The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-06-15 00:00:00

THE Bo ILER LXPLOSION AT
lALESOWEN.

The adjourned er qniry touching the death of Arthur
Jones (17), stoker, i etio was killed on the 17th ult., by
the explosion of a boiler at the works of Mr. Charles
,Siviter, gun barrel manufacturer, Halesowen, was re-
sealed on Saturday afternoon last, before Mr. H.
Docker, distract corm ier, at the New Inn, Halesowen.—
Mr. T. Homer, sol icitor, Urierlsy Hill, appeared to
watch the case on bet all of Mr. B:viten—The Coroner
said he did not conga ler it was necessary to read over
the depositions of sevei at witnesses who were examined
at the former enquiry. —The first called was William
Price, gun roller, who s aid that when the explosien took
place he was sitong up al a await facing the boiler. He was
blown into the brook a nd was badly scalded about the
Lace and arms it was L is duly to feed the boiler with
water, but beyond that he had nothing to do with it.
'There was no steam put eon the boiler which burst, so
that it was impossible to tell the pressure of steam.
Mr. Siviter, the propri,
tor, took the general superin-
tendence of the boilers ant i engines, and examined them
almost every day.—Mr. C harles biviter, the proprietor
of the works, was next called, and said that half an
hour before the occurren cc he saw the deceased in
charge of the boilers and engines. There were four
boilers, all connected, but either of them could be dis
connected by closing a vs lye between them. At the
time of the explosion the: -e were only two boilers at
work. The pressure on the boilers that morning stood
at 25 degrees, which was the pressure generally carried.
There was no steam gauge attacheu to the exploded
boiler, but one alas provided for the boiler with which
it was connected. The deceas, ad had been employed by
witness about four years. F ormeriy he (witness) had
the -control of the boilers, I iut at the expiration of
eightsen months after engaging the deceased he gave up
_
to him the entire control of the boiler,,, as he then con-
sidered him competent. The boiler was purchased by
him nine and a half years agt ); it had, however, been
worked previously, but he did 1 lot know how long, It
was then warranted to him as be ing in thorough repair
Etc was informed that the constr. action of the boiler was
equal to a pressure of 601 b., and i that it had been worked
at that. if he had known the. condition of the boiler
he should have considered it nut 1 for use. In reply to
the Foreman, witness said that ti le boiler had not been
repaired since it came into b is possession. The
Coroner: Was not the boiler ha Ole to explode at any
time? Witness: Yes, in that a andition.—Mr. Henry
Piercy, mechauical engineer, Broad Street, Birmingham,
deposed that he inspected the bones after tne explosion.
It uad been turn into five pieces, a nd the greater por-
tion of it had fled a distance of f orty-four yards from
its seat. The boiler was so badly , corroded that it was
impossible to ascertain where 0 e rent began. The
tuickness of the plates when the 1 sailer was originally
constructed appeared to have beet i 7-16 m. Some of
the parts were gin., but whether thej , were new portions
whien had been recently added he t •oald not tell. The
boiler was 201 t. long by 61t., with $ . flue 211. 9, He
considered that when the boiler was constructed it was
made equal to a pressure of -6011). up on the square inch.
Ihe places of the boiler wore corrodet I seriousay in many
places, both externally and internally. The worst parts
of the boilers wale not more thal e the thirty-second
part of an inch thick. In reply to th, i Coroner, witness
said that the boiler was not fit to be worked, and its
condition was such that any comp
a strikingt
h
years
etent person conk,
have easily detected its unsafe state b 3
with
a
hammer. lie considered that a yo
old was not too young to manage ab( ' tiler if he was pr .
perly instructed. Air. homer cross. examined the wit.
~ess for [lie purpose of showing that I .he deceased was a
Competent person ti) take the char ge of boilera. He
kwitness) believed an intelligeet bay of that age might
be competent —Mr. Dunn, surgeon, wi as then examined.
—the Coroner, in a lengthy summit ,g up, said if they
considered the deceased sufficiently co alpetent to under-
take the management of a boiler t hen the proprietor
was altogether tedeved from any resj ionsibility, and by
going further, if they held that I Ir. Siviter really
believed that deceased, after the insl suction, was com-
petent to undertake the management, then Mr. Siviter
freed himseif Loin the consequences. But if they cdn-
sidered there hau been negAgelice on I vir, siiviter's part,
he would then be liable t. be charge 1 with the offence
of manslauglater.—The jury, after an la, our's deliberation,
returned a verdict of " Accidental dist ,tb," adding that,
in their opini;)n, It would be desirab. le fo r Mr. Siviter
to employ more competert persons in I he ft tture.

KIN VER.

HoRR: BLE ACCIDENT.— .'t man name - i V rilliam Blunt
puddler al, the Gookley Ironworks, we 3 killed in the
most shocking manner on the 7ili Mal :. Deceasel was
taking a ball of red hot iron to the si ;earn hammer,
when he slipped, and fell witn his I wad under the
ponderous weapon, the result being ti tat his blood and
'brains were scattered a distance of at 'rn e yard z from
the spot. The poor fellow had out
. 9 bad his shoes
freshly hobnailed the previous da: y. An inquest
was held at the Bull's Head Lau, Cool .le y, on Saturday
afternoon last, latfore Mr. Miller t Jorbet, deputy
coroner, and a verdict of " Accidental death " was re-
turned. Deceased, who was upwards t )f forty year, of
age, resided at Kinver, and has left ' a wife and eight
children.
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