TRIANGULAR FUEL NOZZLE

PUMPING GAS Here's a great idea for every company involved with fuel distribution or forecourt retailing and the concept came to me and JR in 2003, after he told me the story about filling his wife's diesel car with petrol and the subsequent cost and inconvenience in getting it towed-away and repaired. Similar engine failure would arise by putting diesel in a petrol driven car although, on modern cars, the nozzle is unlikely to fit into the filler spout.

FUEL OUTLETS Why can't fuel retailers fit a triangular nozzle on all pumps serving diesel fuel that would only fit a triangular fuel filler spout on a diesel vehicle? All fuel pumps supplying diesel could easily be changed to a triangular nozzle at very little cost to the fuel distributor or retailer. A robust icon on the diesel car's filler-cap and on the body of the diesel pump-handle could both be triangular? Why?, because labels specifying fuel type, either fade, fall-off or suffer damage over time and just how many different words are there that mean "diesel fuel only" in every language?

VEHICLE MANUFACTURE Until the car manufacturers caught on to the idea and only manufactured and fitted triangular spouts to diesel fuel tanks, so no other shape would fit in, in the interim, their distributors could fit an aftermarket "TRICAP" (see below) when the diesel cars came in for maintenance.

And later perhaps, the diesel filler-cap itself could be triangular in shape although there may already be petrol driven cars manufactured with triangular filler caps, so a triangular shaped filler-cap might confuse a customer driving petrol driven vehicles - so that idea needs more investigation.

OIL GIANTS Any Shell and BP oil executives reading this could patent the system and copyright a triangular logo and display that triangular icon in their advertising. The "Diesel Triangle" or "Tri-Diesel" or your "TD" logo could become a Pan-European if not World-Wide "signature" of your fuel distribution. Incidentally, just how many diesel-engine cars have the letters "TD" on the back?

The three corners of your "Tri-Diesel" or "TD" logo could represent the 3 key "ingredients" (or benefits) of your brand of diesel fuel mixture demonstrating to customers why they should choose your diesel above any other brand.

YOU HAVE JUST PICKED UP A RENTAL FROM THE AIRPORT So what fuel do you put in it? I only speak English, what is Gazole? Would it be Gazoline? Or Gas maybe? OK, so what is "Essence" then? Is that diesel? Do you see where I am going with this? I wonder if motoring organisations such as the Automobile Association in the UK or ANWB in the Netherlands keep statistics on vehicle recoveries where the wrong type of fuel was found to be the cause of the breakdown?

CAR RENTALS I bet car rental corporations would be very pleased that their customers are putting in the correct fuel into their cars. They could even commission the fabrication of a triangular plastic insert to fit inside the filler spouts of diesel vehicles in their fleet. I don't know how many vehicles this would involve world-wide and the cost of manufacturing the "TRICAP" ( that's the name I have given to to the triangular plastic insert ) may outweigh the benefits, but it's worth investigating. I'm sure the vehicle rental companies will have all the statistics to prove if such a scheme would be viable or not.

THE TRIANGULAR ICON In a short period of time, the "Diesel Triangle" icon will become instantly recognisable and represent premium quality diesel in ANY country anywhere in the World. Our idea is for an equilateral triangle, perhaps coloured brown or black with a gold border, which would say a lot to customers about your global distribution network when they see your logo everywhere. A green triangle with a gold border might mean an "environmentally-friendly" diesel fuel - but I'll leave that stuff to your marketing departments.

ENGINEERING What about the fluid dynamics involved using a triangular aperture? Get your chemical engineers to investigate. Maybe the barrel of the nozzle will have to rifled to stabilize flow? I don't know, I'm not a chemical engineer.

THE CONCLUSION You could turn this idea on it's head and say, Ok, but let's put a triangular nozzle on all pumps supplying petroleum spirit. Either way, that's your prerogative. Our "triangular nozzle concept" was conceived purely to readily identify fuel type in every country around the world from Austria to Australia without the need for language, a second glance or even a second thought!

ICON A triangle has iconic value and your triangular symbol will be become recognised throughout the World as your brand. It will also help customers (like me) who, every time they go to fill-up, have to stop and think a short while and say, OK, now, do I put in diesel or petrol and, which pump is that? I often catch myself double-checking the fuel I have selected even after I have started the pump and begun filling the tank.

SIMPLE You look at the tank filler, it has a triangle. You look at the pump, it too has a triangle. No words or language are needed. The two triangles go together!

FILLING UP Filling up with fuel, no matter what it is, is not the most wonderful experience in the world, so why not make it a little easier for your customers? Petroleum corporations are always trying to find a market-edge and maybe our invention will be a way forward? Even if vehicle manufacturers can't be convinced initially to fit triangular fuel tank apertures to their diesel driven cars, the triangular fuel pump nozzle still has massive worldwide marketing potential.

So, if our brilliant idea gets your approval, please remember when (on or after 20th October 2006) and where (Domaine La Royale's website) you first read about it and don't forget to reward the guys who invented the concept of the Triangular Fuel Nozzle.

The "conceptors" can be contacted by email here:
or by post to: Domaine La Royale, Villardonnel, 11600, France