on Slteam- Boats. 255 
jected itself and completely wetted a boy standing within a yard 
of the orifice, who was not at all injured thereby. I should say, 
the fragments from the cast-iron boiler would be, for any thing 
that I know, equally destructive either with a high or witha 
low pressure. 
What injury do you think is likely to arise from the bursting 
of a high pressure boiler composed of wrought iron ?-—I con- 
ceive the injury would be more partial, in consequence of the 
fragments being larger ; for | do not suppose that the wrought- 
iron boiler would be divided into so many parts as a cast-iron 
boiler would. : 
Do you apprehend, that a wrought-iron boiler would burst in 
the same manner with a cast-iron boiler; I mean, whether the 
manner of bursting would be the same ?—Yes, I think it would. 
Supposing that cast-iron boiler to be burst by the expansive 
force of the steam, does it usually rend, or go into fragments ?— 
Cast iron will go into fragments. 
What would be the effect of the same force which would pro- 
duce explosion upon a wrought-iron boiler ?—The probability 
is, that there would be much fewer fragments in the wrought- 
iron boiler ;—perhaps only two. 
Does not the greater tenacity of the wrought iron prevent the 
fragments from being carried off in the same manner as when 
the cast-iron boiler bursts >—No ; I presume, that if the wrought- 
iron boiler bursts, whatever fragments there are, they are com- 
pletely detached from that boiler, and they will go as far and do 
as much mischief as those of a cast-iron one. 
Are the fragments separated from the wrought-iron boiler by 
explosion, in the same manner as they are from a cast-iron boiler? 
—Yes; they would be projected with equal force, under equal 
circumstances. When I say that the wrought iron will rend, I 
am also of opinion, that a part of it may be projected: | have an 
immediate eye to the circumstance of one part of it being sepa- 
rated, and that the one part would be carried with as much vio- 
lence in the cast iron as in the wrought iron. 
Is there not a greater probability in the wrought-iron boiler 
rending, and not separating into fragments ?—I know that one 
wrought-iron boiler burst with a high pressure steam; and a 
fragment, the largest piece, was carried to the distance of 150 
yards. 
Was that a piece of the wrought iron ?—Yes. 
Have you any thing to add to that part of your answer ?>—No. 
You have said that the boilers which you manufacture, are 
generally made of wrought iron ; what is your reason for pre- 
ferring the wrought to the cast iron ?—I was induced from the 
examination of several cast-iron boilers, which | found cracked 
or 
4 
