I8i4.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL 



443 



not toll what cnuscdtlic accidfiit. The pipes arc perfect at the joints. The 

 pipe is not broken. It is one of the spigot (and faucet joints tliat has been 

 Hfteil out iif its place. Mr. .Samuda had no power over the weight in the 

 safety valve ; nor any one else. It was in a chest, secure from any person's 

 interference. The weight upon the safety valve was set at 26 lb. Witness 

 diflered from Mr. Samuda as to the amount ; Mr. S, said it was 26 lb. and he 

 thoiiglit it was 27 lb. No steam could blow off at the valve till the pressure 

 ivas at 26 lb. When Mr. Samuda sent him on deck a very little steam was 

 just oozing out. The motion of (he engines had ceased about 10 minutes. 

 The main pipe is joined with what is called a spigot'and faucet joint. This 

 was lifted out of its socket. In answer to a ijucstion " was there no fasten- 

 ing to the joint? No bolt or screw at all?" witness said it had a packing 

 of liemp. The joint is used to allow for eximnsion. They were cast-iron 

 pipes, and all (hose pipes must have these joints for expansion and contrac- 

 tion. Had seen one twice the size. It is the customary mode of joining in 

 all engines that are filled with cast-iron steam pipes. As already stated, 

 Messrs. Samuda were bound to work up jiarts of the engines of the old ves- 

 sel, and the cast-iron pipes were p:irlsof the old vessel. They used the cast- 

 iron pipes, the air-pumps, and the cross-heads. The engines were in their 

 places before he joined the work at all, and he could not speak at all of the 

 quality of the work. 



The Coroner said there did not, from the evidence of Mr. Low, appear to 

 have been any fracture in the pipe from which the fatal explosion had taken 

 place i therefore the solidity of the material did not become an important 

 point in the inquiry. There was, therefore, on lliis head nothing to find fault 

 with as far as the evidence had gone. He, however, thought further infor- 

 mation should be obtained about the amount of security afforded by the de- 

 scription of joint that had given way. Judj;ing from the evidence, it did not 

 appear to him that there was anything like security against similar fatal 

 occurrences, if the spigot and faucet joint (vere used under the pressure 

 spoken of by the witness Low. He, indeed, did not see hov*, with so ineffi- 

 cient a mode for joining steam-pipes, or packing them, as the witness had 

 described it, latal accidents could be prevented. 



Mr. Low's examination continued — The joint which had given way was 14 

 or 15 feet (as «.as understood) from the builer. Had the pressure never been 

 more than 8 or 10 lb. to the inch, at which the engine worked on her trip, 

 there would not have been any danger, but the additional pressure put upon 

 her required something more than that fixture (viz. the spigot and faucet joint.) 

 The vessel started with the steam pressure at 61b. and while working her 

 they were unable to get it higher than 10 lb. Had no doubt that the occur- 

 rence was entirely accidental. Mr. Pirn, treasurer of the Dublin and Kings- 

 town railway, here asked permission to put, through the coroner, two or 

 three questions to the witness. He (Mr. Pim) was a friend of the deceased 

 gentleman, Mr. Samuda, and being in town lie had taken the opportunity of 

 attending the inquiry to elicit facts upon one or two points. I think, Mr. 

 Low (continued Mr. Pim), you said the cause of the accident did not arise 



from any peculiarity In the construction of the engine itself P Witness The 



primary construction of the engines had no connection with the accident at 

 all. Neither did it arise from any peculiarity in the construction of the boiler. 

 Neither had the material of which the steam-pipe was composed any- 

 thing whatever to do with the accident, because the pipe is whole yet, but 

 were 1 to make the same pipe of the same material I would not make it in 

 the same form. The material of which the steam-pipe was composed did not 

 at all contribute to the accident. 



With the view of having the evidence of other practical men the inquest 

 was adjourned till .Saturday, Nov. 16. 



The Coroner said that Mr. Hensman, a draughtsman, en board at the time 

 of the accident, and Mr. Low, the engineer, had given some additional evi- 

 dence on the inquest held on Friday on the bodies of those who had died after 

 their removal to the London Hospital, which would be repeated. The great 

 question was, how to prevent such accidents occurring in future. A brother 

 of one of the men who had died at the hospital, named Riley, and who was 

 on board at the time, was sati.stied that this was an accident: but if accidents 

 from similar causes were to occur again, it was desirable for persons to know 

 thai death from such a cause would then amount to manslaughter. In a case 

 "The Kingv. Carr," reported in Carrington and Payne, it was held that 

 where a man made a cannon which burst, and it was sent back to him and 

 repaired, and it burst a second time, that death from such repealed accident 

 amounted to manslaughter. So in this case, if an accident from the same 

 cause were repeated, he should have no hesitation in directing a jury to find 

 a verdict of manslaughter. But Mr. Samuda, the engineer and chief owner 

 having paid the penalty of his life for this imperfectly constructed joint in the 

 steam-pipe, he thought it would be harsh to bring in such a verdict against 

 the younger brother and partner in the firm. 



