ON coroners' inquisitions on boiler explosions. 49 



siderable number of furnace-tubes have collapsed and ruptured, wlien the 

 rusk of steam and hot water resulting therefrom has been attended -with 

 the most disastrous consequences both to life and property. Explosions of 

 this character are particularly prevalent in Corn^Yall, -where it seems espe- 

 cially difficult to persuade steam-users that a furnace-tube can collapse fronr 

 any other cause than that of overheating through shortness of water. This 

 simple but obstinate prejudice makes Cornwall one of the most proHfic 

 counties for steam-boiler explosions; and the Cornish boiler, which, when 

 well constructed and strengthened in the furnace-tube as just described, is 

 one of the safest and most reliable of any, has been raised to the undesirable 

 notoriety of being tke most exijlosive, simply tkrougk the obstinate pre- 

 judice just referred to, so that the very county tkat gave tkis boiler birtk and 

 name is doing more tkan any otker to damage its reputation. 



Other explosions arise simply through defective staying, as in the case of 

 the boiler that exploded at Aberaman on the 31st of May last, killing four 

 persons and injuring four others. In this ease the front end of the boiler 

 was blown out, consequent on the removal of the furnace-tube in order to 

 metamorphose the boiler (most unwisely) from one fired internally to one 

 fired externally. When the furnace-tube, which formed a most valuable 

 longitudinal stay, had been removed, no adequate provision was made for re- 

 pairing its loss, and the consequence was that the end blew out from sheer 

 weakness. This explosion is by no means singular; and many similar 

 cases have been met with in which the flat ends of boilers have been 

 blown out through unwisely removing the furnace-tube in Cornish boilers in 

 order to exchange internal firing for external. One other explosion, resulting 

 from imperfect staying, may be referred to, which occurred on the 28th of 

 July, 1866, at Tunstall, and resulted in the death of two persons and in 

 injury to seven others. This boiler was of considerable size, being as muck 

 as 36 feet long by 9 feet diameter, while it was worked at a pressure of 

 from 3.5 lbs. to 40 lbs. on the square inch. This boiler, which contained an 

 internal horseshoe-shaped flue, was constructed with a hemispherical end at 

 tkc back, and a flat one at the front. The flat end was insufficiently stayed, 

 in consequence of which it was blown out with the horseshoe-shaped tube 

 attached to it, and thrown to a distance of about 50 yards in one direction, 

 while the shell of the boiler recoiled to about the same distance in another. 

 Alongside this boiler was another, in process of completion, with two boiler- 

 makers and a boy at work inside it. On the occurrence of the explosion, not 

 only was the boiler first referred to torn from its seat, as just explained, but 

 the sister one alongside was tlarown on to a public road, and as this road 

 happened to be on an incline, the boiler went rolling down, with the men, 

 the boy, and their tools inside it, so that their predicament was somewhat 

 similar to that of poor Regulus in his spiked cask. 



Other explosions occur from defective material and workmanship, in illus- 

 tration of which, the explosion may be referred to which occurred at Norwich 

 on the 25th of September, 1866, by which the works were laid in ruins, 

 seven persons killed, and two others injured. 



Other explosions, again, arise from defective equipments, the manholes not 

 being guarded by substantial mouth-pieces, or the boilers not being mounted 

 with suitable safety-valves, glass water-gauges, or other necessary fittings. 



Many explosions occur from the worn-out state of the boilers, the boilers 

 being worked on till the plates are so reduced as to be no thicker than 

 a sheet of brown paper. One such case occurred on the 24th of April, 1865, 

 at Wigan, and resulted in the death of one person, and in injury to four 



1869. V 



