Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-12-10
STEAM PIPE FIRES.
The Necessity for sheathing the Pipes in
 Something Besides Wood.


 The Necessity for sheathing the Pipes in
 Something Besides Wood.
 The second annual report of the fire mar shal of the city of Boston for the year ending May l, 1888, contains, an1ong other matters, the following interesting information:
 have been able to satisfactorily trace the origin of but five fires during the year to steam pipes, and the circumstances surround ing these in no way tend to show that wood In its normal condition, 1. e.. when free from any previous desiccation, is in danger of be- coming ignited in this manner. In other words, ignition in said cases appears to be merely a certain species of what is popularly termed spontaneous combustion ,n the steam pipes themselves being merely one of many indirect factors which often assist in produc- ing such combustion Although the subject has been discussed pro and con from the year 1S46, when Chief Braidwood, of the London fire brigade, first addressed the house of lords on the topic, to the present time, when the opinions of experienced persons inter- ested in the matter seem to be somewhat conflicting, find by far the preponderance of evidence in favor of the conclusion that wood, subjected for a number of years to the heat of steam pipes, may eventually reach such state of carbonization as, with the ad. dition of moisture, exposure to draught of air, or under the influence of friction, caused by expansion and contraction of the pipes, may break into flame. As the ignition point of ordinary pine wood has been determined, by experiment. to be TOO degs. Fahrenheit, it is evident that this must be reduced by some process in order to admit of its taking fire at a92 degs., the temperature of steam under a pressure of sixty pounds.
 l have found one of the most frequent causes of fires, which are directly traceable to steam pipes, to be the self ignition of dust, fluff, small pieces of paper, waste, etc, which seem especially attracted to the neighbor- hood of inclosed steam pipes through almost imperceptible crevices. In several such in- stances the fires have been fortunately dis. covered and extinguished before doing any harm. F. A. Montgomery, secretary of the Western Manufacturers Mutual Insurance company, in special report No. of the Man. lecturers Mutual Insurance company, refers to this same element of danger, and suggests, as remedy, the use of funnel shaped cast ing, cast in two parts, from three to six inches in height, fitting close at the top, and screwed to the floor, where the pipe passes through; and he further recommends that a thlmble of some non~combustible material should be put through the hole in the floor or partition and securely fastened on either side, in order to protect the wood from con- tact with the pipe.
 The light sheathing by which the pipes are often covered, being obliged to con stantly absorb the confined steam heat, is extremely liable to reach a dangerous igni- tion temperature. Sheathing reduced to such condition by being in close contact with the pipe, and so placed as to be suscep- tble to more or less friction, caused one of the five fires herein referred to; another was caused by lumber dust in the dry house of blaming mill sitting through the floor on to the pipes The desirahility of employing some sort of non-combustible covering for steam pipes, to prevent their contact with wood, dust, etc., is apparent They should never be lnelosed in wood sheathing. Pro- lessor Gibson. in report to the Manufact- urers' Mutual Insurance company, gives an exhaustive and instructive treatise on the merits of the various kinds of coverings Scientific American