Mr. Low then gave additional evidence, that if a collar or ring had been 

 on the end of the spigot pipe, it would have allowed for contraction or ex- 

 pansion, without permitting the pipe to be withdrawn from the socket It 

 was customary to have such a collar. Its own weight would keep the pipe 



I 



in its place (?) at a pressure ofjsteam of 101b. to the inch, but a pressure of 

 261b. to the inch lifted the pipe out of the socket. 



Mr. Henry Hensman corroborated the testimony given by Mr. Low in all 

 respects, except this, that he thought the same pipe, if it had been joined 

 wilh iron cement, would have been perfectly safe. He did not think that 

 provision for the expansion and contraction cf this joint was so absolutely 

 necessary, the expansion of the middle joint being sufficient. The joint as 

 made and packed, would have been perfectly safe, if there had been a stay 

 between it and the deck, or if it had been strapped with an iron strap to the 

 engine, so as to pievent the pipe rising from its socket. 



A Juryman-Do you happen to know whether this pipe was new or was 

 part of the machinery of the old Gipsy > Mr. Pim-We shall be prepared in 

 a few minutes to show that it was a new pipe cast for the purpose. A Jury- 

 man said It appeared to him. on examination, that the head of the spigot pire 

 had been chipped off. Mr. Low said, it also appeared so to him He was 

 perfectly satisfied if the late Mr. Samuda had known it, he would have con- 

 demned the pipe as unsafe. It must have been done without orders, and ought 

 not to have been done. The Coroner-Might it have chipped itself in coming 

 out ? The Juryman— No ; that was not the case evidently. 



The Jury then retired to consider their verdict, and returned in about half 

 an hour, having found a verdict of " Accidental death." They also expressed 

 an opinion that the deaths of the deceased were " caused by the false and im- 

 proper conslruclinn of the joint of the main sleam-pipe, in its not being suf- 

 ficiently secured ; and they express this opinion in order that] due calition 

 may be used to prevent similar accidents in future, which, it appears to ihe 

 jury, may be eflTccted by a collar or ring to prevent the severance of the 

 pipes." 



At another inquest held on the bodies of Riley, Donovan, and Mills, who 

 died after their removal to the London Hospital, the Coroner remarked' that 

 he thought there was decided blame with respect to the fatal occurrence, in- 

 asmuch as that the steam had been put to 251b. to the Inch, wlien it was slated 

 that from the parting of the S[.igot and faucet joint, it was not capable of 

 resisting steam of that power. The following evidence was given. 



Mr. Low was asked one or two questions as to the position of the steam- 

 pipe, and the place of its separation. He explained that the pipe went up 

 from the boiler vertically, then on a line over wliere Mr. Samuda was stand- 

 ing at the time of Ihe explosion, and turned down to the cylinder. It was in 

 the centre of the longitudinal portion that the spigot and faucet joint was 

 placed, the parts were forced from each other by the pressure of the sleam 

 against the elbow. M'itness attributed the yielding of the sjiigot and faiicct 

 joint to Ihe great pr.ssure ; but he believed if there had been a collar or ring 

 on the end of the spigot, that being encased in the faucet six or seven inches 

 allowing for expansion and contraction, it would have prevented it from being 

 withdrawn. 



Mr. Henry Hensman, corroborated in all points the testimony of Mr. Low 

 but he would go further than he had done, and say that the same pipe, if 

 joined by iron cement, would have been perfectly safe.— Mr. Low, being here 

 asked if ihat was also his opinion, answered in the aflRrmative.— Mr. Hens- 

 man did not think any allowance for the expansion or contraction was abso- 

 lutely necessary. Being asked by Mr. Pim, who attended on behalf of the 

 friends of Mr. Samuda, whether the joint, as made and packed, would not 

 have been perfectly safe, if there had been a stay upon it to keep it in its 

 place, he replied certainly. There were two U ties to hold up the horizontal 

 portion of the pipe ; and if the pipe »ith the joint as made ard packed had 

 Ijcen strapped to the engines, it Hould have been perfectly safe, as the pipe 

 would have been prevented from moving either way. — Mr. Pim— Was not the 

 spigot and faucet joint introduced by Mr. Samuda rather as a refinement to 

 avoid accident, and as an improvement? Mr. Hensman— Yes. And in an- 

 swer to inquiries if there had not been a ring or collar originally to ;he pipe 

 which belonged to the old engines, the witness said, he believed there had, 

 but that it was cut off probably because the pipe was too long, without Mr. 

 Samuda's knowledge ; and if Mr. Snmuda had known that the joint had been 

 fitted in the way it was, he would have had it altered. Mr. .Samuda could 

 hardly look at every joint fitted by his workmen, although he was always 

 exceedingly anxious personally to see the work was done in a proper manner. 

 Mr. Pim observed, that the inefficiency of the joints arose fiom an error of 

 judgment, and not from a want of care, and a juror observed that Mr. .Samuda 

 evidently thought it safe, or he would not have placed himself in the dan- 

 gerous ixisitio.i that he did. 



The jury having expressed themselves satisfied with the evidence, returned 

 a verdict of " Accidental Death." 



Cyanogen.- M. Wohler has shown that when nitrogen gas containing 

 moisture is passed over a mixture of potash and charcoal, cyanide of potas- 

 sium is formed, but if the gas be dry no cyanogen is formed. , 



