November 2013 • 25
When Failure Is Not An Option
Dennis K. Burke values reliability in fuel pumps
By Kent Crawford, Blackmer
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following case study was contributed to
Oil & Energy
by Blackmer.
Fleet Equipment
KNOWING WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT TED
Burke today, if you were growing up with
him he just might have been one of those
kids who was game for anything. Eat that
bug? Sure. Jump out of that tree? OK. Put
a tack on the teacher’s chair? Sounds like
fun.
Burke has brought that same let’s-
give-it-a-try mentality to his current role
as President of Dennis K. Burke, Inc., a
52-year-old company headquartered in
Chelsea, MA, that was founded by his Uncle
Dennis and run for many years by him and
Ted’s father, Ed Burke. Except now, the
questions are a little bit different: Operate
a multi-state fuel oil, gasoline and lubri-
cants distributorship? Of course. Become
a trend-setting supplier of biodiesel to the
Northeast? It’s worth a shot. Jump on the
Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) bandwagon as
one of the first suppliers in the region? You
can’t win if you don’t play.
It seems that a “let’s take a shot” attitude
is embedded deep within the DNA of the
Burke family tree. Uncle Dennis actually
started his eponymous company in 1961
as a provider of steam-cleaning services for
the inside of meat trailers. Even when the
company branched out into the delivery of
heating oil, it didn’t follow the traditional
path of supplying a customer base that
consisted mostly of residences but chose to
concentrate instead on municipal and com-
mercial/industrial end-users.
“We started off as a local company sup-
plying diesel fuel for emergency response in
high-service areas, companies that needed
rapid response time for their require-
ments,” explained Burke. “Since then,
we’ve grown to operate in all of the New
England states, plus New York, and as far
south as Maryland. We own our own fleet
of trucks and we’re a little different than
traditional fuel and gas companies in that
we don’t deliver heating oil to homes and
don’t supply gasoline to gas stations. We
really specialize in end-users, commercial/
industrial and municipal accounts that we
supply with diesel fuel.”
A LONG-STANDING RELATIONSHIP
While Dennis K. Burke has an impres-
sive line of diverse products offered
– including antifreeze, hydraulic oils and
automatic transmission fluids – Ted Burke
is a one-pump man, and that pump is a
Blackmer
®
TXD Series Sliding Vane Pump,
which Dennis K. Burke has been using for
many years.
Today, whenever Ted Burke needs
new pumps he reaches out to Mike Trask,
President of Hall Trask Equipment Co.,
Braintree, MA. Hall Trask acquired its
current name in 1995 when it purchased
Hall Equipment Co., but Trask Equipment
had been a recognized supplier of pumps,
meters, valves and tank equipment in
New England since the 1930’s, when it
was founded by Mike Trask’s grandfather.
His father subsequently ran the business
for many years, with Mike and his brothers,
Billy and Paul, now in charge.
Hall Trask has also had a longstanding
relationship with Blackmer. “Blackmer has
been a long-time manufacturer-supplier of
pumps for us, long before Hall Trask came
into being in 1995,” said Trask. “When we
bought Hall Equipment, we asked Blackmer
if they could keep us on as a preferred sup-
plier of Blackmer products and we’re glad
they accepted us. We now have more than
40 years overall as a Blackmer supplier.”
All parties involved choose TXD pumps
because they are designed for use in truck-
mounted applications for the delivery
and transfer of a wide array of petroleum
products. They feature Blackmer’s unique
sliding vane design that self-adjusts for
wear and maintains desired flow rates,
while providing self-priming and dry-run
capabilities. The mechanical seal and ball-
bearing construction ensure reliability,
while the symmetrical bearing support pro-
motes even loading and wear. Maintenance
is easy, as any worn vanes or rods can be
replaced without needing to remove the
pump from the vehicle.
NO ROOM FOR COMPROMISE
The four-decade relationship between
Dennis K. Burke, Hall Trask Equipment and
Blackmer has been fruitful for everyone.
It’s hard to walk through the Dennis K.
Burke facility and truck yard and not see a
Blackmer TXD pump, whether in 2-, 2.5- or
3-inch sizes, on most of the company’s
75-strong fleet of rolling stock, or in any
number of stationary applications. And if a
TXD pump isn’t being used now, odds are it
soon will be.
“We choose to go with Blackmer
because they have had a lot of success in
fuel-transport applications. We only have
Continued …
Blackmer
®
TXD Series
Sliding Vane Pump
Following in the innovative footsteps of his Uncle Dennis and father, Ed, Ted Burke continues
to make Dennis K. Burke, Inc., a highly diversified petroleum-product delivery company.
