The New York herald., 1871-08-11
Two Additional Deaths THE Roll Now
Numbering One Hundred and One.
The Safety Valve and Gauge Wrong and the
Boiler Iron Under Standard.
THE OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION.

was considered 10 De the Closing evidence IrOm tno
experts who have inspected the boiler and appli-
ances Of the Westfeld, at their own cost and TO
hear the report prepared by the Committee of In.
vestgaton, Instructed by the Supervising Inspector
of the New York district. Somewhat contrary TO
the general expectation the testimony was not con-
cluded, for the reasons stated below; but
the report Of the committee was handed in and
accepted by the Board. The most scientific witness
examined was Mr.. CreuzDau who clearly Illustrated
the manner In which the steam In the boiler became
superheated while the Westfed was lying moOred
at the slip and that the lack Of circulation for the
intensified steam, added to q sudden movement
Of the piston In starting the engine, caused the
cracked plate to divide and hence the explosion.
ABRAHAM VAN DUzES's TESTIMONY
Abraham Van Duzen, sworn and examined-l am prac-
on re iss s 9ovs
boats and i've engineers two OF the boats run at time
he s
ss
that Tis boiler %
poaaas T%p.assa i: tSlas H.. the ssasf
known gauges stop pressure not
81 A sn r. 10 ss pn
certain length OF time and then gets stuck at that point and
M not a % a s Ss
the explosion the previous to this had four
''' THE BUiLDER OF THE wEsrrlELD
The Wsa,ied about
ee and ;he Nys what 5 called a n ao9o % s
and sh. addition twotanks the beams were Is inches
double inches wide and her diagonal frame crossed and
r'v''sd she haa ass1se esse ns1 s%1rH's TESTIMONY
Aiming Smith, sworn-My business is an engineer and
sas%sed the
rn anoe The for
thin about The shell and imagined saw crack run IN
explosion could that tie interior Of the sOis.
'ns nas his chss on
safety valve and found that the stem Of yns
heaaguartsrs and there saw Ia piece of iron
sscs almost through the n
side Of the but in one or two places with scale
boiler, and from this the eommenced this boiler
was mo RRshng So ,s to nd it,
sure force or large sheet Of ike that
D, cAysE s THE
the wouI have reduced the bearing strain perhap.
sv Of al have ss ssrSs Il s
had only Just started that 4 would have stood sss
s eel but wha had ecne
considerably do not think there would have been any add
that sheet let think i there had been heavy weight
over vac noFroa' 'SP Or rHE BOAT woUIn HAVE GONE
that would then have been M the % there
cause OF the addition the of the steam
was s as p1ey s.sr s & s
tsere was no ssarc,y Of .hat the
of The explo.on knowing he age OF thai boiler and
have hesi ated TO have carried forty pounds.
Harry Whitaker that he had read
great statements In the New YORK pewspspers from
all these, In his opinion from the evidence they had adj
they were isaas"and he then handed in written state
men MI. Boole half hour to read and at t
hld tn
for more clearer waste of time
% cDaa sensns nis e he a e Who
thai one ese knew anything whatever OF engines or
Mississippi and Lakes Nj chgan and Erie incidents well
yonnf children out 6ey had not the sshes;
So the ps N efag 30
would fearful take place. in his opinion The
se h 70 whsh should pe attached to the boiler
this would sound as soon as the water got low aud alarm the
had the boats to blow up, but never Killed many
HsupnnurATrNe" rur CAUSE OF TUE EXPLOSION.
Rober ana eAaminsa ] @ 5e S
the the OF the exposon was dhere aal
savs bs way
pounds TO the square inch Tsnsversey would have
twenyfour pounds. and endwse would have been nifty
pworpnG % pressure and 9nesaf strain for Sydosac
Test: the allowance Of onesixh for working pressu
Is not small in testing boiler the pressure the
hydroatic pump should allowed to remain on the roller
certain the leakage the least leak would then show
ether bad iron or imperfect workmanship would then be
covered If tensile strain Of 1900 pounds to the square
supposed that onebai OF the full pressure Of 5000 pounds
decreases the heat by about oneourh proportion
thickness; some scale carbonate OF imel on the
ss 81 1se se While she
haa ys Wepy poans or seven hundred cubic feet Of steam
and seven hundred cubic feet of WATERFALL and half
water perfectly stu so an average
| thousand OF steam, which
safety valve could that heard of relieve, and that
Sees %eaSensd preyou.y and 6e instant his
the plate was sarea and hence the explosion
where wooden plugs have been boers at the time OF the
ss could 's The
cohesion conc ade explosion By the sudden
heat and the rapdy of the water iashins
beyond what The valve could s wsy caea ne
sey valve area . to sce the %sTmqn IN hs pro
safety valve for the very er,reme tha, could
given point; IN simple language the boiler was very
much injured by the expansion and contraction Of so many
| years, which could have been sscertaned by
PROPER HYDRosTATIC PRESSURE,
time she lying in the slip causing the super.
81 e s s a when "a b s
od experienced rnen aid not consider Il to be bad ,on
bas
be eqred to
orandum Of the various phenomena IN the shape OF
when IL and ont Of The slip, 'sAl gauge ndeatihs
might Instantly e ve or
pounds hence there might be great deal
than the engineer would notice naturally would be
engaged AT the most dangerous starting and
/ tending TO the levers There Is always
| MORE DANCER JUST AT THE MOMENT STARTING
than other time steamers and locomotives inos, In
vsrably blow at this moment gneers
generally conceae th do think that that boiler should
have had more than twenfou pounds Of steam in working
IT, and In order 10 allow that hydrosac
OF fortyegh pounds should be previously put upon the
boiler In test boilers good have invariably said that
to take light hammer and sound boiler all
more perfect test aud safer than the hydrosac pump.
| REPORT OF THE EXPERTS.
After the recess Messrs. g. w. Copeland Andrew
| Fletcher and william Vanderbilt the committee
appointed by the Supervising Inspector lMr. Lowe),
submitted the following report
NEW YORK, August 10, 1871
ADDISON LOWE, ESQ, Supervising Inspector for New
| York;
In compliance with the Instructions Of vour letter OF
the 9TH ns the undergned have carefully the stea
gauge safety valve and lock safety the steamer
Wssthed they have also tested portions OF iron
the boiler from points near .he line Of fracture beg
lea report the following results
Qaup tessd nj,