The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-10-24
(irl,,,,o,'tld aispatth
- - OCTOBER "a. 1876.
Boiler Explosions.

TJfESpA 1.s.s - s.
s3T rsosacr Explosions.
rFrnm the Pittsburgh DispatchI
:, a. ), ne regretted that the experiments
:, g c =. boilerstesters. commenced
IN this cisy eve years ago anu nevss nnas n.
aa hat, not been carried to coneius,on. Il, ~
xuiii ia remembered that AL , ~
exerinenters failed 20 EXPLODE y s ses NJ ".
coiiapse filie, tne .ass s sS
Aha ysress,lre was raised TO sucil . QeSree as
81 ssS ,srsier the gauges useless, those instru-
s ~ ~ nat having been designed Tor such
sayare Tests. Yet with all this force the
,,,sss disastrous consequence reached was
She forcing OF sseam cut through the seams
N the riyeted plates. The efforts to
hurst the boilers were futile, although the
tpsts were most severe, and greater prepare
tion had been made for Tying fragments than
nc the famous Hell-G Gate explosion IN New
York q few days since. Those experiments
were never completed, and in that respect
mgy he said to have been unsatisfactory. Oot
Re ANYTHING at all were developed or indi-
caaed, st was that good boilers can scarcely
ba exploded by fire and water. Yet on
every occasion OF accidental explosion
there Is an abundance OF testimony TO Oe
had that one minute or one second pre-
yious TO the explosion the water was up to
the second cock and the steam gauge re
cistered less pressure than the inspectors
permit authorized the engineer to carry. :.
= As rule new boilers do not explode II
made OF first-class iron or steel, and yet on
the occasion OF an explosion it is at once
explained that the boiler was safe, and had
been considered so for years. Generally
boilers decay in spots, but after being
patched are reported !" as good as ever" and
they are kept at work and subjected to the
Same pressure which they have borne for
wears. The inspector passes along tapping
The iron with his little hammer, all is pro-
nounced safe, and SO it goes till the expio-
sion, which nobody can account Tor. The
very idea that boilers require patching at
FREQUENT and more frequent intervals as
they grow older would indicate, to any per-
son not subjected to danger from them, gen.
eral decay. But the owner OF the works
where the powerful engine is employed and
the firemen and engineers so about the
masked battery as if they were at work be-
side bottle Of soothing syrup.
Cases are frequent and well-attested where
boilers have been kept in use till man
might punch his fist through the she'll as
through the r1nd Of rotten pumpkin, and
yet no explosion occurred. Old boilers have
and rusted to such degree as to become
objects OF curiosity, and vet they did not
explode. In fact, with all the information
that may be obtained on the subject Of
steam-boilers and explosions, the wonder is
that so few calamities occur from the cause
under consideration; and the unavoidable
inference is that the prevailing method OF
inspection is inefficient, and needs to- be
nasde more thorough and eXacting. Among
people who are most employed about these
dangerous machines there is a prevailing
belief or faith that so long as q boiler does
not explode it is safe; which doctrine lacks
the basis Of reason, for there might be Illus
trafions offered to demonstrate that steam
boiler is never safe until it is exploded.
The present system Of life assurance is
conducted on principles OF percentage that
from youth to age the changes OF continued
existence vary with each year, but no ques-
ton seems to be raised by the inspector re-
garding the age OF steam-boiler. 1T may
be burned by fire, rusted by water, strained
by oyer-presSure, and yet rs long as 1t pre-
SCENTS its normal rounded appearance on the
outside the inspector may pass it as readily
or with more confidence than before it had
ever had a fire built beneath it. Indeed, a
steam-boiler seems to be one of the things
which never grow old 9TH they kill some
body, and yet the domestic tea-kettle, or
Mondays wash utensil with fire under 1t
once o week, achieves decay with we'll
known and Widely-depl frequency. On
the other hand, steam-boiler which Is sub
jected daily for twenty years to a pressure
OF IS or $50 pounds to the square inch, is
supposed to be safe as long as its plates are
held together, although it may be patched
and blistered entirely out OF its original fea-
ture and complexion. @~
The common verdict that nobody is to
blame for fatal boiler explosions has been
flung into the faces Of intelligent communi-
ties long enough. There is nothing mystic
rious about the nature Of a boiler, construct
ed as it is on recognized scientific princi-
pies, and of material the composition and
character OF which are represented by
figures as unmistakable as the marks on
the dial of chronometer; and when is Elk
plodes, 1t is either from present neglect or
long usage and abuse. /" Causes unknown ~
and "nobody to blame !" have been endured
too long.
There were four deaths from yellow.fever
at Charleston, S. O., last week. Many. I'M
acclimated pei sons have returned to Charles
ton within the cast few days, although the
weather is still v. urn and there has been no
black frost.
!, A countryman, wan dering with his wife
trough the art gale res OF the Philadel-
onia exhibition, stood b. slore Kasiere,s pic
~ Ile OF Gree and the Comp anioas OF ulysses.
~ g, gazed earnestly at the pa ni,ng, wonder
u Wnat was meant by the ha, Wsome young
,Uman playing on her Tyre, VII ue q nero 9!
VINE Wailowed and tnmbied alb out at her
eet: He then looked up the mot, 're in his
pondered over the t;tIe |" The
Of Ulysses" Said he: Z. Veil,
J .n :, lsnt the hardest slap old Grants ~ot
~ nrnnI gsS,,,,,- - h