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What's so tricky about oil that it took so many attempts to make a pipeline? Other materials were flowing through pipelines for more than a hundred years at th

What's so tricky about oil that it took so many attempts to make a pipeline? Other materials were flowing through pipelines for more than a hundred years at that point.

nfriedly 9y ago
I think part of it is the distance - we've moved stuff through pipes before, but not the distance involved here. Leaky connections add up after a while. Also, you know, it's rather flammable, which always adds some potential excitement.
- ghshephard 9y ago
  The article wrote about the challenge in making pipes two miles long. And the challenges written about in the article about early pipelines were about leaking, never about flammability.
  - nfriedly 9y ago
    True, I amended mine to mention the leaks. The article did mention fires in train cars, and it was at least a potential concern in the pipelines.
dredmorbius 9y ago
I'm sorry, but what major, high-flow, long-distance pipelines are you referring to having existed prior to 1859? I'm not aware of any particularly significant examples. The major exception would be water aqueducts, but these were not generally pipelines. No major city had a long-distance water conduit or sewerage system by that time. London was just building its own sewerage system in 1860, and that comprised vaulted chambers of brick. New York City's Catskills water system wasn't completed until 1915. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/history.shtml http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/history.shtm... What was difficult was that, fundamentally, industrial manufacturing did not exist. Other than a small number of powered looms and ironworks. That's cast and wrought iron. Bessemer steel had only just been patented (1856), but production wasn't scaled up for a number of years (initial attempts to license the method failed when licensees were unable to properly implement it). Industrialisation is a rather significant bootstrapping process. Titusville Pennsylvania was a rural region, on the frontier, without access to viable transportation (that is, rivers or canals). Railroads existed, but with iron rather than steel rail, had limited tonnage capacity and were prone to splits rails.
- Someone 9y ago
  There may be _one_ example: the 40km wooden pipeline transporting brine from Hallstatt to Ebensee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt#Romans_onwards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt#Romans_onwards), starting in 1595. Given that this is downhill (slightly; about 70 meters over 40km), according to Wikipedia, it wouldn't surprise me if this wasn't pressurized, though, and that, I think, is the essential difference between a covered duct and a pipeline.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  China was piping natural gas over long distances in bamboo for many centuries before then. It would have been flowing for over a thousand years by 1859.
  - snewk 9y ago
    that is incredibly interesting. do you have a source for more reading?
    - thaumasiotes 9y ago
      https://www.amazon.com/Genius-China-Science-Discovery-Invention/dp/1594772177/ https://www.amazon.com/Genius-China-Science-Discovery-Invent...
    - dredmorbius 9y ago
      If you want your mind blown on China and technology: Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilisation_in_China https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilisation_in_...
    - dredmorbius 9y ago
      Info on Chinese drilling techniques, though little on pipes. http://csegrecorder.com/articles/view/ancient-chinese-drilling http://csegrecorder.com/articles/view/ancient-chinese-drilli...
  - dredmorbius 9y ago

What's so tricky about oil that it took so many attempts to make a pipeline? Other materials were flowing through pipelines for more than a hundred years at that point.

nfriedly 9y ago

I think part of it is the distance - we've moved stuff through pipes before, but not the distance involved here. Leaky connections add up after a while. Also, you know, it's rather flammable, which always adds some potential excitement.

ghshephard 9y ago
The article wrote about the challenge in making pipes two miles long. And the challenges written about in the article about early pipelines were about leaking, never about flammability.
- nfriedly 9y ago
  True, I amended mine to mention the leaks. The article did mention fires in train cars, and it was at least a potential concern in the pipelines.

dredmorbius 9y ago

I'm sorry, but what major, high-flow, long-distance pipelines are you referring to having existed prior to 1859? I'm not aware of any particularly significant examples. The major exception would be water aqueducts, but these were not generally pipelines. No major city had a long-distance water conduit or sewerage system by that time. London was just building its own sewerage system in 1860, and that comprised vaulted chambers of brick. New York City's Catskills water system wasn't completed until 1915. http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/history.shtml http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/drinking_water/history.shtm... What was difficult was that, fundamentally, industrial manufacturing did not exist. Other than a small number of powered looms and ironworks. That's cast and wrought iron. Bessemer steel had only just been patented (1856), but production wasn't scaled up for a number of years (initial attempts to license the method failed when licensees were unable to properly implement it). Industrialisation is a rather significant bootstrapping process. Titusville Pennsylvania was a rural region, on the frontier, without access to viable transportation (that is, rivers or canals). Railroads existed, but with iron rather than steel rail, had limited tonnage capacity and were prone to splits rails.

Someone 9y ago
There may be _one_ example: the 40km wooden pipeline transporting brine from Hallstatt to Ebensee (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt#Romans_onwards https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallstatt#Romans_onwards), starting in 1595. Given that this is downhill (slightly; about 70 meters over 40km), according to Wikipedia, it wouldn't surprise me if this wasn't pressurized, though, and that, I think, is the essential difference between a covered duct and a pipeline.
thaumasiotes 9y ago
China was piping natural gas over long distances in bamboo for many centuries before then. It would have been flowing for over a thousand years by 1859.
- snewk 9y ago
  that is incredibly interesting. do you have a source for more reading?
  - thaumasiotes 9y ago
    https://www.amazon.com/Genius-China-Science-Discovery-Invention/dp/1594772177/ https://www.amazon.com/Genius-China-Science-Discovery-Invent...
  - dredmorbius 9y ago
    If you want your mind blown on China and technology: Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilisation_in_China https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_and_Civilisation_in_...
  - dredmorbius 9y ago
    Info on Chinese drilling techniques, though little on pipes. http://csegrecorder.com/articles/view/ancient-chinese-drilling http://csegrecorder.com/articles/view/ancient-chinese-drilli...
- dredmorbius 9y ago