April is a month rich in history.  Here are your monthly history lesson compliments of Wells Brothers! Check out these interesting April History facts.

April 1, sometime between 1392 and the 1500s, is the best guess for the start of the April Fool’s Day festivities.

April 3, 1948, President Harry S. Truman signed the European Recovery Program better known as the Marshall Plan. It was intended to stop the spread of Communism and rebuild the economies of Europe devastated by World War II.

April 9, 1866, the Civil Rights Bill of 1866 was passed by Congress granting blacks the rights and privileges of U.S. citizenship despite a veto by President Andrew Johnson.

April 9, 1942, in the Philippines, the Bataan Death March began. American and Filipino prisoners were forced on a six-day, 60 miles march from Bataan to Cabanatuan without food or water.

April 11, 1945, the 6th Armored Division, part of the Third Army liberated The Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald.

April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot while watching a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington. He died April 15 at 7:22 a.m.

April 18, 1775, The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere and William Dawes occurred as the two men rode out of Boston to warn patriots of the approaching British.

April 19, 1775 – Dawn in Massachusetts, about 70 armed militiamen stood at Lexington Green against a British advance guard unit. An unordered ‘shot heard around the world’ began the American Revolution. https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/april-19/

Just because you needed to know….C3H8 is the molecular formula of propane. Here is another…..Did you know Wells Brothers fills propane cylinders and we charge by the gallon? Propane cylinders have a born-on date that is stamped on the cylinder’s collar. They are valid for 12 years or the manufactures recommendations. After that date, they are considered out of date, and by law, we can’t fill that cylinder.

The most common cylinders are called grill bottles or a 20-pound tank. These types of cylinders will hold 4.5 gallons of propane. Propane weighs 4.2 pounds per gallon. This gives us a total propane capacity of 18.9 pounds per cylinder. This information is important since the State of Texas allows a maximum of 90 pounds of propane to be transported in a closed-body vehicle. This means the maximum number of cylinders you can haul in your car, van, suburban, etc. is 4 (18.9 x 4 = 75.6 pounds of propane). Here is some more fine print, once a propane cylinder has been filled, it is considered always full. So folks show up to refill 5, empty, 20-pound cylinders in the trunk of a car. We can’t fill any of them. Why? 4 cylinders are, by law, the maximum number of cylinders that can be transported in a closed-body vehicle and they have 5 to start with.

“Closed-bodied vehicles such as passenger cars, vans, and station wagons must not be used for transporting more than 215 lb. water capacity [90 lb. propane capacity] but not more than 108 lb. water capacity [45 lb. propane capacity] per cylinder unless the driver and engine compartments are separated from the cargo space by a vapor-tight partition that contains no means of access to the cargo space.” NFPA 58,§9.3.2.5(B)

I hope this information will help you in the future and that you consider Wells Brothers the next time you need propane.

It’s time to brush up on your March historical facts! Read a little March history and find significant moments in history that happened in the month of March.

March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy signs executive order #10924 establishing the Peace Corps.

March 3, 1913, in Washington D.C. a Women’s Suffrage March was attacked by onlookers as police stood by.

March 4, 1918, at Camp Funston in central Kansas, the first soldier known to have influenza reported ill. It became known as the Spanish Flu and killed between 50 and 100 million people.

March 6, 1836, the Alamo fell after 13 days of fighting.

March 6, 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed a “Bank Holiday” to stop panic withdrawals and the possible collapse of the American banking system.

March 11, 1941 “We must be the great arsenal of democracy,” President Roosevelt declared and the Lend-Lease Program began. Allowing allies to receive ships, planes, guns, ammunition, machines, raw materials, training and repair services, food, and clothing.

March 26, 1979, The Camp David Accord, fostered by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, was signed thus ending 30 years of warfare between Israel and Egypt.

March 28, 1979, at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the uranium core in the reactor overheated due to the failure of a pump. A pressure relief valve then stuck causing the water level to plummet, threatening a meltdown.

March 31, 1968, as a result of the Vietnam war President Lyndon Johnson made a surprise announcement that he would not seek re-election.