A gasoline pump or fuel dispenser is a machine at a filling station that is used to pump gasoline (petrol), diesel, or other types of liquid fuel into vehicles. Gasoline pumps are also known as bowsers or petrol bowsers (in Australia and South Africa), [2] [3] petrol pumps (in Commonwealth countries), or gas pumps (in North America).
The first gasoline pump was invented and sold by Sylvanus Bowser in Fort Wayne, Indiana, on September 5, 1885, [4] pre-dating the automobile industry- It was commonly used to dispense the kerosene used in lamps and stoves. He later improved upon the pump by adding safety measures, and by adding a hose to directly dispense fuel into automobiles. For a while,[ vague ][ when? ] the term bowser was used to refer to a vertical gasoline pump. In the United States this term is now only used for trucks that carry and dispense fuel to large aircraft at airports,[ citation needed ] but it is still used sometimes in Australia and New Zealand. [5]
The first gasoline pump was patented by Norwegian John J. Tokheim in 1901. The Tokheim pump was named after him. Fuel retail industry giant OPW (a Dover company) acquired Tokheim in 2016.[ citation needed ]
Many early gasoline pumps had a calibrated glass cylinder on top. The desired quantity of fuel was pumped up into the cylinder as indicated by the calibration. Then the pumping was stopped and the gasoline was let out into the customer's tank by gravity. When metering pumps came into use, a small glass globe with a turbine inside replaced the measuring cylinder to show the customer that gasoline really was flowing into the tank.[ citation needed ] The first measured gas pump, commercially produced by Gilbarco in 1911, lacked this globe, with customers having to rely on the gas station owner to have calibrated it accurately. [6] [7]
A modern gasoline pump is divided into two main parts – an electronic "head" containing an embedded computer to control the action of the pump, drive the pump's displays, and communicate to an indoor sales system; and a mechanical section which (in a self-contained unit) has an electric motor, pumping unit, meters, pulsers and valves to physically pump and control the fuel flow.
In some cases the actual pump may be sealed and immersed inside the fuel tanks on a site, in which case it is known as a submersible pump. In general, submersible solutions in Europe are installed in hotter countries, where suction pumps may have problems overcoming cavitation with warm fuels or when the distance from tank to pump is longer than a suction pump can manage.
In modern pumps, the major variations are in the number of hoses or grades they can dispense, the physical shape, and additional hardware for services such as pay at the pump and attendant tag readers.
Light passenger vehicles pump up to about 50 litres (13 US gallons ) per minute [8] (the United States limits this to 10 US gallons [38 litres] per minute [9] ); pumps serving trucks and other large vehicles have a higher flow rate, up to 130 litres (34 US gallons) per minute in the UK [8] and 40 US gallons (150 litres) in the US. This flow rate is based on the diameter of the vehicle's fuel filling pipe, which limits flow to these amounts.
Airline refueling can reach 1,000 US gallons (3,800 litres) per minute. [10] Higher flow rates may overload the vapor recovery system in vehicles equipped with enhanced evaporative emissions controls [11] (required since 1996 in the US), causing excess vapor emissions, and may present a safety hazard.
Historically, gasoline pumps had a very wide range of designs to solve the mechanical problems of pumping, reliable measurement, safety, and aesthetics. This has led to some popularity in collecting antique dispensers, especially in the US. [12]
Nozzles are attached to the pump with flexible hoses, so they can reach the vehicle's filler inlet. The hoses are robust to survive heavy wear and tear, including exposure to weather and being driven over, and are often attached using heavy spring or coil arrangements to provide additional strength. A breakaway valve is also fitted to the hose so that the nozzle and hose will detach and fuel flow will stop if a motorist drives off with the nozzle still in the filler.
Nozzles are usually color-coded to indicate which grade of fuel they dispense, but the color-coding differs between countries and even retailers. For example, a black hose and handle in the majority of Europe indicate that the fuel dispensed is diesel, and a green dispenser indicates unleaded fuel; the reverse is common in the US.
Some nozzles are designed to prevent the motorist selecting the wrong fuel. The nozzle on diesel pumps is supposed to be larger so that it cannot fit into the filler pipe on a vehicle tank designed for gasoline. However, the larger diameter diesel nozzles are not an actual requirement, and many diesel pumps have been fitted with standard gasoline nozzles. Also, the nozzle for leaded gasoline is wider than for unleaded, and the fill pipe on vehicles designed for unleaded-only was made narrower to prevent misfueling. Some diesel fuel tanks are designed to prevent the wrong type of nozzle from being used.
