Gasohol

Dave Butler wrote:

Speaking as someone who pumped gas to earn tuition money back in the
early 60s before there was gasahol, we'd 'stick' the tanks daily at
closing time to verify the amount in the tanks. There was always some
water that was evident at the bottom of the stick, but it was never
more than an inch or so.

The only way we knew it to be "evident" was to put the paste on the stick
and note a color change...

I used to pump gas in the 70's, later I serviced the pumps and fuel systems
themselves (80's)...

Sportys used to sell a test kit that contained a chemical that would turn
purple if added to a fuel sample that was gasahol.

I have no idea of what the chemical was. It was a very easy to test the
fuel. They claim that their supplier no longer exists. I bought a bunch of
the kits and have about 1/2 a vial of the chemical left.

I sure would like to know what the reagent is that was used.

Cheers:

Paul
N1431A

What is the color of the unreacted reagent? Water clear? I'll as the chair
of the chem department what it is and maybe buy a gallon or two and sell it
by the vial for only a thousand percent markup {;-)

I'm in training to run a pharmaceutical company

Jim

--
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world.
Those who count in binary and those who don't
"Tri-Pacer" wrote in message
. ..
Sportys used to sell a test kit that contained a chemical that would turn
purple if added to a fuel sample that was gasahol.

I have no idea of what the chemical was. It was a very easy to test the
fuel. They claim that their supplier no longer exists. I bought a bunch of
the kits and have about 1/2 a vial of the chemical left.

I sure would like to know what the reagent is that was used.

Cheers:

Paul
N1431A

On Mon, 4 Jun 2007 16:48:32 -0700, "RST Engineering"
wrote:

What is the color of the unreacted reagent? Water clear? I'll as the chair
of the chem department what it is and maybe buy a gallon or two and sell it
by the vial for only a thousand percent markup {;-)

I'm in training to run a pharmaceutical company

Google "Aquatec test strips"

Don

Aqua (as in "water") Aquatec test strips check for WATER, not alcohol.
Google Alcohol Test Strip and you get a million hits on how to test for
booze on the breath, but not a word about gasahol. Google Gasahol Test
Strip and you come up with nothing usable.

Jim--
There are only 10 kinds of people in the world.
Those who count in binary and those who don't



"Don Tuite" wrote in message
...



Google "Aquatec test strips"

Don

On Mon, 4 Jun 2007 18:15:55 -0700, "RST Engineering"
wrote:

Aqua (as in "water") Aquatec test strips check for WATER, not alcohol.
Google Alcohol Test Strip and you get a million hits on how to test for
booze on the breath, but not a word about gasahol. Google Gasahol Test
Strip and you come up with nothing usable.

Um . . . yeah. I missed the part where the thread morphed from
"sticking" the tanks at the gas station.

Don

The reagent is a light purple color and when it is introduced into a sample
of fuel with alcohol it turns the sample purple. A chart is included to
determine the percentage of alcohol. The kits were put together by a "B.B.
Travis Co." PO Box 287 Lodi CA 95241 and are supposedly Patent Pending.

I haven't found any sign of a BB Travis Company but my searching skills
aren't the best.

I have a small amount of the reagent left and would provide it as a sample
to someone who could analyze it.

Paul Anton
N1431A
KPLU


" What is the color of the unreacted reagent? Water clear? I'll as the
chair
of the chem department what it is and maybe buy a gallon or two and sell
it by the vial for only a thousand percent markup {;-)

I'm in training to run a pharmaceutical company

Jim

"Tri-Pacer" wrote:

The reagent is a light purple color and when it is introduced into a
sample of fuel with alcohol it turns the sample purple. A chart is
included to determine the percentage of alcohol. The kits were put
together by a "B.B. Travis Co." PO Box 287 Lodi CA 95241 and are
supposedly Patent Pending.

I haven't found any sign of a BB Travis Company but my searching
skills aren't the best.

I called the Lodi Post Office, they handle that zip as well, but can't
give any alternate contact info over the phone...

Post Office - Lodi
(209) 369-2351
120 S School ST
Lodi, CA 95240

Looking through the people and not businesses, I find:

B Travis
(209) 366-1559
Lodi, CA 95240

I left a message on the machine...

On Jun 5, 3:13 pm, "Tri-Pacer" wrote:
The reagent is a light purple color and when it is introduced into a sample
of fuel with alcohol it turns the sample purple. A chart is included to
determine the percentage of alcohol. The kits were put together by
a "B.B.TravisCo." PO Box 287 Lodi CA 95241 and are supposedly Patent Pending.

I haven't found any sign of a BBTravis Company but my searching skills
aren't the best.

I sure would like to know what the reagent is that was used.

The reagent appears to be methylrosaniline chloride.

See U.S. Pat. 5,229,295 issued to Basil B. Travis of Lodi, CA.

A colorimetric test for alcohols (any alcohol) comprises
0.1% gentian violet dye in mineral oil suspension which
when shaken with fuel causes the fuel to become purple
when there is at least 1% alcohol present. The purple color
is proportional to the alcohol concentration in the range 1%
to 5% where the percentage of alcohol may be estimated
by the intensity of the purple color.
snip
As it is perhaps well known, gentian violet dye is chemically
methylrosaniline chloride and has been used as both a
bacteriological and histological stain ...

The reagent appears to be methylrosaniline chloride.

See U.S. Pat. 5,229,295 issued to Basil B. Travis of Lodi, CA.

A colorimetric test for alcohols (any alcohol) comprises
0.1% gentian violet dye in mineral oil suspension which
when shaken with fuel causes the fuel to become purple
when there is at least 1% alcohol present. The purple color
is proportional to the alcohol concentration in the range 1%
to 5% where the percentage of alcohol may be estimated
by the intensity of the purple color.
snip
As it is perhaps well known, gentian violet dye is chemically
methylrosaniline chloride and has been used as both a
bacteriological and histological stain ...


Wow we're getting somewhere.

I wonder why he quit packaging it and selling the stuff.

Paul
N1431A
KPLU