History

Whenever there are hazardous materials being transported by planes, ships, trains, and trucks, safety becomes an issue.   When a train derailment occurs, it usually makes major news partially due to the fact the train consist of many cars.

An example of such one accident happened in 1979 in Mississauga, Ontario when, of the 106 rail cars which made up a train, 24 of those cars derailed.  Twenty-one of the derailed cars were tank cars.  Fire engulfed several of the cars.  Eleven tank cars contained propane and one of them literally rocketed into the air, landing 675 meters or approximately 2,200 feet from the original crash point.  A leaking chlorine tank car sent its contents into the air.

This accident caused the evacuation of some 250,000 people in Canada's then ninth largest city.  From subsequent investigation of the Mississauga accident, it was determined that a "hot box" began the chain of events that led to the accident.

Even though the valve was not found to be at fault, the Honourable Judge Grange's report stated:

"Tank cars which carry compressed gases such as chlorine or propane are equipped with 'safety valves' set to release into the atmosphere any excess gas when the pressure reaches a certain point.  There is no retrofit program under way or contemplated nor has anyone suggested the valves do not satisfactorily perform the task assigned.  To me, however, they do not do the job that I would have expected of them. They are designed apparently to work only in normal or relatively normal conditions.  In a conflagration such as Mississauga they cannot operate to prevent a B.L.E.V.E. (a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion)."

(Report of the Mississauga Railway Accident
 Inquiry, p.98 Dec. 1980)

A 1982 report issued by the Association of American Railroads (AAR) stated:

"The AAR Tank Car Committee has expressed concern regarding these large safety relief valves and petitioned the Department Of Transport for reconsideration of their mandate."

During June 1992, a chemical cloud was sent through the town of Superior, Wisconsin, across Lake Superior and into Duluth, Minnesota.  More than 60,000 people were evacuated.

Following Duluth-Superior accident, Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota began his push for tougher laws in the railroad industry and said that an accident like Duluth "could happen at any time on any track in the United States".

Kelso Technologies became involved in the valve business when an engineer/inventor joined The Company after inventing an entirely different type of pressure relief valve than the one being used today in the railroad industry.  He was originally a Member of one of the committees investigating the Mississauga incident.  Since his valve never met the AAR requirements, Kelso, in 1997, realigned itself with a different inventor/spring/valve manufacturer.

From this new association came the highly successful JS75 SRV.  It's designed to operate on the 75 pound general purpose tank cars containing non-hazardous and hazardous materials such as Gasoline, Benzene, and Xylene.  Using the successful JS75 technology, Kelso is committed to ongoing R&D and adapting its JS SRV technology to meet the requirements of the larger valves used for propane, chlorine, and other similar chemicals.