Telegram-herald., 1891-10-26
WHY BOILERS BLOW UP
Dangers that Lurk Unseen Beneath
tho Iren shell.
INSPECTOR CgRlSIIE KNOWS IIEr
Lev water Bears the 8iaas oe s&Asy
Another Fsair, Cheap Massrist.
Had WerkoaEshIp ssd the
lnsiaieu. scale.

most hazardous seem 10 grow ifuh-
fereat 20 their surroundings. IemPor-
AIRY security aud familiarity with peru
seem 10 breed contempt. Ii is the bust
ness of some men to discover unseen
| aud unsupported dangers. and nv SO
| 30 doing prevent serious catastrophes.
| An inspector of steam boilers Is such
an individual. Every day he makes dis
! coveries that cause his hair to raise
on end. He learns 10 suspect the
strongest and safest appearing boilers
| knowing the awful possibilities OF
| fauits that cannot be seen from the ex-
| terror. A reporter for the Telegram
| Herald was in the office of Inspector
| Christie the other day and saw an
4 interesting collection OF relies picked
| up during the past few weeks. There
| were feed water pipes stopped up by
| having stones drawn into them by
| the suction OF the pumps, pipes closed
| by deposits OF lime, sand and rnagnesia
until the aperture through them was
reduced TO the size OF lead pencil
or even smaller, and others corroded
until they could be erumbled like chalk
between the fingers. Each one appear
| ed perfectly sound on the exterior
| and bore tag telling where sniri
1 Wnpu IL WAS lOutlts scOilt vi tHtui WIZ
taken from factories in this city, Others
had been gathered about the state.
Every one OF these pipes said Mr..
| Christie, WAS expected to supply a
boiler carrying high pressure OF
| steam and prevent the water from get
| ting low enough to cause an explosion.
| Nine-tenths OF the boiler explosions are
| attributed to low water but I pre-
| ;o h1 ~
less than one-half."
What are the other causes?"
Faulty construction, poor material
and deposits OF scale. Look at this
The inspector held up a piece OF hiloer
iron apparently as sound and strong
as was ever riveted. THAT looks all
right, doesn't it?"
Certainly
''Now, look at the other side." The
inside surface was scanned with cracks
and a sharp blow Of a hammer would
have shattered il like glass. That's
piece of poor material and I don't
know what prevented it from giving
way long before its condition waS dis
covered. A hole that size blowing
out OF the side or bottom a bQiler
would send 1t through the roof like
|
strained the material and caus
ed those cracks. Here is a piecs
OF good enough material. but
mighty poor workmanship" Tiln in
spector exhibited two pieces that End
been rivited together. The holes were
not opposite in the two positions. the
rivets had been driven through regard.
less OF that fact and were bent and
strained until very little OF their orig
inal strength was left. Some OF then
} were headed down 80 that they only
held ON one side. "a boiler constructed
i'm that manner is likely to go to pieces
at any moment under n heavy pressure
! OF steam,' said Mr.. Christie.
He then exhibited some experiment.
OF scale taken from the inside OF boilers
around the flues and about the firebo,
L where the surface is exposed to great
heat. The scales varied In thickness,
! from half an inch to three or more in
ches and WAS composed OF various ma
! terials. Boiler scales are OF ever,
conceivable compound said the In
spector. They depend entirely upof
the minerals that are held in solution
In the water used. Some waters are
full OF sulphate of lime or magnesi;.
some arc muddy and the sediment o
clay, sand or whatever the nature O
the soil happens to be settles 70 III
bottom and bakcs into n substance
hard rs stone rs you see here. TIL
deposit grows thicker day by day an,
keeps the water from coming I'm col
tact with the iron. Wirh this ston.
or scale on one side and the fierce hea
| nf Tho frr IN m .Sh b.. s,o,
. becomes red hot. In this condition I
Is no stronger than wax and the awfu
pressure inside forces an opening an,
the result IA something terrily's1 =,
combat this evil Chemical compound
are pumped into the boilers for tn
purpose OF dissolving the scale. AM
, some u these compounds are hivhl,
dangerous. Many OF them rontail
, muriatic or acetic acids and thcs
. eat away the iron almost as rapidi
. ga they do the scale. The result ca
be easily seen
n The water here in Grand Rsf
very bad for boilers: almost the wors
| ever saw. Engineers have to kee
{ sharp eye on the interior OF thei
boilers and feed pipes and the rarit
of accidents is only the reward g
their vigilance. Engineers are fanke
, upon nm entirely wrong basis TIL
!, man who can run his engines and hoi
ers for the loncest continuous servic
without having 20 shut down ~
c'ea-snx or repairs. IL called the hes
engineer. This ieads really good er
J, gtncers 20 take great chances eve
: while they know that there IL poss
! bs'itv of something being wrong
must say erod word for Gran
: Rapids hoiler-makers too. The wor
they turn avf = very superior in eyre
re<rret. 7 believe that poor worl
man-hip and bad material are NOR
frequently the fan't ~ the purchase
: than ~ the manufactures. ms
J. vv'e4 hBvs s~os1e'' generally dnds tha
: it is n much more expensive arte'
= fhan he esnno~es He srocs from sho
20 shop haggiing ard heating fhei
, down and finally makes har9ain fha
cannot ~ fnWlliesi with fir~f eias
: work and material. fs- she most =
penegve e,onesrnv ever rraetieef ~
!. the ~,onwr che purchase learns :
= r~af,e ~. the better IL VIII Ne TOR q
, partse. eeor~rned.
; eonEo ruwas flfsr-
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