IIW History 1948-1958

COMMISSION XI

PRESSURE VESSELS, BOILERS AND PIPELINES

W. P. KERKHOF Pays-Bas.

l . CONSTITUTION AND TERMS OF REFERENCE. The hist ory of Commission X I is diffe rent from that of the other Commissions in that it began as a working group of Commission II (Arc vVelding) . Bet ween the Delft a nd P a ris assemblies (1 949 and 1950 respectively) , P rofesso r H. E . J AEGER (Netherlands), Chairman of Commission II, had asked the prese nt Chairma n of Commission X I , Mr. \1\f. P . KERKHOF (Netherlands), t o prepare a report on the internati onal codification of press ure vessels, this matt er b eing t hen on the age nda of the Commission. The report , entitled « P roposals fo r a n International Code on F ired or Unfired P ressure Vessels for the Chemical and Allied Industries, including Boilers » was discussed at the P a ris assembl y in 1950, when it was decided t o set up a working group t o study the possibilities of prep a ring a n international code. The same year, at the first intermedia ry meeting of this working group in Paris, agreement was reached about its t erms of reference. The group thought that under no circumst ances should its work be d irect ed t owards the preparation of a n international code, this task being one fo r which the I SO or a nother inter– national body should be responsible. The working group decided, howeve r , t o undertake a general investigation of all the p roblems raised by the application of welding t o the fa brication of pressure vessels, boilers a nd pipelines in conj unc– tion with the IIW Commissions interest ed in this subj ect. The results of these investigations were t o be published and probably also submitted in the form of recommendations t o the I SO or to the national com– mittees responsible fo r th e codification of pressure vessels and boilers. Any sp ecial questions which mi ght be asked b y I SO were to b e considered and, if possible, answered.