Philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” My next two blogs are going to cover how disasters led to the development of certain engineering practices. With the end of March I thought it would be appropriate to remind people of how natural gas came to smell like skunk spray and how professional engineers in Texas came about. This month March 18 marked the 74th anniversary of the New London School Explosion.
Here’s a little history about the New London School explosion for those of you who don’t know. In 1930 oil was discovered in Rusk County Texas which boosted the local economy and allowed for the New London school to be built. At the time the building cost almost 1 million dollars which is about 15.75 million dollars today. Despite the expensively built school, the building itself was built in a manner which would eventually lead to the school explosion. The building was built on a sloping ground with a large dead-air space under the structure. At the time natural gas, which is a colorless and odorless gas difficult to detect, was viewed as a waste product of oil so many people including the New London school tapped into gas lines to get free heating. Eventually a leak developed and caused natural gas to build up in the dead-air space under the structure. On March 18 it is believed that an electric spark from a sander ignited the natural gas and air mixture which caused the explosion. About 640 people were in the building at the time of the explosion but only 130 managed to escape without serious injury. Aid poured in immediately from across the state with Texas Rangers, the highway patrol, The Texas National Guard, doctors, nurses, embalmers, Barksdale Field Airmen, deputy sheriffs, and Boy Scouts helping out in the rescue and recovery effort. Many people offered their condolences to the New London disaster including the German Chancellor at the time, Adolf Hitler.
Following the New London School disaster the Texas Legislature began mandating that thiols, which have a strong odor and are found in skunk spray, be added to natural gas. The practice of using thiols in natural gas eventually became used worldwide. The Texas Legislature also enacted the Texas Engineering Practice Act to regulate Engineering practices. The Texas Engineering Practice Act led to the development of the Texas Board of Professional Engineers which requires Professional Engineers to give their approval on engineering reports, drawings, and other such documents.
So that is how natural gas came to smell like skunk spray and how professional engineers came about in Texas. My next blog will cover the introduction of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers or ASME.
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Ya Boy Archie Wright!
