San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-02-21
The Necessity for sheathing the Pipes In
Something Besides Wood.

The second annual report Of the fire mar
shall of the city of Boston for the year ending
May l, 1883, contains, among 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, /. g., 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 popularity
termed Spontaneous combustion" 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
1916, 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 a state Of Carbonization as, with the ad-
dition of moisture, exposure to draught of
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 ECO degs Fahrenheit, it
is evident that this must be reduced by some
process in order to admit of its taking fire at
292 degs., the temperature of steam under q
pressure of sixty pounds.
l have found one of the most frequent
&c IL i.
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 P. A. Montgomery, secretary of the
Western Manufacturers Mutual Insurance
company, in special report No. s of the Man
facturerS' 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
thimble 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 dangerous igni-
ton temperature Sheathing reduced to
such condition by being in close contact
with the pipe, and so placed as to be suscep.
tible 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
planning mill sitting through the floor on to
the pipes. The desirability 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 inclosed in wood sheathing Pro
fessor Gibson, in a report to the Manufact
urers' Mutual Insurance company, gives all
exhaustive and instructive treatise on the
merits of the various kinds of coverings
Scientific American.