The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-26 00:00:00

ISASTROUS BOILER EXPLOSION.

On Wednesday afternoon a most disastrous occur-
rence took place at the works of Messrs. Glydon
and Shorthouse, metal rollers and tube manufactu-
rers, Eyre-street. Spring-hill. Though no deaths
have as yet been the result, six or seven persons
have sustained:very serious injuries, and the damage
to property is so great that it is impossible at pre-
sent to form an estimate of the amount. The
works are of a somewhat important character,*
and give employment to 40 or 50 men, though as
is usual in rolling mills, the machinery and steam
power employed perform operations which render
the number of hands engaged no criterion of the
extent of the works. Fronting Eyre-street are the
offices ; betwoen them and the mill is a large open
yard; beyond the mill, which is a substantial en-
closed building, covered by four spans of roof, was
the boiler-house; and a high wall in front of this,
and adjoining the old canal, formed the boundary
of the premises. The steam' power was obtained
by means of three tubular boilers ranged side by
side, each 30 feet long, 5 feet in diameter, and
weighing eight or nine tons. Two were abont
seven years old, the other was nearly new, and on
Monday the centre boiler was in the hands of the
men of Mr. Pigott, Spring-hill, having a copper patch
put upon the tube immediately over the fire bars.
Not only did Mr. Pigott's workmen test it in the
usual way, but on Tuesday morning, before it re-
sumed work, Mr. Glydon, sen., who has the super-
intendence of the machinery, examined it carefully,
and observed no leakage, nor anything to make
him suspect that all was not in good order. It was
in use throughout the forenoon, and until the men
went to dinner at one o'clock. During the dinner-
hour the boilers were in charge of the stoker, a
careful, steady man, named Wm. Plyde, and at two
o'clock the engineer relieved him of the duty. At
that time, as usual, the machinery was set in mo-
tion and operations resumed. In the course of
seven or eight minutes, however, the centre boiler
exploded with a terrific noise, spreading havoc on
every side. While one large piece of the tube forced
out the firing end, levelled the whole of the lofty
wall adjoining the canal, and at last dropped in a
field 50 yards distant, the boiler itself was lifted
from its seat and flew backwards through the
works. Six or eight yards inside the mill was a 55-
horse-power engine, and with this the boiler came
into collision. While the engine and its massive
cylinder were tossed aside and broken into frag-
ments as if they had been of wood, the bed on
which it rested was substantial enough to change
the direction in which the boiler was flying. It
turned towards the flywheel, and, as this is 14
or 15 feet in diameter, and 20 tons in weight, its
great strength, aided by the velocity at which it
was revolving, was sufficient to arrest the further
progress of the boiler. Most providential was it
that this was accomplished. But for the flywheel the
boiler would probably have been carried across the
yard and right through the offices, involving certain
loss of life and much additional destruction of pro-
perty, for, even as it was, the fragments of boiler
plate and steam piping which were hurled in that
direction drove before them and levelled every
yard of the massive brick wall enclosing the mill
on that side. It is marvellous how one man in
the works escaped mortal injury. The " rolls"
were in full operation at the time, and
these are all grouped round the fly and driving
wheels, each in charge of several men. One
the largest driving wheels, weighing four or
five tons, had several of its massive arms broken
into fragments, so that as the boiler rushed into the
mill it must have sent before and around it a shower
of iron more terrible than the deadliest grapeshot.
Large pieces of the engine, of the steam piping, of
the driving wheel, and of the boiler itself lay in
every corner, and, as we have said, it is wonderful
how one man escaped. Fortunately only two or
three of the pillars supporting the roof were broken,
so that, though large numbers of the slates were
blown away by the force of the explosion, the fall
of the heavy iron frame work overhead did not add
to the terror of the scene. The personal injuries
sustained, however, are lamentable enough. The
cause of the explosion, or the exact point where it
occurred, has not yet been ascertained. There is
no doubt, however, that it was the internal tube,
and not the outer boiler, which first gave way ; and
whether the coroner should or should not be here-
after called upon to make an official investigation,
it would be well for Messrs. Glydon and Short-
house to direct some practical person not interested
in the result to maks such an inspection of the
boiler as would be satisfactory to the public. Judg-
ing by a hasty inspection of the rivet lines and
fractures the iron seemed excellent and the work-
manship good. The loss to Messrs. Glydon and
Shorthouse is very serious, but the real amount it is
impossible to estimate. The misfortune, is there-
fore a very sad one.—Birminghant Daily Post.