In some countries, pumps can mix two fuel products together before dispensing; this is referred to as blending or mixing. Typical usages are in a "mix" pump to add oil to petrol for two-stroke motorcycles, to produce an intermediate octane rating from separate high and low octane fuels, or to blend hydrogen and compressed natural gas (HCNG). Retailers benefit by offering three grades of fuel while having to stock only two. This frees up both working capital and tank capacity and improves fuel turnover.
The equipment must accurately measure the amount of fuel pumped. Flow measurement is almost always done by a 4 stroke piston meter connected to an electronic encoder. [8] In older gasoline pumps, the meter is physically coupled to reeled numerical displays (moving wheels or cylinders with numbers on the side), while newer pumps turn the meter's movement into electrical pulses using a rotary encoder.
Gasoline is difficult to sell in a fair and consistent manner by volumetric units. It expands and contracts significantly as its temperature changes. Its coefficient of thermal expansion at 20 °C is about 4.5 times that of water.
In the US, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) specifies the accuracy of the measurements in Handbook 44, [13] though states set their own legal standards. The standard accuracy is 0.3%, meaning that a 10-US-gallon (37.9 L) purchase may actually deliver between 9.97 and 10.03 US gal (37.7 and 38.0 L).
The reference temperature for gasoline volume measurement is 60 °F or 15 °C. [14] Ten gallons of gasoline at that temperature expands to about 10.15 US gal (38.4 L) at 85 °F (29 °C) and contracts to about 9.83 US gal (37.2 L) at 30 °F (−1 °C). Each of the three volumes represents the same theoretical amount of energy. In one sense, a given volume of gasoline purchased at 30 °F has about 3.2% more potential energy than the same volume purchased at 85 °F. Most gasoline is stored in tanks underneath the filling station. Modern tanks are non-metallic and sealed to stop leaks. Some have double walls or other structures that provide a side benefit of thermal insulation while pursuing the main goal of keeping gasoline out of the soil around the tank. So while the air temperature can easily vary between 30 and 85 °F (−1 and 29 °C), the gasoline warms or cools much more slowly, especially underground, as deep soil temperature tends to remain in a narrow range throughout the year, regardless of air temperature.
Temperature compensation is common at the wholesale level in the United States and most other countries. At the retail level, Canada has converted to automatic temperature compensation, and the UK is converting, but the United States has not converted. Automatic temperature compensation, known as Standard Temperature Accounting in the UK, may add a tiny amount of additional uncertainty to the measurement of about 0.1%. [14]
There are far fewer retail outlets for gasoline in the US today than there were in 1980. Larger outlets sell gasoline rapidly, as much as 30,000 US gal (110,000 L) in a single day, even in remote places. Most finished product gasoline is delivered in 8,000- to 16,000-gallon tank trucks, so two deliveries in a 24-hour period are common. Gasoline spends so little time in the retail sales system that its temperature at the point of sale does not vary significantly from winter to summer or by region. Canada has lower overall population densities and geographically larger gasoline distribution systems, compared with the United States. Temperature compensation at the retail level improves the fairness under those conditions.
In the United States, each state has its own Department of Weights and Measure, with the authority to perform all testing and certification, issuing fines for non-compliance. For example, in 2007 Arizona found that 9% of all pumps were off by at least 2.5% (the threshold for fines), evenly split between overcounting and undercounting fuel. [15]
In many jurisdictions, regular required inspections are conducted to ensure the accuracy of gasoline pumps. For example, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services conducts regular tests of calibration and fuel quality at individual dispensers. The department also conducts random undercover inspections using specially designed vehicles that can check the accuracy of the dispensers. The department issues correction required notices to stations with pumps found to be inaccurate. [16] Most other US states conduct similar inspections. In Canada, inspections are regularly conducted by the federal government agency Measurement Canada. Inspection dates and test results are required, by law, to be displayed to consumers on a sticker on gasoline pumps. Under the 2011 Fairness at the Pumps Act, a vendor with a modified or poorly maintained dispenser can be fined up to $50,000. However, virtually all pumps that fail inspection in Canada do so for general calibration errors caused by use over time. Intentional modification for the purpose of deceiving consumers is extremely rare, as are prosecutions. [17]
Hydrogen fuel dispensers [18] in use on hydrogen stations dispense by the kilogram. [19] In the US, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) specifies in Handbook 44 that the tolerance of the measurements is to be 2.0%. [20] Worldwide regulations are discussed under OIML R 139 (compressed hydrogen). [21]
Hydrogen pumps may be regulated under terms drawn from an industry technical standard, SAE J2601. [22]
Technology for communicating with gasoline pumps from a point of sale or other controller varies widely, involving a variety of hardware (RS-485, RS-422, current loop, and others) and proprietary software protocols. In the past, this gave pump manufacturers vendor lock-in for their own point-of-sale systems, since only they understood the protocols. [23]
An effort to standardize in the 1990s resulted in the International Forecourt Standards Forum, which has had considerable success in Europe, but less elsewhere.
