February 2021 Vol. 76 No. 2

Features

75th Anniversary Timeline

75th Anniversary

1951 

International Harvester (Chicago) and Superior Equipment (Bucyrus, Ohio) used pipebooms to slide 800-foot sections of 22-inch pipe on project bringing Canadian oil to market through the swamps of Minnesota 

 

1952 

With the shortage of steel pipe, due to a high volume of projects, exacerbated by the Korean War, the Petroleum Administration for Defense set up an allocation system, with first priority given to oil, then natural gas 

 

1953 

M.J. Crose Manufacturing started producing a pipe bending machine with a vertical, versus horizontal, plane that accommodated larger than 20-inch pipe 

 

1954 

McElroy Manufacturing Inc. founded in Tulsa, Okla. 

A Transco loop program marked the first use of 36-inch pipe in long-distance transmission 

With the passing of his father, Oliver C. Klinger, Jr. became publisher of Pipeliner magazine 

 

1955 

New pipe coatings, using hydrocarbon polymers, improved performance in the underground environment and advancements in application boosted production and laying pipe. 

Introducing ditching equipment that could be operated by one person, Ditch Witch Power was equipped with a patented “endless conveyor digging chain” 

 

1956 

Pipeliner was renamed Pipeline Construction magazine 

M.J. Crose Manufacturing introduced the first pipeline ditch-filling and pipe-padder machine for pipelines 

 

1957 

Jim Cummings invented the dragline ditch padder attachment 

Case Construction Equipment produced the first fully integrated backhoe loader 

Representatives of 17 major American and European oil companies planned a 1,500-mile crude pipeline, from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean via Iraq and Turkey 

A unique river crossing project in Philadelphia, involving 13 product lines in one trench, was completed for Gulf Oil Co. 

First sea-going lay barge designed specifically for offshore work in the Gulf of Mexico was commissioned by Marine Gathering Co. 

Texas Eastern Transmission established a record-breaking (offshore) cut on a 30-inch main line across the Rio Grande to Mexico’s gas fields 

Williams Bros. built the largest all-welded (onshore) pipeline: two, 55-inch, 13-mile lines transmitting coke-oven gas into a Penn. steel mill 

 

1958 

Southern Natural Gas announced plans for a $110-million gas main expansion – its largest ever 

Contractors completed the first interstate ethylene pipeline, extending from Lake Charles, La., to Orange, Texas 

The 2,240-mile Trans-Canada natural gas line, from Alberta to Montreal, was completed after three years, the world’s longest to date 

Westcoast transmission line brough the first gas into British Columbia and the Pacific northwestern states 

 

1959 

Harbert Construction’s 2,600-mile pipeline from McAllen, Texas, to Cutler, Fla., was Florida’s first gas line and the longest system under construction in the world 

A Transco project established two records: first dual crossing of a major river (the Hudson) using up to 24-inche pipe, and completed the 4,200-foot job in less than one week 

• By year-end, 14,000 miles of crude oil pipeline was constructed, 1 million miles of natural gas distribution pipelines were installed, versus just over 25,000 miles during 1940s
• Construction plans in the U.S. and Canada totaled $2.2 billion

From Archive