors were pressure tested with water up to about 200 psi to test for leaks/cracks etc. After that they were sent out for stress relieving in an oven over night.
The rotors had end caps held on with about 6 off 5/8” or 3/4 bolts. The test pump was fastened to the end cap, the rotor was inverted to 45 degrees and water was pumped in until it came out of a breather pipe in the end cap.

After the rotor passed the test all the fittings were removed and the rotor was sent away to be stress relieved. A new guy on the job removed all the fittings and then plugged up the holes in the end cap ! Nobody noticed that until the end cap got blown through the door of the oven !

Steam can be powerful also.

Regards Tyrone

 

[jim rozen]

I specifically recall watching a guy roll hp helium cylinders down a hill, on a street in madison, WI during a street fair. They did have the caps on, but I grabbed my now wife and we departed the area right away.

 

[Gazz]

Speaking of high pressure gas bottles and high powered rifles, I did shoot one once with a 30-06 armor piecing round and was disappointed with the results. The bottle had a damaged valve on it and no regulator or gauge could be attached and was found on the side of the road in some tall weeds. I drove by it for several years and finally decided it was abandoned and worthy of an experiment so in the truck it went. I took it to a local sand pit where folks would shoot and stood it upright and crouched behind a sand pile about 70 yards away. When struck with the bullet, there was a very loud hiss and the bottle merely fell over with the bullet penetrating completely though one side and lodged in the opposite side with just the tip protruding through the outside. I have no idea how much gas or what gas it was so maybe not a valid test. I cut the bottle up and did save the piece with the hole and the lodged bullet but don't know where it has gone to.

 

[just Dave]

For the biggest bang, fill the tank with plain water, plug it with a metal plug screwed tight, and heat till it bursts. The water cannot boil because of the pressure, until something gives. Then the water all flashes into super-heated steam. This is the classic boiler explosion scenario:

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/killed-boiler-explosion-caught-camera-46562554

Something is off with the boiler explosion video. The beginning is a shot of a couple boiler feed pumps for a boiler as big as a building like a generation plant. The exploded boiler they show for an after shot is a small package boiler like a plant uses for heat and processes in manufacturing.

 

[Bill D]

My understanding is that gasoline is pound for pound the same energy as dynamite. Probably the same ratio for propane as well.
Bill D

 

[Joe Gwinn]

Something is off with the boiler explosion video. The beginning is a shot of a couple boiler feed pumps for a boiler as big as a building like a generation plant. The exploded boiler they show for an after shot is a small package boiler like a plant uses for heat and processes in manufacturing.

The last video is about the formal report on the accident. There is far more to such investigations than any one video.

 

[Jkh62]

The cylinders are very robust.
The valve on top, not so much.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

My understanding is that gasoline is pound for pound the same energy as dynamite. Probably the same ratio for propane as well.
Bill D

Hi Bill, I was watching a kids programme over here about this issue a few years ago. The producers made a small cannon capable of firing a “ Coca Cola “ can using either petrol ( gasoline ) or gunpowder. They had the cannon aimed into a lake with a small island about 100 feet away. They used gunpowder first and that fired the can about 50 or 60 feet. The same amount of gasoline fired the can almost to the small island !

Regards Tyrone

 

[lucky7]

I think (not an explosive expert) it’s not only the energy in an equal amount of say gasoline vs gunpowder, but the rate at which combustion occurs. This is why some military grade explosives have so much more ‘ooomph’ that dynamite of equal amount.

Detonation velocity - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Not exactly on topic, but gives an idea what I’m thinking.

 

[guythatbrews]

I think (not an explosive expert) it’s not only the energy in an equal amount of say gasoline vs gunpowder, but the rate at which combustion occurs. This is why some military grade explosives have so much more ‘ooomph’ that dynamite of equal amount.

Detonation velocity - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Not exactly on topic, but gives an idea what I’m thinking.

I just watched a periscope video about TNT last night. The explosion shock wave travels at 7000 yds/second.

Better run. Fast!

 

[Joe Gwinn]

My understanding is that gasoline is pound for pound the same energy as dynamite. Probably the same ratio for propane as well.
Bill D

Gasoline has way more energy per gram than dynamite.

Dynamite is 5.26 KJ/gm, while gasoline is 46.5 KJ/gm, a ratio of about nine to one.

This is why fuel-air bombs are so effective.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon