[TheForge] heavy metal math/c frame press

[James Binnion]

One night submerged off the coast of New England about 20 years ago 
one bolt out of four on the valve body that was the 3000# hydraulic 
supply isolation for the fairwater planes (on the sail) of a brand 
new submarine decided to crack. This resulted in a very tiny leak. 
The valve was located in the control room, in a fraction of a second 
the whole room was so full of oil fog that you could not see across 
the room. This system had three 100 hp pumps and three 3000# 
accumulators each one about 50 gallons, it could move a lot of oil. 
In a matter of seconds we had close to 50 gallons of oil in the 
control room.  We were very lucky that there was no spark or hot 
surface to ignite the oil. We were also very lucky that we did not 
lose depth control of the boat as we lost use of the fairwater planes 
when the leak was isolated.  What is truly amazing is how much oil 
came out of an opening only a couple thousandths across in such a 
short amount of time. So even on a moderate pressure system like 
3000# you can atomize a lot of oil in short order and in the presence 
of open flame or hot metal you will have a fire and or explosion. And 
even with new equipment you can have a failure that will cause a 
leak. So be careful with your designs and keep up on your maintenance.
-- 
Jim Binnion