The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-11-01
The Remarkable Gyrating of
II Steam Engine Boiler.

r A few days ago it was noted in several dali
/ papers and perhaps III ynnrs also, that steal
boiler bad exploded on my place in Abbevill
County.
The incidents and causes leading to its sud
!. den explosion may be interesting and irsruc
live to this community especially. as well a.
scientists, who have knowledge Of the prnj.c
tive force of confiped steam when suddenly re-
leased, aud under which latter condition tht
remarkable gyrations of this boiler occurred
question if the history Of .eX plosion can fur
nish parallel iucident.
This boiler aud another, it's e1act mate were
made by the We-t Point Machine Co., " est
Point Pa, the iron was Of ordinary thickness
aud grade known as "boiler tiapgeis M" and il,
all senses both 81 to material and manufacture
was first class 1t was bought by J. q. Lati-
mer, Esq from that county and set up in brick
masonry, had been under steam altogether a
bout four months and was ther. fore, practical
ly, as good as new one. 1t was six horse-
power. weighing about seventeen hundred
pounds, had just been thoroughly overbau'ed
and furnished by Messrs Beard IL Co.,, proprie-
tors Of tho Toogaloo Works of this village and
tested and worked, and then turned over to the
Engineer to operate.
The next morning, the first thing this engi
neer did was to move the Safety Valve weight
Tor tie] from the fifty to Il 9 seventy pound
end OF Safety Valve Lever, in disobedience to
the repeated warnings as to the result and posi-
tive commands not to touch the Lever or
"hange the position OF its weight, He then
light his fire and put the injector to work.
few minutes told the story The boiler
exploded at one end with terrific force, the
noise of which was heard miles away the en-
sine standing five feet distant, was broken in
10 fragments, the brick masonry was torn brick
from brick and scattered far and wide over q
space two hundred feet diameter the plapking
of the Clubhouse standing thirty feet to the
rear, was bombarded by the bricks, broken in
to match pieces and driven through and
through the building, both ends the boiler,
''Mirabile decter" took flight scared aloft.
with the mid air, seventy FIVE to one hundred
feet high passing over the tops Of large oak
struck growing tree, nine or ten inches diam
eter at sort and near thirty feet high, about
twenty five feet above the ground, cut out
piece the diameter Of the boiler head and car.
ried it along weged across the face.
The tree top fell, perpendicularly, and lodged
in the branches, not six inches from the stem
it had been roughly torn
The boiler came to earth about ten hundred
and ten feet from where it originally stood, o
pening the ground about eight feet lon and
three feet deep, then summersaulted five foot
high rail fence without touching and came a
gain to earth sixty feet distant then ricochel
ting struck at eighteen feet, .hen twelve, then
uine and nine, say ten hundred and ten feet to
where it first struck and ane hundred and eigh
teen to it's final rest in all about eleven hun
dred and eighteen feet from where it was
chamhered in it's trick encasement.
The statements aud measurements made q
bove are approximately correct and can be veri
fed, il any one doubts, he is Invited to 90 and
examine the grounds and step the distances.
The engineer. who had stated to me that be
knew full well how to manage an engine, hav
ing had more than one years experience work
ing one, was, like bis boiler, summersaulted
and landed with q crushed chest and broken
neck, not over ten feet from where he was
stamping and face upward, dead.
In conclusion Mr.. Editor please advise me il
The 'occult mysteries of your ort" can furnish
another instance of a similar effect OF sieam
force suddenly let loose or il by any obstruce
calculation, known only to the learned, you can
figure out the number Of pounds to the square
inch my boiler carried at the instant OF explo
sion. II you, or any Of your Leaders, desire
to know it's dimensions and weight and the ex-
act distance from where it took flight to where
it finally rested in q grassy meadow and the
cooling zephyrs Of early morning az we'll as the
ground elevations can furnish them near g
nough for all scientific inquiry.
The mate was put in service about eix years
ago in this county is still in the same service as
mine was put to, has given no trouble nor has
it "buSted" but continues now as heretofore to
factory to its owner.
ARTHUR PARKER,
Abbeville 8. q.