SJ Bill & Supersleuth Talk About Those Gas Tanks Along The Trenton Freeway

SJ Bill & Supersleuth Talk About Those Gas Tanks Along The
Trenton Freeway

SJBill said...
There was a bigtime gas conversion back in the 1950s where every
gas appliance in Trenton was changed from Coal Gas(aka illuminating
gas) to Natural Gas. Every gas range and water heater had to
receive smaller diameter orifices to run without having a two
foot tall flame. This included all Bunsen burners in every
science class. Coal gas was a pretty heavy gas, where methane,
or natural gas, is a very light molecule.
Where did the Coal Gas come from?
First, coal was barged into Trenton's Coalport district in
North Trenton via the Delaware and Raritan Canals from
Pennsylvania.
There was a Gas House on the site where the tanks were where
coal was roasted to yield industrial cole and coal gas. (You
were taught the coking process back in school, right?) The
industrial coke was used by the area potteries, factories and
in many of the early bakeries and tomato pie ovens.
The gas that was liberated from coking or roasting was stored
in the big metal tanks. The coking ovens, gas house and huge
tanks.
Complete roasting of coal left lots of ash, and that was made
into cinder blocks by a factory nearby on New York Avenue.
That's the stuff they taught in my Burg schools!

supersleuth said...
Those were not oil tanks off the Trenton Freeway, they were
natural gas. The structure is pretty amazing because most
of it was underground.
As the tank filled with natural gas the "cylinder part" that
was down in the ground would rise within that framework. There
were two or three of them and you could see them from my
bedroom window over by Helene Fuld Hospital. They never bothered
me all the kids thought they were cool till' my brother in law
who worked for PSE&G told us that if they ever blew, they would
take out half of North Trenton. They were down below Ott's
Pharmacy and Trenton Pipe and Nipple and man we would giggle
when we saw that sign.