By October 2017, all US gasoline pumps with credit card readers had to support EMV payment. A year before this rule came into force, a third of 750,000 pumps needed upgrading at a cost of $6,000 to $17,000 each [24] plus the cost of new EPOS hardware and software. With some software not expected to be ready, some fleet cards not having chip technology available in time, not enough technicians for the installations, and many businesses unable to afford the upgrade, it was predicted the conversion would take until 2021. [25]
The shut-off valve was invented in Olean, New York, in 1939 by Richard C. Corson. At a loading dock at the Socony-Vacuum Oil Company, Corson observed a worker filling a barrel with gasoline and thought it inefficient. The sound of a toilet flushing later gave him the idea for a "butterfly float." After developing a prototype with his assistant, Paul Wenke, Corson gave the suggestion to the company who later filed for a patent in his name. The initial intent of the device was to "allow a person to fill more than one barrel [of gasoline] at the same time." [26] This mechanism eventually developed into the modern gasoline pump cut-off valve. [27]
Most modern pumps have an automatic cut-off feature that stops the flow when the tank is full. This is done with an auxiliary sensing tube running from just inside the mouth of the nozzle to a Venturi pump in the pump handle. A mechanical valve in the pump handle detects a change of pressure and closes, preventing the flow of fuel. [28] [29]
A modern fuel pump will often contain control equipment for the vapor recovery system, which prevents gasoline vapor from escaping to the air. In the UK, for example, any new forecourt with a predicted throughput in excess of 500 m3 per month is required to have active vapor recovery installed.
Since gasoline pumps are the focal point of distributing fuel to the general public, and fuel is a hazardous substance, they are subject to stringent requirements regarding safety, accuracy and security. The exact details differ between jurisdictions and can depend to some extent on politics.
For example, in countries fighting corruption, such as Mexico, [30] gasoline pumps may be more stringently monitored by government officials, to detect attempts to defraud customers.
Typically, individual pumps must be certified for operation after installation by a weights and measures inspector, who tests that the pump displays the same amount that it dispenses.
In Taiwan, continuous fuel flow is not allowed for self service pumps; the driver must grip the nozzle until the desired amount of fuel has been delivered or until the shutoff switch is triggered. This is also the case in Australia and the UK. [31] [ citation needed ]
Liquid hydrogen (H2(l)) is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecular H2 form.
A filling station is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline and diesel fuel.
Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a result of compression of the inlet air and then injection of fuel. Therefore, diesel fuel needs good compression ignition characteristics.
RP-1 (alternatively, Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as rocket fuel. RP-1 provides a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen (H2), but is cheaper, is stable at room temperature, and presents a lower explosion hazard. RP-1 is far denser than H2, giving it a higher energy density (though its specific energy is lower). RP-1 also has a fraction of the toxicity and carcinogenic hazards of hydrazine, another room-temperature liquid fuel.
Aviation fuels are petroleum-based fuels, or petroleum and synthetic fuel blends, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground use, such as heating and road transport, and contain additives to enhance or maintain properties important to fuel performance or handling. They are kerosene-based for gas turbine-powered aircraft. Piston-engined aircraft use leaded gasoline and those with diesel engines may use jet fuel (kerosene). By 2012, all aircraft operated by the U.S. Air Force had been certified to use a 50-50 blend of kerosene and synthetic fuel derived from coal or natural gas as a way of stabilizing the cost of fuel.
Liquid fuels are combustible or energy-generating molecules that can be harnessed to create mechanical energy, usually producing kinetic energy; they also must take the shape of their container. It is the fumes of liquid fuels that are flammable instead of the fluid. Most liquid fuels in widespread use are derived from fossil fuels; however, there are several types, such as hydrogen fuel, ethanol, and biodiesel, which are also categorized as a liquid fuel. Many liquid fuels play a primary role in transportation and the economy.
A Natural Gas Vehicle (NGV) utilizes compressed natural gas (CNG) or liquefied natural gas (LNG) as an alternative fuel source. Distinguished from autogas vehicles fueled by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), NGV's rely on methane combustion, resulting in cleaner emissions due to the removal of contaminants from the natural gas source.
