The workingman's advocate., 1874-12-05
From once Week
BLOWN UP.

From ouc" Week
BLOWN UP.
Can't say, I'm sure, Sir Been used /,
bIlers an my life but working ems diff
| ferent to making en- There's something
wrong. as you say, ur they wouldn't al
ways be Dustin Taiu't once. nor tWice
nor nov and then for II 5 /. thing as is Al
ways a-happeninG and though I've Eevei
had more than s,ild uT tw" Hy SELF. ",
seen some strange sights en- AT blown
To pieces So that they we're picked M al
terwards IL baskets men taken 20 the
hospital with their flesh hanging to them
III rags and there they'd lie writhing and
tearing at the wrappngs IN such agony,
| that there, | amt above owning tive
cried like child to see my poor mates
suiierings And there they'd be, day af-
ter day. till a sort of calm came over them,
and the pain went, when they'd quite
smile if YOU spoke to EN- they seemed 81
easy and it would be because a gentle
hand was land upon I'm, and they were 60
ing into sleep.
Some gets better, but not when thev re
scalded badly for its strange stuff, is
steam. Well, no; I'm not afraid, and new
er do feel afraid. What's the good One 5
got it 10 do and there's the mouths at
home to feed, SO one cant afford It; and
then the odds are precious long ones
against II being ones uNn hTstIn But
now So many more steam engines are com
ing into use, day by day, II seems as if
something ought to w dome IN the way Of
making bilers stronger Chearness IS
cheapness hut then. a thing dear al any
price that makes such rain As I've seen
sometimes 80 why don't they try some
tougher metal than Irut thnn.h, certain
". steAms strong enough t' tear up any
thing. But there svruis tu me- ~ be some
fresh plan wanted fnr making hIlers
didn't work there. brit / vent and had u
look reckIy after that horrible accident at
the Big Works last autumn. Well, there
was about an acre # buildings sheds and
setrcr-swcpt away as il you'd batter 4 en-
all down great hre-bricks weighing a
hundred and half pitched here and there
like chatf sheets IT lead sent living a
hundred yards tall chimneys powdered
down and the big busted hier itself
jumpted right out Of its place while as
to the middle Of II, that was torn nff, and
crumpled up, and blown, like sheet OF
paper To- distance Plenty Of life lost
there, and plenty Of escapes but what |
took most notice Of vas the plates torn Oft
the biler torn of, as ! said before, like SO
much paper T; while these sheets or plates
of iron, had given way at the Iivets, and
looked for all the worlG like toru-of post
age stamps, torn of, of course, along the
perforating.
Nov, then" ! says to myself = that 5
thing as wants altering. You peIforate
the edges Of your plates to admit rivets,
and 50 takes half their strength of, -
pr'aps more then You Iluts, perhaps, hot
rlyets IN, and they p'raps crystalllzes the
iron, only p'r'aps, mind, ! don't say SO,
only the raw edges Of the biler looked
crystally and brittle Well, then, some
day comes hextry pressure . steam, and
up goes your biler, busted, and spreading
rum, and death, and misery around.
Z Then how are We 10 fasten our biler
plates, says you. If We don't rivet 'emf'
How should know :" | amt a scientific
find out But you amt a-going to tell me,
are you, that you scientific men and bller-
makers can't find no other way to make
bilers only by riveting them Say you
bends the plates edges over, and hooks one
into the other, like tin sarspan makers
does their tin. They'd stand some strain
that way, and you wouldn't weaken your
plates. | amt biler-maker, or ! should
try that dodge, think but there, that S
only one way out Of many, as could be
found by experiment.
Seems to me, sir, as If We English peo-
pie hates anything new, and always wants
to keep t. what our fathers and grandfath-
ers had before us. They went along and
made their footmarks, and we 90 along af-
ter EN-, putting our foots in Just the same
spots, thinking il must be right, come what
will of it.
Had to do with engines many years.
Stocked locomotives and statIonaries, ayri-
culturals and manuIactories, and printing
offices, aud been down in the engine-roorns
Of steamers and that lasts about the
hottest and worst Of all Killing work,
you know, for anybody, 'sp. cially in hot
country. where every breath Of air that
comes down to you is already roasted, as it
we're, and don't do you no good.
Bustins Well, NJ, only one. and that
was quite enough for though IT didn't
hart my body, 1t did hurt my heart, and
if you happen to lie a father you'll under
stand what ! mean.
It was dinner-time at our works, great
place where the engine used to be going to
pump water night and day. So that there
were two Of us and one week Id be on
day work, next week nightwork, and So OF.
Now it so happened that our water in that
part was terribly hard, water that would
cover the inside Of bller with thick fur
in no time. But whether It WAS that or
no, can't say ; all ] know is that one
dinner-time | went out into the yard t.
wash my hands and have cooler, when
heard q strange, wild. rushing noise, and
felt something hit me on the bacN Of the
head ane then, turning round, stood
fixed to the spot, for the air was black
with tiles, and bricks, and laths, and raf-
ters, while the whole place seemed to be
crumbling up together, just like as II
YOU'D built up tall card house, and then
tapped it 50 that it fell, one card On top Oh
another, till there was little heap all ly.
ing close and snug so that out OF tall
building there was nothing left but some
smoking ruins.
know it was not my fault, for had
looked at the gauge just before, and the
pressure of steam wasn't heavy. ] knew