THE MIRAMAR INSTALLATION AT WORK.

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 30, 5 February 1927, Page 12

THE MIRAMAR INSTALLATION AT WORK.

A'NATIONAL ASSET,

: Comparatively few Wellington people have any idea of the magnitude and

importance of the British Imperial Oil Company's works at Miramar, a vast and complex installation, which has made it possible for the company to organise its remarkably efficient system of bulk.distribution. The works,which were officially opened on January 25, 1926, cover an area of 28 acres; there are 10 acTes of buildings.

Our representative, who visited 'the Miramar works the other day, was impressed with the magnitude and efficiency of the huge plant, the skill of the ■ operatives, and the completeness of the arrangements to safeguard tho staff and make their working conditions as congenial as possible with the handling of • Shell products. Every precaution is. taken against the possibility of'fire. '. Smoking, of course, is very strictly prohibited, and no person, whether worker or visitor, is permitted to carry 1 matches inside the entrance gates... ; .

Staff Welfare.

Consideration of the welfare of th'o staff is one of the outstanding features of the British Imperial Oil Company's organisation at Miramar. Tho a'dininistrativo offices, immediately inside the: entrance fo the works, are housed in a model two-storied fire-proof brick building, occupied by the superintendent engineer: and his assistant engineers and executive staff. Diractly^opposite, across the 50-foot street, which traversed the whole length of the' installation, and which is a model of well-constructed roadway, is a large, airy, well-lighted dining room for the employees. Perfect cleanliness is ;a feature of tins building, which is well furnished, with tables sufficient to accommodate the whole staff at one sitUng. v A complete s-erics of lockers is

provided' to- hold tho personal belongings of- tho men. 1.. A large hot-press, heated by oil-burning apparatus, is fitted for keeping meals hot, and in another department a ■ doublo boiler heater heated by. oil-burners provides hot water for tea making, and also for washing purposes.

There is a flourishing rceication and sports clab at the Miramar installation, end every ■employee is encouraged to take part in' its activities. Tho M-aft' can put into the field strong football nnd cricket teams. A Vast Manufactory. Efficiency in lay-out and operation is the outstanding feature of the numerous departments at the Miramar works. Apart from tba huge quantities of motor spirit and i mineral oils handled in bulk, Miramar y manufactures' the whole of the cans and cases required, and packs them, for distribution to the outlying parts of the Dominion. The tin factory, which has an output

capacity of 12,000 per day, is operated entirely by New Zealand labour, and is equipped with the most up-to-date machinery on a lay-out which makes tor tho greatest efficiency in operation. As far as possible British products are used, and tho whole of the tin-plate supplies are imported from England. Hugo stocks are carried, valued at from £50,000 to £60,000.

Every tin-plate is" closely examined for Tust or other.defects before going to the factory. The plates are first fed into trimming machines and then into hemming machines, which- fold the longest edges, so that every two plates hook up to make the four sides of a <?an. Tho -plate 3. are nest panelled, bent to right angles, and then joined in pairs.ready to .take the tops and bottoms, which are cut to shape and embossed'and have.their edges grooved in one oueration. • Other machines fit

the whole can together, and it then.

passes through a. press which secures the tops and bottoms and inalras all seams water-tight. The tins are then fed on to automatic soldering machines, the invention of. aii officer of the British Imperial Oil Company. After being soldered by theso machines, tho tins aro perfectly petrol tight. Passing tilong a travcrscr, tho bottoms are iluxcd . and soldered, and halfway through the machine the can»is cleverly vavcrsed. and the tops dealt with in tho samo'manner. The side seams aro finished by hand and the handles, which uro cut and bent to shape in machines fed from spools of stout wire, aro soldered on in the same way.' The men who handle the • soldering irons arc "almost incredibly expert and fast at their work. After a lapid but thorough' inspection the .finished cans are

fed on to a conveyor, which carries them to the different filling departments.

Case-making Department.

A huge building houses the case factory. Tho timber is received in "shooks," the end pieces, sides, tops and bottoms all being cut to exact sizes. The stout end pieces arc first put through' an automatic printing press, which stamps each piece with tho brands and lettering, generally in two colours. A battery of machines nearby, manipulated by skilled operators, nails the cases together in four operations, the nails being fed in. an endless stream through guides from a magazine at the' top of tho machine. Gauges enable the cases to be fitted and nailed with the utmost accuracy at the rate of four a minute. A' single piece top is then placed in each case as it is put on the belt conveyor which carries them side by side with the tins to the packing department.

