85 Report of the Select Commitiee 
This engine was not made so at first, but altered afterwards 5 
was it not ?—Yes, in consequence of the other giving way. 
Have you any reason to suppose that the accident might be 
attributed to negligence or mismanagement in the director of 
it ?>—We had verbal testimony, from which I had ‘no doubt the 
steam was at a considerable degr ce of pressure ; but the end was 
very improperly made. 
Did you ever learn at what rate the man was working ?—No, 
I understood he was working at sixty pounds an inch generally, 
probably it might be 120 at that moment; but I should think it 
not equal to the working of sixty, for it was only three-fourths 
of an inch, and a sixteenth in some places in thickness, and it 
was four feet in diameter at the end; it was a flat end to the 
cylinder like a drum. 
Is it possible to construct the engines in steam-boats in such 
a manner that there is great improbability of any accident hap- 
pening ?—I do not know how to answer as to their being per- 
fectly safe; I do not feel that materials, when they are sub- 
mitted to so great a pressure, are safe, for we find that very few 
materials wil] stand a great degree of pressure for any length of 
time ; we often find that a water-press, which has been efficient 
six or seven years together, at length gives way, when the me- 
tals are subjected to a very great pressure; it is like a blow with 
a heavy machine for breaking metals, which does not break the 
first time, but is constantly tending to loosen the particles. 
Do you think that a high pressure engine, under any guard 
‘that can be applied to it, is a safe engine to use in a steam- 
boat ?—I do not conceive it is a proper engine, or a safe one. 
Did you ever hear of their having been used with wrought-iron 
boilers with perfect safety?—No, I have not heard of any com- 
parative statement of either the wrought or cast; I know as 
are usually made with cast. 
Do you consider yourself sufficiently an engineer, with respekt 
to the construction of steam-engines, to be able to give of your 
own knowledge, a decided answer to such questions ?—Yes, I 
do conceive so; [ have paid a great deal of attention to the sub- 
ject of steam-engines, and I believe I know the principle of 
every one in existence. 
If on a certain pressure in a high pressure engine, a safety- 
valve or safety-valves were so constructed, as that they would 
open and discharge the steam with a pressure much less than 
the boiler was calculated for, would not such a boiler be per- 
fectly safe, admitting it to be made of proper materials and pro- 
perly constructed ?—Yes, if it could be proved that the boiler 
was calculated to resist a pressure much greater than that to 
which 
