No welding required

Here is a tidbit about a pipeline that required an unusual amount of attention to detail for it to function, but no welding was required.

Pipeline construction crews working in the Port Arthur, Texas, area recently uncovered a wood stave pipeline. Best estimates place installation of the line in 1917.

Information on this line, which was sent this way by Doyle Sanders and Arthur Faherty, is somewhat sketchy. Nevertheless, here is what has been determined.

Apparently, the line was a “condenser water overflow” line that ran to Alligator Bayou from Texaco’s early West Side Coke Stills. This was the site of Texaco’s first refinery, dating back to the early 1900s, that also included a terminal. The wooden pipeline was discovered during a “crude expansion project” in the company’s Port Arthur refinery area, or Port Arthur Works, as it was called.

According to reports from the site, the wood stave pipe, more than likely, was made of cypress that was cut in 1916. Crews working on the expansion project describe the line as being in excellent condition with craftsmanship that is almost “unbelievable,” with joints described as meticulous.

Currently, crews are finalizing efforts to secure and restore a section of the line that the crew will donate to the refinery museum.

By way of a government definition, wood stave pipe is composed of a plurality of longitudinally straight, but transversely curved wood-staves. The longitudinal edges thereof being provided with a tongue and groove configuration and being glued together, while being mounted in a sidewise engagement in a cradle-like mounting. The pipe-shaped bodies are later processed by milling, grinding or polishing internally and externally. Now, doesn’t that read like a government statement?

R.W. Lyall. Long-time pipeliner Robert William Lyall passed away on May 25 at the age of 75, after a four-year battle with pulmonary fibrosis. He was the founder of R. W. Lyall & Company, Inc., which provides natural gas and LPG piping solutions for the residential, commercial and industrial markets in the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Bob lived the “American Dream” as a self-made man. After high school, he joined the Navy, which he served faithfully for four years. In 1952, Lyall married his wife Lois, and in 1953, they moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, where they started their family. At Lincoln, he accepted a football scholarship to play at the University of Nebraska and remained a devoted Nebraska supporter.

Graduating with a degree in education, he quickly discovered his engineering talents in the pipeline service and manufacturing industry, ultimately forming his own corporation, R.W. Lyall & Co., Inc., to manufacture natural gas pipeline products. Bob enriched the lives of many through his company and desire to serve and help others.

He was a long-time member of the natural gas organization, The Gild of Ancient Supplers, and was recently knighted by the organizations members.

A scholarship fund has been established at the University of Nebraska. Donations should be sent to the University of Nebraska, C/O: Bob Lyall Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 82555, Lincoln, Nebraska 68501.

The family also has requested contributions be made to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, 1332 North Halsted Street, Suite 201, Chicago, Illinois 60622. The website is www.pulmonaryfibrosis.org.

I considered Bob a friend for more than 25 years. He will be deeply missed here, as well as by those in and out of the natural gas industry.

Odds and ends. The following has nothing to do with natural gas, but it might be something to consider the next time you are filling up your super-charged compact car with three dollar gas. Of course, if you use a full service pump, you are probably on the company tab.

• Here’s a good idea found in a U.S. newspaper: The father should be included in planning first child.
• From a church bulletin comes this directive: Low self esteem group will meet Thursday at 7 p.m. Please use back door.
• Here’s a classified ad Hannibal Lecter might answer: Marriage agency: Russian ladies for eating, dating, or marriage.