The Huge Checkered Top Tanks
Re: The Huge Checkered Top Tanks
Posted by: Lance Grey ()
Date: March 22, 2013 03:16AM

Somene Recently spotted & Posted a link to Goose Island in the FC Facebook Group featuring Two, count 'em, Two Gasometers.



um. er.. There's a deflated tank to the right of the top one.-- Make that THREE in one shot.
Link to source / page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tedkoston/3839144520/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2013 03:18AM by Lance Grey.

Re: The Huge Checkered Top Tanks
Posted by: Jeff_Weiner ()
Date: March 22, 2013 12:32PM

Make that 5: look closely at the tank in the lower part of the picture. You'll see two smaller, open-frame gas holders. There's another link to an aerial view of the Elston-Division site above, with a clearer view. The tanks are long-gone there, but Peoples Energy still uses it. Oh, and the other view shows two low tanks just south of the smaller gas holders, which were probably coal tar tanks, since there was a gas-producing plant there in ealier years.

Re: The Huge Checkered Top Tanks
Posted by: Jeff_Weiner ()
Date: March 22, 2013 04:44PM

Oh, and a couple of other points: the tanks at the top of the picture were on the property that now sports a Home Depot. Also, off-camera and to the east was the big tank I mentioned earlier adjacent to the Ogden Avenue Viaduct.

These tanks must have been all over the place!

Re: The Huge Checkered Top Tanks
Posted by: 222psm ()
Date: March 23, 2013 11:44AM

b.a.hoarder Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Jeff, go to www.historicaerials.com and enter 73rd
> & Lawndale, Chicago, IL. The tank shows in the '38
> air survey, but the next done in '51 only shows a
> circle where the tank stood. You can zoom in for a
> good look. A later survey shows the spot paved
> over.
> After the '43 incident Peoples Gas probably
> realized that the holders would be obsolete and
> there was no need to rebuild. That, or the thought
> of rebuilding a 500 foot tall bomb on an approach
> to Municipal Field scared them off.


Thanks b.a. I had wondered that myself, I was going to check on it but you beat me to it!

Re: The Huge Checkered Top Tanks
Posted by: Jeff_Weiner ()
Date: April 03, 2013 10:23PM

daveg Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks for the explanation Captain54. I recall
> those tanks and assumed that the checkered pattern
> was an aircraft beacon of some sort.
>
> BTW, were these the tanks that moved up and down
> or am I thinking about something else?


The open framework gas holders worked in a similar way, with the gas bell (movable part) floating in a pit of water to act as a seal. The large checkered top tanks had a piston that used oil to maintain a gas seal. In both cases, the gas would displace the bell or piston when going in, and lower them when going out.

Re: The Huge Checkered Top Tanks
Posted by: Jeff_Weiner ()
Date: May 15, 2013 11:38PM

Probably the last word on this subject, Peoples Energy got back to me about any plans they might have of these old tanks. Answer was they're all gone. Drat! :-(

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