SAFETY PROVISIONS BEYER. 217 



and municipalities have laws requiring a systematic inspection of 

 boilers by authorized inspectors. In the United States Steel Corpo- 

 ration this is done by an outside inspection company which makes a 

 specialty of boiler insurance, each boiler being thoroughly inspected 

 at least once in six months. 



In addition to this inspection, which is directed mainly to the de- 

 tection of corrosion or defects which might lead to an explosion, many 

 minor arrangements can be made to contribute to the safety of men 

 whose duties require their presence in and about boiler plants. The 

 failure of a part in a boiler or steam pipe, insignificant in itself, can 

 instantly involve men and machinery in a cloud of blinding vapor, 

 so that ladders and passages that would be safe under normal condi- 

 tions may bring misfortune upon the workmen groping about with 

 ineffective vision. Under such conditions prompt and unimpeded 

 access is needed to overhead valves and connections, stairways being 

 preferable to vertical or inclined ladders, and all stairways, walks, 

 tops of boilers, etc., across which it is necessary for workmen to pass 

 should be thoroughly protected by handrails and well lighted. Plate 

 1 shows stairways in one of our boiler plants. 



The arrangement of piping may be such as to form what is known 

 as a "water pocket," that is, a place where water gathers from the 

 condensation cf the steam. The opening of a valve will shoot this 

 water forward with sledge-hammer effect, bringing disaster to the 

 piping system or the machinery to which steam is furnished, and 

 endangering the lives of -all who may be near. Water pockets should 

 be guarded against in designing a system of steam piping, but where 

 oversight or necessity has brought about such a form of construction 

 the danger has been obviated by placing a " drip " in the water 

 pocket, that is, a small drain with a valve through which the objec- 

 tionable water may be allowed to flow from the pipe before a main 

 valve is opened. 



Many plants are provided with a tunnel underneath the boilers, 

 through which, where coal fuel is used, the ashes are removed; not 

 infrequently these tunnels are so arranged that there is a " dead end," 

 from which there is no means of egress. A break which would let 

 steam or hot water flow into the tunnel and cut off escape by the one 

 outlet provided would be liable to scald or suffocate any workman 

 who happened to be in this section of the tunnel. Six cases of tun- 

 nels with " dead ends," which have come under our observation in 

 the past two years, have been corrected by providing additional doors, 

 ladders, or other outlets. 



Every boiler is equipped with a gauge glass, that is a vertical glass 

 tube about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, by which the height 

 of the water in the boiler can be known. These glasses frequently 

 break, as they are subjected to the same steam pressure as the boiler 



