504 EXPLOSION OF STEAM BOILERS. 



SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 



EXPLOSION OF STEAM BOILERS 



BY JOHN W. HILL, M. E., 



A member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. 



The alarming frequency of explosions, especially in the rural districts, 

 demands that the attention of State Legislatures be directed to a speedy 

 solution of the important problem of safety in the use of steam boilers. The 

 interest of the public in a proper system of inspection of steam boilers is 

 rapidly developing, and the necessity of such a surveillance of the manufiac- 

 ture and operation of this eminently useful and dangerous adjunct of 

 civilization, as will reduce explosions to a minimum, is probably felt by all; 

 however remotely interested in steam machinery. 



What is required is the appointment of a Board of Inspectors in every 

 State, to investigate and report upon every explosion, as well as to pursue 

 a rigid system of inspection of the construction and use of steam boilers. 



Whilst it is not imagined that such a Board could enter upon their duties 

 sufficiently charged with information to jDrevent all explosions in the future, 

 their association with work from year to year, and by frequent exchange of 

 views with other similar Boards, would presently expand and develop their 

 knowledge in a manner not to be attained by other processes. 



It appears to the writer that the appointment of an engineer with a selected 

 corps of assistants, to inspect all boilers now in use and recommend legal 

 measures for the prevention of disastrous explosions in the future, would be 

 quite as desirable a "luxury" as the usual Geological corps, for whilst the 

 labors of the latter may improve our knowledge of the physical structure of 

 our respective increments of the sphere, and open up avenues to unexpected 

 wealth, the labors of the former will save priceless lives and property to the 

 extent of millions. 



That there are certain political objections to the inauguration of such a 

 system is admitted, but the combined Avisdora of our State law makers should 

 be sufficient to meet the "legal" and "moral" impediments to a rigid law 

 regulating the manufacture and use of steam boilers. 



However this may be, no one who is a constant reader of the metropoli- 

 tan daily papers can doubt the necessity of a careful system of inspection 

 of the materials and workmanship employed in the construction of steam 

 boilers, and in the use of the boiler after it is set to work. 



The great majority of accidents are not with boilers in the hands of men 

 Avho, from the force of circumstances, are supposed to have a certain knowl- 

 edge of the "regimes" to be established in operating a steam boiler, .but 

 with the rural steam users whose knowledge is naturally very "limited," 

 and as naturally very "dangerous." Whether the frequency of explosions in 



