Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-07-16
REEDER's SAFETY GUARD.

Appended to this will be found letter. of
a late date, relative to Reeder's Safety Guard.
The writer (Mr Harrison) is local steamboat
inspector, whose business it is to be familiar
with the nature and principles of steam, and
his long experience gives great value to his
opinions upon questions of this char acter.
Letters of the same nature, and from sources
equally well informed, might be multiplied.
If it were thought necessary, for the great
merits of Mr.. Reeder's invention are compar-
atively we'll known up and down those great
rivers in the West upon whose ample bosoms
are annually foated thousands of lives and
millions of property, all subject to the hidden
dangers which ever attend the presence Of
steam. How to subdue those dangers has
taxed the ingenuity Of man from the time of
It's discovery; and though great advances to
this end have been gradually attained, still
the columns of the press, from all parts of the
country, almost daily give painful evidenceiof
the fact that its advantages are too closely
counterbalanced by its deadly havoc when
ever 1t bursts the iron bounds Of its captivity.
From the most curscry examination of Mr..
heeder' 8 apparatus, now on exhibition in the
rotunda of the Capitol, it certainly appears
that he has at last succeeded in placing an
effective curb on its murderous wanton1ess.
and In combining it to its legitimate bounda-
ries; and the principles by which this is eff.
tected are easily comprehended, being as re-
markable for simplicity as efficiency and the
wonder is, that when so much inventive skill
was required to bring the steam engine itself
to Its present perfection, the plan of Mr. Rec
der invention was not one of the first sug-
gestions in it's construction
The model now on exhibition in the rotuuda
OF the Capitol is placed in charge of one of
our own engineers, gentleman of much ex-
perience in the construction and management
OF steam engines, who is always ready and
takes pleasure in explaining its operations,
from whom we learn that it has been exam.
ined by numerous members of the nresent
congress, and has always ELECTED the warmest
expressions OF appreciation, particularly from
Southern and Western gentlemen, who, from
the greater number of accidents which occur
on their waters, are naturally more sensitive
TO the dangers of steam transit
The following is the letter of Capt. HarrI.
sent speaks for itself:
NASHVILLE, June %, 1855.
MR.. j. Al. RzEDER DEAR SIR You re-
guest my opinion and experience of your
SAFETY GUARD. 1t affords me pleasure to ties
thy TO the intrinsic worth of any appliance at
tached to steam that has a tendency to de-
crease the risks Of human life so frequently
caused by steam and its mismanagemcnt,
whether by want of skill, or from the most
sklllful when caught off their guard.
being, on several occasions, passenger on
the steamer VIM. Garvin, to which was at
tached to the boiler of this boat one of your
Safety Guards, was much satisfied to wit
ness its certain detection of excessed pres
sure beyond the weight attached for its pre-
Vention f; aud, In every instance, found when
such excess presented itself, your Guard in
stantly, with unerring certainty, Zen COM
parison with well regulated steam guage.)
merer fatied IN q SINGLE instanee of rails
Ing at the exact degree designated, and
dampened the fuel Of the entire ere sur.
lace instantly, so as to reduce steam below
the standard designated, fully satisfying me
that 1t was reliable as sELF-AcrING and that.
II every human agency had been withdrawn
from the boat, an explosion, in no event, could
have occurred. Yours truly,
IL Il. H. HARRISON.