Using a brand name as a verb is what you do when you "Xerox" a document, use a "Kleenex" to tissue your nose, have a "Coke" when you enjoy a soda or, as I discuss in this article, when you "Butterworth" a tank.
What exactly is "Butterworthing" a tank? "Butterworthing" is a term that comes from the global marine industry, dating back to the 1920s, and began as a description of a way to clean tanks on board ships and barges: spraying a cleaning medium onto a tank surface via manual or automated methods. This is achieved by accessing tanks through what is called a "Butterworth cover" or "Butterworth hatch."
"Butterworthing" is one of several defined methods for cleaning tanks and vessels within the maritime and industrial worlds. "Butterworthing," injection tank cleaning, recirculation cleaning, rinsing and venting/mopping/drying are all similar but vary slightly when it comes to safety, personnel and equipment requirements. Tank cleaning may be required for many reasons: to carry clean ballast water, gas-free a vessel for inspections or repair, prevent cross-contamination between different product loads, remove sludge/sediment/scale, or satisfy certain port regulations for incoming ships and vessels.
"Butterworthing" means workers no longer have to enter the dangerous confines of a tank to manually clean the interior surfaces. A portable or fixed-in-place rotary tank cleaning machine can now do the job as workers are safely outside the tank.
For rotary tank cleaning machines, there are two classes of technology: high-pressure/ low-volume (like a pressure-washer) and low-pressure/high-volume impingement cleaners. "Butterworthing" is generally done with the low-pressure/high-volume impingement devices due to the far reach of their jets, allowing for personnel to remain outside the tank.
Although there are many manufacturers of different technologies, tank cleaning machines, their water supply and even the washing method are commonly described by the term "Butterworth." Some companies even use other (non-Butterworth) brands to "Butterworth" a tank.
Referred to in several pieces of maritime literature, manuals, publications and methodologies, the term actually comes from the name of the man who patented the very first automated tank cleaning machine in 1920. Arthur Butterworth, after starting the Butterworth company in 1925 to market his new technology and service, was a man whose name literally became synonymous with tank cleaning on oceangoing tankers, so much so that his company namesake still operates today as a leading supplier of tank cleaning equipment and technologies around the globe.
Company lore cites the inspiration for the original device as an early 20th-century firefighting nozzle known as the Bonner Distributor, employed by the New York City Fire Department to fight tenement fires. One of the original Bonner Distributor devices can still be seen on display today at the New York City Fire Museum.
Since the inception of the technology, and as tank cleaning equipment has evolved to meet the needs of more industries beyond the maritime world, the term "Butterworthing" has expanded from a "marine" term to encompass land-based industrial and environmental services as well. Nowadays, whether it is an underground storage tank under your local gas station parking lot, a tank farm with differently sized and shaped tanks, process or production tanks in any industry, a fermentation vessel, reactor, tanker truck, railcar, or the original use for tanks onboard oceangoing vessels, the term "Butterworthing" a tank covers them all -- plus many more not mentioned here.
For more information, visit www. butterworth.com, call (866) 920-3233 or email info@butterworth.com.
