Star.
London, England, 1817-07-29 00:00:00

REPORT f COMM 17TEE ST E M BOATS.

(Condi:mei from the STAR of Satmlay.)

Mr. George Dodd called is, and examined.
Where is your residence?—l reside at No. 8, Ox-
ford-street.

What is your profession ?—Civil engineer.
Are you a proprietor of any Steam Boats ?—I have
five under my direction.
Where are those Steam Boats ernpllyed :—Two
between London and Richmond; roe between Lon.
don and Gravesend, and two between London and
Margate.
- How long have they, or any of them been in use ?
-.The Thames bas been in use three years.
Where does that go ?—From London to Margate ;
the Majestic has been in use about twelve months,
that goes to and from Margate; the Richmond from
London to Richmond, has been in use about fi:teen
months, and the other two are new vessels; all these
vessels lie up in the winter. The Thames his not
run from London to Margate during the whole three
years; she has run from London to Margate two
years, and was twelve months in Scotland hefore I
had her. I finished the Thames Margate steam yacht
At Port Glasgow in Scotland, anti navigated her
from Scotland to Dublin, and encountered a ccnsi-
derable deal of bad weather, and found her most
perfectly safe. No material accident happened to the
engine which worked during the whole voyage; fr:;ni
Dublin. I broughttlier round the Land's End, Corn-
wall, into the port of London.
Are all the Steam Boats that you now have or that
you have bad, used with condensing engines ?
They are.
Has any accident bappenz.d durirg the course of
their being used ?—The bolero of two have been in.
jnred by the imprudence of the engine werkeis ; but
no accident of any description could or has occurred
to the passengers.
What was the nature of the accidents that hap.
pened to those boilers?—The accident was the pm-
-1 tial coming down of the boilers over the furuac
month, being pressed down by the power of the steam,
lin consequence of the engine workers not sufficiently
feeding the boileri, and cnveripg toe flies with water.
What are all your boilers made of ?—Ti.ey are
made of sheet wrought iron, rivetted tog,!ther.
Are they cylindrical ?—They nit ; they are
flat sided with fiat roofs, and the others have dome
roofs; there is at least 1500 rivets in the larger ones ;
and I consider every rivet to be in a degree a safety-
valve, as in all instances of bursting or tearing of this
description of boilers the rivets first give way, and
always give sufficient warning.
How many safety valves have you to your boilers
One to each.

Is that safety-valve accessible to the engineer di-
recting the engine ?---It is in all of them excepting
the Richmond. and there it is under lock and key ;
the safety-valve on board of the Richmond is not a
lever safety-valve, but they are simple weights rest.
ing on the safety valve, the whole of which is en-
closed within a box and socked up, so that no dis-
cretionary power is left to the man who works the
entne; I carry the key of it in general myself.
o not you think in future it would be advisable,
In older for the greater safety of passengers, that
boilers should be provided with two safety valves—
one not accessible to the engineer directing the en.
gine, and another accessible to him ?—I think that
to all boilers there should be two safety valves; the
one which would be accessible to the engine worker
should be loaded by the minimum of the pressure
that the chief engineer saw fit that the boiler should
sustain ; and that the one which would be inaccessi.
kite and locked up should be loaded equal to the ulti-
matum tlrat he would, under any circumstances, per-
mit the boiler to support,
In a,high pressure engine, what is your opinion of
the weight that ought to be placed upon the safety
valve of its boiler ?—That in a great measure is con
jectural; but f, r my own pracuce I certainly should
not allow the safety valves to be loaded with more
than half the weight which I had previously tried
and found the boiler was capable of supporting ; all
my engines are low pressure engines, and the weight
„upon the safety valves is regulated net to exceed six
pounds upon the inch.
What is the reason that you have adopted in your
Steam Boats the construction of boilers with flat sides
and ends?—Because that figure gives the greatest
cubical content in the smallest space, and compact.
ness of the machinery and the boiler is a desirable ob-
ject in a Steam Boat.
Is it your opinion, that such boilers properly con-
structed, and of sufficient thickness in the plates of
wrought iron, may be safely used on boar} Steam
Boats baying the low pressure engines ?—Most de-
cidedly so ; I consider each of my boilers capable
of sustaining a pressure of fifteen pounds up.,n the
inch, bat I never work them to more than sis pounds
upon the inch.
Are those boilers so constructed that the water en-
tirely covers the tube in which the fire is made ?—ln
the Richmond, the fire is entirely surrounded by the
water; it is the case alsO in the Majestic : but in the
Thames and in the new boat to Richmond, and the
new boat to Gravesend, there are what se call open
furnace mouths. Under the furnace mouth, I place
an ash-hole of cast iron, bedded in clay, and upon
fire bricks.

Does the water in the boilers of this latter construe-1
Lion come to the upper surface of every portion of
tl'at iron, the under surface of which is exposed to
the fire ?—lt does.

It you are acquainted with any accidents which
Dave happened to steam engines, not under your own
direction, be pleased to state what they were, and
how they happened?—l recollect, the boiler of the
Caledonia London and Margate steam packet burst•
iag at sea, by the forcing out of three of the rivets
over the furnace month, which extinguished the fire,
but it was not.productive of any injurious conse-
quences to any of :he persons on boards and the
Cork and Cove packet boat in Ireland, with 250 offi-
cers and soldiers on board, burst her boiler when ly-
ing alongside of the transport th;t was receiving the
troops; the bursting made a fissure or opening of
nine inches by eighteen inches, but the steam which
'escaped did no injury either to the persons on board
or to the vessel, nor do I think under any circum-
stances of the bursting, if a wrought iron boiler at
the low pressure, that is, the steam not being more
than tea or amen pounds to the inch, tbsiltii, steam