Full Measure Filling.

There are three filling departments at I Miramar, ono for motor spirit in drums, ■ and the others for motor spirit and kerosene in tins. The drums are filled in the open air and .the cans in separate sheds. In tho latter 12 empty tins at a time pass on conveyors to the fillers. The operator manipulates a lever, and the accurately-measured and automati-cally-cheeked quantity flows into the awaiting {ins. When the lever is released the holes are capped, tho cans pass on, and are replaced by another batch. In the kerosene filling shed th-e caps are soldered immediately after the cans are filled, but in the case of motor spirits this operation is done in a separate shed, an additional precautionary measure to eliminate the risk of fire;

Likewise every possible precaution is taken to safeguard, the operatives i the filling departments. Their hands

' are protected by special gloves, and it is interesting to mote that "a soldering flux with crudo oil, as the; base is used instead of acid, an innovation that has very greatly reduced the incidence of burns and other casualties. After being filled and ssaled, tho cans are allowed to stand for varying periods, and are ihen tested for .leakages, all defective tins being rejected and replaced. The soldering irons used in the filling 1 departments arc heated in cil-firad furj naces hoiisnd in a separate shcd_at a I safe'distance, arid arc carried to the I capp'ersby aerial conveyors. The Packing Shed. Having passed the testing process, j the cans, of motor-spirit or kerosene j pass by.conveyors to the packing sheds where the empty cases are-delivered I from tho box-making factory. Each j ease receives its two tins, and the lids j are then nailed on by experts, who used bronze-headed, hammers to avoid the.risß of sparks. £'These men are amazingly fast at their work. The Miramar works, can d-aliver 18,000 full cases in eight hours. Tho loading platforms are built" to tho height of the average motor-lorry tailboard to expedite the handling of cases. There is a special open-air loading station for fill: ing tho big tank 'lorries..

Another interesting featuro of the Miramar installation is the big garage ond repair shop in, which all tho Wellington lorries are repaired-and overhauled. Tho staff tak-a gieat pride in their fleet of lorries, and xegard the mechanical precision and appearance of vehicles in their charge as an advertisement to tha general efficiency and thoroughness of the Shell Company.

,'■ Power for the Miramar installation is -supplied by a powerful oil engine and an electric generator, compressed air being used for: pumping purposes and'also for the atomisation of the oil fuel used in the heating furnaces throughout the works. Huge Storage Tanks. As the whole of the motor spirit, kerosene, and fuel oil handled at Miramar is brought from overseas in bulk cargoes, huge-storage tanks have been installed. Thcro aro eight of these tanks with a total capacity of 26,560 ions, equal'to about 7,000,000 gallons, the largest having a capacity of about 10,000 tons. The tanks and their equipment were installed by New Zealand labour. A wonderful system of control makes it possible to pump from any tank or from one to another. There aro threo lofty distributing tanks into which motor spirit, kerosene, and fuel oil are pumped, and from which the liquids flow by gravity to tho filling stations. The main pipe lines by which the tankers -pump their cargoes from Miramar Wharf to the storage tanks arc li miles in length, that for motor spirit having ait internal diameter of eight inches, and the pipe for kerosene or fuel oil a diameter, of six inches. By arrangement with the Wellington Harbour Boartl^ the new Bum ham Wharf at Miramar, which is - being specially built for the accommodation of tankers, is being-fitted with three complete sets of pipes -for motor-spirit, k-erosene, and fuel oil. ■ In addition, tho British Imperial Oil \ Company is completing tho installation of a large oil-fired water-tube boiler, suitably housed on the reclamation .at the Burnham Wharf, to supply steam to the jankers' pumps so that they will not need to usa their own boilers. This

provides an. additional safeguard and reduces the firo hazard. The establishment of the Miramar installation, to say nothing of those in other parts of New Zealand, represents a larga outlay .of , capital, but the British Imperial Oil Company -was the first to visualise ■ the possibilities of bulk distribution in view of tho evarinereasing demands for. fuel for motor vehicles and other.purposes in the Dominion, and. its foresight and enterprise are being rewarded by the rapid growth of the industry, which means much to New Zealand