Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-06-15
Reeder's Safety Guard.
Memphis, Tenn., April, 1858


 To THE EDITOR OF THE TRUE DEMOCRAT.
 Dear Sir-I read with much interest in your paper of the 18th, an article headed |" Guards against being Scalded to Death"
 You quote al length tiom letter written by Capt. T. J. halderman-on the subject of fn<ii- ble alloys-and a part of your remarks adopt cheerlully-" 2oe t0aM sometAing dlat wW by Hs oa0n act'on detUer from tmpending dqnqer'' 1 know the only Safety Guard that fills the bill- It was patented m 1853 and is styled JOHN NJ. REEDER's PATENT SAFETY GUARD.
 It has been used and thorouyhlv tested on the steamer Nm. Garyin-and in other ways; 1t has no alloy about it--it is sell-acting-ueyer tails to act-nnt subject to get out of or,ier- cannot he tempered with by the engineer-it js neat, cheap, durable and certain.
 l send you herewith c d,atoino-tbat vou may understand my spec fcat1o4-which, of course, must be condensed. Suppose a boiler Is teSted.by the Inspector, and found to be cdua- bic ot sustaining l5O pounds of steam lo tho square nch-thcn make ali openins in the ton ot 1t eqnh b l square Inch and let pipe pass hem 1t down between the llues-;lmi over it colne to the boiler--a chanber--in,,d, of winch a seat k formed to lit tight the oue,,jpo Ill the boiler aud prevent steam or water from passing IT. the ppe nto the chamher-lrom this seat rod passes up in the chamber and enters lube, m winch siot Is form ed al d kev i, passed through tine rnd-tne tube passes out T, top ot chamber, .u.d form, rlug Oil toI. 4 c}, iS httcd to this tube To prevent mlv verh. | placed on top from affecting he oprra,ion of the rod m the sot--lrourd th,s roa--(,4. ,yca.. the Stai ana Nl"t,) ball of lea Is fixed of lI5 P""'ds--N neh steam gets to l46 pounds the seat Is fd'aed-'r"d passes up tuhc-watcr rushc. ihto chamo1r and out at n"zlel at bottom into Ppe Iad across the boilers from which h"mpeF ol small plpeS conducts it into the fire oed--aid instantly the fires are dlmpemed down \ -s'eam IS reduced--the valve seats itself, and | the boat continues to move ou feellur but check to her speed
 To the ring on top of tube the engineer at taches Ilne which passes back and hangs at ms sde-he can at any time raise valve and dlmpen hs ires-but canno, at any time pre- vent t raising except by letting of the exces, oi s'eam above what the inspector says he may cArrY-rom its frequent use the danger of cor rcd.ng Is entirely otviated it is. in auord to.!, "r steam, and the first ore ever discovered.
 I heEe ls d workiog model n Washington Ciiy-it Was ii the rotuI da during last Corgra,, ard VAS shown tp hundreds of person,-n,ii,, "i whom gave any sensible r4asoi. W hy it would not do MI lts inventor claimed for t. prevent the e%poson "t steam hojei,, from excessive pressure, or otherwise. There II hc d bil before tiliS Congress It. aa,Vt Mis Gqa5f. there by making il a part of ihe machinery of all sieanboats. IL k perfectly adapted to al steam boilers, whether on b"A's lanA or loromotlv,.s: and should t he ado te and lut ilo general 1st nave "ot dou't bur it Will put an eud 10 t5c cypl sion of steam boilers.
 Wonld moi q certainty bn far preferable to the VcNed ilieStl"h aN to what point alloy will fuse at! We know alloys will fuse al various Ioints, owIng to the purity or quantity of its cornpo- nent parts It may be asked if this is so good a thns and so certain, why hA, it uGt hser put into general use. Th;s question is easily an- Swered-it iS known to every body that inc world has been 'humIugsed by patents until there Is general prejudice against them all and to secure the safety this guard confer, o,, persons and property, 1t k necessary to guard it also, and hence the inventor asks Congress, 10 adopt ', anl have t placed on boats u,,tiey he s4par's'o" cf an 'nspector and sealeA toiM Me sem of the government, and thereby place i.s action out of the reach of the engineer. as well as out of the reach of designing persons
 In asking the government to adont it. he only asks protecton, he does not ask one dollar appropriated for its use, or his benefit. he is practical engineer, and has been trying twenty years to put d lock on steam, and has succeeded. Yours respectfully,
 w. B. WALDhAW. We once heard local inspector who was not untriendly to Mir. Reeder. or his invention. make the objection that certain parts of it were liable to get out of orler If we arc correctly informed, an instrument contrived on similar principles, was, some years ago. introduced into use at Baltimore. and after trial abandoned as not fulfilling the purposes intended. It is also said that the board of Supervising Inspectors, have, alter mature consideration, rejected MT. Feeders invention
 For our own part, we know too little about it to either condemn or approve 1t. We should Ike to see fair trial given to that and every other invention which makes fair promise to save lives on steamboats But, at present. we must be permitted to observe that Reeder's 1 Safety Guard stands on a very different ,,rou,d from Evans Mr.W mentions but one boat. on which the former has been tried; while the lat ter has been tried on Hundreds. On some ofthe boats supplied with Evan's Safety Guards, or what were 50 cu}led accidents have occurred. But ln all such cases where We have been able t" learn the particulars, we have found. either that the Instrument Was of i'll construction, or of bad work nanship, or out oi order, or pur- posey tam cred with
 sOur correspondent regards it as vexed ques- ton, at what point the alloy wll fuse ".. And he adds, we know alloys will fuse at different points, owing to the purity or quantity of its component parts.' Certainly, ard this enables us to adapt them 10 the different treasures steam boilers are intended to bear.
 Ii our correspondent means that one and the same mass of alloys, will, under ordinary cir cumstances, fuse at widely different tempera- lures. we conceive that he is in error. The tusible metals when mixed in such proportions as to form, not chemical combinations, but sim pie mechanical mixtures, will become "pasty', before they become entirely fluid. Owing to this, as Professor Booth observes, different per- sons will quote different degrees of temperature as the melting point. But this does not affect their practical utility. s
 Variations of circumstances may affect to the extent of few degrees. the melting point of the same parcel of alloy. Bnt in this respect the fusble alloys obey the same laws as other bodies. Throw salt into water, and you raise 1 the boiling point. Throw in iron wire and you diminish it. Under the same pressure of the atmosphere, water in an iron vessel will boil at one or two degrees less temperature, than it will