There were numerous gas towers built across the U.S. during the
mid-1950's. Two sister towers built by the same firm were in Brooklyn, NY,
until they were demolished a few years ago by the same firm that brought
this one down. I've been told there were a number of these towers
scattered across Europe also. The primary reason for the tower was the
enormous gas demand by Continental Steel, a large steel mill that went
bankrupt here during the mid-1980's (that's another long and sordid tale,
especially about the pension fund that vaporized). Their open hearths and
furnaces could demand more natural gas for short periods than the main gas
pipelines could supply. The tower provided capacity to handle peak
demands, but is no longer needed and hasn't been for about 20 years.
At one time, there were a number of companies here that used huge
quantities of natural gas for furnaces. Continental Steel was one of
them. Pittsburg Plate and Glass was another until it mysteriously burned
down long ago. Kokomo Opalescent Glass, still in operation and the subject
of my photography project late this Summer, also uses quite a bit of
natural gas. Many of these companies established factories here when a
natural gas pocket was discovered during the late-1800's. Its size was
over-estimated and the local gas didn't last long. After that, it had to
be piped in. There are other, larger natural gas pockets across central
Indiana.
They stored natural gas in gaseous state and the tower is a "variable
volume" design. There was a large circular and slightly domed plate that
rode up and down inside the tower on bearings as the volume of gas storage
changed. The tower was smooth on the inside and seals around the edge of
the plate. To provide a regulated pressure on the the gass, the plate was
weighted down by thousands of concrete blocks. Those blocks had to be
removed before the rest of the tower was brought down.
Not seen in the photographs are Kokomo Gas and Fuel's offices right next to
the tower on its south side. The small cylindrical tube on the exterior
was the elevator used to access the top of the tower. The only structural
damage during the demolition was from this elevator. Even though
additional cables tied it to the tower to it ensure it collapsed with the
tower wall, the bottom one broke and the lower section of the elevator tube
clipped a corner of the building damaging the corner of the roof
slightly. That was repaired in a couple of days. The concussion from the
collapse (the air inside the tower had to go somewhere in a hurry) also
took down some power lines running within about 20 feet of the tower. This
was an event Indiana Power and Light had anticipated would very likely
occur. They had trucks on scene waiting and that was restored by
mid-day. It's quite amazing that debris from the tower never touched the
lines or the poles.
Thanks,
-- John
At 09:17 PM 10/5/03, Siddiq wrote:
Nice... how was the NG stored inside? was the tower airtight or were there
smaller stacked tanks or a flexible bladder or ???
--
/S
aim:iddibhai
icq:104079359
msidd004atstudentdotucrdotedu
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