A fuel tank is a safe container for flammable fluids, often gasoline or diesel fuel. Though any storage tank for fuel may be so called, the term is typically applied to part of an engine system in which the fuel is stored and propelled or released into an engine. Fuel tanks range in size and complexity from the small plastic tank of a butane lighter to the multi-chambered cryogenic Space Shuttle external tank.
This is a glossary of firefighting equipment.
Autogas or LPG is liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used as a fuel in internal combustion engines in vehicles as well as in stationary applications such as generators. It is a mixture of propane and butane.
A tank truck, gas truck, fuel truck, or tanker truck or tanker is a motor vehicle designed to carry liquids or gases on roads. The largest such vehicles are similar to railroad tank cars, which are also designed to carry liquid loads. Many variants exist due to the wide variety of liquids that can be transported. Tank trucks tend to be large; they may be insulated or non-insulated; pressurized or non-pressurized; and designed for single or multiple loads. Some are semi-trailer trucks. They are difficult to drive and highly susceptible to rollover due to their high center of gravity, and potentially the free surface effect of liquids sloshing in a partially filled tank.
Vaporrecovery is the process of collecting the vapors of gasoline and other fuels, so that they do not escape into the atmosphere. This is often done at filling stations, to reduce noxious and potentially explosive fumes and pollution.
Sylvanus Freelove Bowser was an American inventor who is widely credited with inventing the automobile fuel pump. Bowser Avenue in his hometown of Fort Wayne, Indiana is named after him.
Oxy-fuel welding and oxy-fuel cutting are processes that use fuel gases and oxygen to weld or cut metals. French engineers Edmond Fouché and Charles Picard became the first to develop oxygen-acetylene welding in 1903. Pure oxygen, instead of air, is used to increase the flame temperature to allow localized melting of the workpiece material in a room environment.
The M970 Semi-Trailer Refueler is a 5,000-U.S.-gallon fuel dispensing tanker designed for under/overwing refueling of aircraft. It is equipped with a filter/separator, recirculation system and two refueling systems, one for underwing and one for overwing servicing. The tanker is designed to be towed by a 5-ton, 6x6 truck tractor or similar vehicle equipped with a fifth wheel. The M970 can be loaded through the bottom or through the top fill openings. A ladder is provided at the front of the semitrailer for access to the top manhole, and a 4-cylinder diesel engine and pump assembly provides self load/unload capability. The body of the refueler is a 5,000-U.S.-gallon, single compartment, stainless steel tank. The chassis is of welded steel construction and is equipped with full floating tandem axles and a manually operated landing gear. There has been talk of retiring the M970, but a suitable off-road replacement has not been found. The Marine Corps also uses R-9 and R-10 tankers, but they are not capable of off road use. The M970 is a part of the "United States Marine Corps Maintenance Center - Albany, Georgia, USA - An Integrated Enterprise Scheduling Case Study" which is working to upgrade the Semitrailer for future use.
Bi-fuel vehicles are vehicles with multifuel engines capable of running on two fuels. The two fuels are stored in separate tanks and the engine runs on one fuel at a time. On internal combustion engines, a bi-fuel engine typically burns gasoline and a volatile alternate fuel such as natural gas (CNG), LPG, or hydrogen. Bi-fuel vehicles switch between gasoline and the other fuel, manually or automatically. A related concept is the dual-fuel vehicle which must burn both fuels in combination. Diesel engines converted to use gaseous fuels fall into this class due to the different ignition system.
The M1 and M1A1 were portable flamethrowers developed by the United States during World War II. The M1 weighed 72 lb, had a range of 15 meters, and had a fuel tank capacity of five gallons. The improved M1A1 weighed less, at 65 lb, had a much longer range of 45 meters, had the same fuel tank capacity, and fired thickened fuel (napalm).
An internal combustion engine is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high-pressure gases produced by combustion applies direct force to some component of the engine. The force is typically applied to pistons, turbine blades, a rotor, or a nozzle. This force moves the component over a distance. This process transforms chemical energy into kinetic energy which is used to propel, move or power whatever the engine is attached to.
A fuel container is a container such as a steel can, bottle, drum, etc. for transporting, storing, and dispensing various fuels.
But one doesn't have to be an Australian to enter the Australian lexicon — take bowser 'petrol pump' (in Australia), which is named after a company established by U.S. inventor and entrepreneur S.F. Bowser.
Gas pumps provide drivers with an easy way to put gasoline in their cars. This gas pump, made by Gilbert and Barker Manufacturing Company, dates from about 1915. Gilbert and Barker introduced the first measuring gas pump in 1911. Customers, however, could not see the gasoline. They had to rely on the pump's accuracy and the gas station owner's honesty.
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