NEXT
GENERATION
Cindy Trahan,
FlexSteel, USA,
discusses significant
steps in the evolution
of steel pipelines and
presents the latest
developments.
P
ipelines have been in existence globally for thousands of years. Even before
the Roman aqueducts, hollow bamboo pipes were used in ancient China to
convey water. As early as 400 BC, the Chinese used bamboo pipe to transmit
natural gas to light the capital city of Peking.
1
Centuries later, in 1815, the first
welded steel pipeline was built from old musket barrels; this pipe system was used to provide
coal lamp oil throughout the city of London. The success of this pipeline created a demand for
long metal tubes, the precursors to our modern day stick pipe.
2
Some 50 years later, Samuel Van Syckel revolutionised the way that oil was moved from wellheads to refineries
when he created the first oil pipeline in Pennsylvania, USA.
3
Pipeline construction was spurred on by the extremely
high wages that the teamsters charged to haul wagonloads of oil barrels to the point of sale. The need to transport
natural gas and oil over greater distances prompted the development of high strength steel pipes. The introduction of
welded pipe joints in the 1920s led to more leak-proof pipelines that could contain greater pressure.
Figure 1.
Flexsteel’s pipe was
hand placed in an
environmentally
protected wildlife refuge
in the northeastern US;
the company had to wrap
tree trunks with padding
and pull the pipe manually
to keep from scarring
a single tree.
THE
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