Cleveland daily leader. [volume] ([Cleveland, Ohio]) 1865-1873, 1866-02-21

stExpIosIons Of steam BOIIers-Can
such Accidents he Prevsnfedf
M Norman Wizard, of New York, 8
noted inventor and m~achinist who has
studied the philosophy Of mechanics
thoroughly, and whose opinion on such
matters is not mere theory but the result
of practical experience and intelligent
observation of this branch of science. COM
municates to the New York Tribune an
article under the above caption. The dis
cussion of the subject at this time is par
ticularly worthy of attention, as the
fearful character of most of the explosions
that have taken place within the past
year is remarkable. From the fact that
on several of the STEAMBOATS, lately de-
stroved tubular boilers have been used, an
outcry has been raised against that class
of boiler. This, it would seem, is unjust.
Mr.. Wizard asserts, what is more generally
believed than ever before, that mo form
or quality of boiler has been found abso-
lutely safe; and that new boilers are not
more exempt from explosion than old
ones"
al. is a common experience to find old
boilers that have carried a high pressure of
steam for years, with extensive parts eaten
away with rust to the thinness of a sheet of
paper, removed without accident. from a
steamboat and replaced by new ones Of good
iron, good design according to best expert
encel, good workmanship, and subjected 10
careful inspection and test which, how
ever, burst disastrOusly the first time used"
Explosions are Invisible into two
classes:
First. Those that occur from bad ma
terial, bad workmanship, deterioration from
slow action Of rust, or the union Of oxygen
with the iron of the boiler, by which it is
weakened after test and inspection, and
previous to an accident, carelessness or in
efficiency Of the engineer, and from the ac-
emulation of incrustations Upon the iron
inside.
"Seeond. Those that occur to boilers
properly and frequently inspected and test
ed, that are furnished with all the usual ap-
planes, such as sufficient s~afety-valves,
pressure and water-gauges, low-water de-
tectors. effective feed-water supply appara-
tus, and careful and efficient engineers"
The e of preventing accidents of
the first named kind are well known:
frequent inspections, alterations and ad-
ditions and a knowledge of the limit of
pressure to be carried proportional to the
thickness of the iron aud the diameter
outside. By careful attention to these
rules, and frequent tests, accidents may be
entirely avoided. But accidents happen
ing to new boilers and those frequently
tested, are considered mysterious, and
many theories have been put forth by
eminent scientific men, but once in a while
an explosion occurs which completely re-
flutes and sets aside all explanation.
Some assert "that steam in a boiler is de-
composed and changed into an explosive
gas others that when the water is low,
and[part of the boiler very hot water is
injected and thrown upon tho plates so
heated, and thereby evolves a sudden in
crease of pressure, to burst the boiler; "
and others, "that parts become so hot as
to be much weakened, and thus give way
to the ordinary or less than the ordinary
pressure of steam.
The theory Mr.. Wizard breaches is 'that
boilers are strained. ruptured and burst by
the unequal expansion of parts of the
boiler form unequal heating" To pre-
vent accidents from this cause it is impor-
tant to know chow to equalize the tenn
perature of the boiler in all its parts at all
times, and under all conditions, so long as
any water remains in it" In order to
gain this knowledge he says:
"For the last four years I have been earn
estly engaged upon experiments, and have
now in operation a boiler containing sixty
cubic feet of steam, and seventy square feet
of heating surface above the water; in fact,
there is but five gallons of water in it at
any time. l have q self-acting apparatus
adjusted within it, adapted to any boiler,
without which nearly the whole heller
would be made red-hot in five minutes,
without aver warming the water. The ap-
paratus will operate with five pounds pres
sure, and keeps the temperature of all parts
OF the boiler, and OF the stealnJ from % 70
100 above the proper temperature due to
any pressure of steam in the boiler only,
whether five pounds pressure or fifty pounds,
however hot the fire may be. And the
generation of steam goes Oh steadily and as
s, or more rapidly than if the
boiler hao the usual quantity Of water in it.
"This experiment has established the
fact that temperatures may be equalized in
boilers under all circumstances, while the
whole effort of the fire, even when the wa
ter is low, is devoted to the generation of
dry but not over-heated ste~am-exactly the
required"
Having shown that explosions occur
from highly heating some part of the
boiler, he has proved by actual experiment
hat they may be absolutely prevented.
It remains for manufacturers and those
steam boilers to make practical use
Of the meanso of prevention, thereby saving,
not merely valuable property, but price
human lives.