Abstract: A mounting arrangement for securing the neck of a compressed gas cylinder to a bulkhead is designed to permit articulation of the cylinder axis relative to the bulkhead without placing undue stress on the cylinder neck. The mounting includes a ball-and-socket-type arrangement in which the bail is provided by a ring formed from a sphere with a cylindricai through-passage, the ring fitting over the cylinder neck, and the socket is provided by a pair of mated flanges with flared inner edges which together contact and capture the spherical curvature of the ring. The flanges are bolted to the bulkhead. An anti-rotation plate is also mounted to the bulkhead over the protruding end of the cylinder neck, permitting the cylinder neck freedom of motion in two orthogonal directions but not rotation.

Abstract: Lightweight compressed gas cylinders are incorporated into a module which contains manifolding and which is designed for easy loading, unloading and transport on a flat-bed truck or other vehicle, particularly a roll-on roll-off transport truck, which is a specialized truck for mechanized handling of large containers. The module eliminates the need to retain the vehicle itself at the site of use. While a variety of cylinders of composite construction to achieve light weight can be used, certain novel composite cylinders whcih are particularly useful are also disclosed. These cylinders have a lightweight metallic liner or core cylinder wrapped with three layers of wound fiber. The inner and outer layers are axially-wound glass fiber and the intermediate layer is hoop-wound carbon fiber.