Safety Device "AA" for Samovar-Type Water Heaters: Documents of 1964–1968 and an Analysis of the Technical Solution

This deposit is devoted to the “AA” safety device for samovar-type water heaters, developed by Abutalib Mir Aga oglu (in Soviet official records, Miragayevich) Abdullayev, Candidate of Technical Sciences and Head of Glavgaz (the Main Gas Directorate) of the Ministry of Municipal Services (MMS) of the Azerbaijan SSR. The name “AA” comes from the author’s initials. The device was created in the early 1960s, when in Baku and other districts of the republic samovar-type water heaters were operated without protective automatics, which violated safety regulations and led to accidents, including fatal ones. By Order No. 721 of the Minister of Municipal Services of the Azerbaijan SSR dated 6 October 1964, the device was introduced into the republic’s gas sector. In 1965 Glavgaz issued a technical instruction in a print run of 1,000 copies. In 1968 the device was entered among Glavgaz’s exhibits for the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh) of the USSR. Together with the “Azerbaijan”-type gas pressure regulator, it was awarded a silver medal of VDNKh of the USSR (see the separate deposit on the regulator). The materials make it possible to reconstruct from documents the purpose of the device, its design and operating principle, the procedure for its introduction and serial manufacture, and the context of its presentation at the all-Union exhibition. They include the 1965 technical instruction (State Archive of the Azerbaijan Republic, f. 3084, inv. 4, No. 47), Order No. 721 (from A. M. Abdullayev’s personal archive), an excerpt from the 1968 list of candidates for VDNKh of the USSR, and an excerpt from Glavgaz’s report to the VDNKh awards department. Archival documents are given as transcriptions; the assessment of novelty and the comparison with analogues are analytical in nature and are not the result of an expert examination. This publication, alongside The "Azerbaijan" Direct-Acting Gas Pressure Regulator provides an example of the innovative and rationalization work of Azerbaijani engineers during the Soviet period. They all complement and document the monograph: A. Alizade, Gasification and Operation of Gas Economy in Azerbaijan (1955—1970) (Zenodo, 2025).