New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-04-16
SCIENCE. INDUSTRY AND INVENTION.

WI, RourR, E,PLopK-Ths horror Of an eIplo-
n Of the boiler vas coevs with the invention Of the
r.am giSe. SaveY's pumping engine for draining
coal mEes first brought into use century and hall
ago was used extensively for raising water for tho
cou1 Try residences Of the Euglish nobility But when
spphed to clearing deep mines or supplying towns
with water by raising il into an elevated reservoir,
the boilers were invansbly burnt. To him succeeded
Newcomer ard Cswley to whom belong the honor Of
having permanently established the employment OF
steam as q mechanical agent. Slavery neither en-
ployed thought Of the piston, and was forced to
place bis engine at the bottom of the mine. New
comen and Cawley introduced the piston which Pspin
rcd unfortunately rejected, and placed their engine
above ground a. the mouth the shaft. They employed
steam at such low pressure that the danger of e1po
,ion wss materially lssssned yet their
the Constant attention Of attendant to open and close
the cecks. A boy, employed in this service, s!mu-
lated by the love Of play, added the first improvement
by attaching ,ords to tie levers by which the cocks
were turned and connecting the other ends OF the
cords to the moving BEAM thu. rendering the machine
self ectrg, and acquiring opportunities for joining his
compsnOns unknown to his employers. Slavery pro-
vded no safety valve yet he rouncy asserted that MS
mschires you'd work without IL Jury for years unless
they were purposely destroyed. Tie miners, how
ever refused to work them TO remain in their vicn-
y great were their sppreheDsions of an explosion
Modern scieIce has greatly essened the frequency Of
there terrific accidents and long us has sfiectusly
removed all apprehension Of danger. Explosions,
however, occur, all the world over. Science has sp-
paretty long .ince ..n,fed itsef 10 the causs Of
these eIposons ard assuming the supposed cause to
be the true ene has direc.ed its preventive ingenuity
in Uniform direction. SILL, wish ali this preventive
care enforced by stringent legal penalties the havoc
of life and property goes on. Juries Of inquest are
called in factories on railroads. and in steamboats,, to
give q satisfactory solution to Why the frshtfal
havoc around them occurred. TIE fact is most re-
MARI able, in connection with these nqnires, that
uie., under circumstances almost precney identical,
are cortir uay rendering the most conflicting verdics
Death has Suddenly taken away the only oompetsnt
vitne. in the person Of the engineer leaving all to
conjecture. The subject bss exhausted the Ingenuity
Of the most scientific niDds and the records Of the
Patent. Offices throughout the world crowded with
inventions to prevent these explosions. Yet we
still at fault. II s well known that bodsr which has
safely and for org period Of Tine carried pressurs
of bred and teoty pounds has at last been shat
tered into stoms under presaure Of only hundred
pounds. In other cases, some Of which the reader
knowledge, boilers have been rent from their POUNDS
ticps AZ scattered in fragments, when the proof was
urdoubtsd that the g.uge-occi hsd shown, only mo-
usnt before the explosion, that .he boiler was sb1n-
daItly supplied with water. AL the endls" varsity
Of ,aetyvslves and other ingenious contrvsnoes hay
ing faded, ard the proof belrg clear that boilers do
explode, even when fully supplied not Only with Wa
'sr, but with every other precautionary device, il
would seem that mere deficiency Of sster j. not the
true c,1se of an explosion. 1t is st lest believed IN
expiration of the difficulty that the true sge.t IN
this tsrrne distraction is to be found the presence
Of some possr within the boiler, evolved BY or in
combination with the steam yet maintaining seps-
rate identity, With an tvuposering energy, Liable 70
be e1erted st any lent, and sgans whose destfuc
tive guards nust be irterposed
since al the old one. have sOtOrio1,iy proved them
,elves fallscicus. Tn. agent IA new believed TO b
Electricity.
sOus ysss eye, nSst iaser,ots eis.sa 81 PA1s-