Boiler ExjAosions. 155 



to the water. Hence it is seen we cannot gain sscuritj by use 

 of heavier material without a sacrifice of fuel. Small boilers, 

 as a rule, are safer than large ones, if built in proportion, as they 

 have a less number of square inches exposed to pressure. Tak- 

 ing a hasty glance at some of the practices in vogue in the construc- 

 tion of boilers, one of the most objectionable features in this asin 

 many other things, is the too general tendency to obtain our 

 goods at a price below a fair market value, and the custom of let- 

 Ing these contracts to the lowest bidder often works to the disad- 

 vantage of both parties. In this business, of all others, the cus- 

 tom should be discontinued. It is fair to assume that boiler mak- 

 ers are as fallible as any other class of business men. Men do 

 not do business for nothing, as a rule,' neither for pleasure. "Each • 

 trade has its trick," and the purchasing party who obtains his boiler 

 for less than the market rate, may seek consolation in the fact 

 that he has been "sold" somewhere in his purchase. 



In my own experience, I have known boilers constructed under 

 these conditions of so poor material, that the plates did not have 

 the manufacturers' brand on their surface. It may not be out of 

 place to add that the builders of those boilers have had no less 

 than four explosions of boilers of their construction in the past 

 five years. From the time the boiler material is placed in the 

 hands of the workman, it is constantly growing weaker, until 

 thrown aside as old iron. The width of the iron in common use 

 is three feet. Along each edge and across the ends, holes are cut 

 or punched for rivets, after which the sheets are rolled to an ap- 

 proximation of a cylinder. When these cylinders are slipped to- 

 gether, all of the rivet holes should coincide. That they do not 

 is a source of much trouble. The positions of these holes are 

 marked through a wooden templet, whicb will be about three 

 inches wide by 1-2 in thickness, and of such, length as each par- 

 ticular case may require. Along the edges of this templet holes 

 are bored, one set answering for the inside cylinder and the other 

 for the outside. In spacing these holes, about six times the 

 thickness of iron is allowed for difference in length, and the 

 same number of holes must appear in each sheet, only in the short 

 ones they are nearer together. The operation of punching the 



