EXPLOSION OF STEAM BOILERS. ■ 505 



the "country" is the immediate result of the lack of appreciation of the 

 dangers surrounding a seething boiler, or to impositions practiced on the 

 unwary by knavish boiler makers in furnishing poor workmanship and de- 

 fective materials, is a question to be determined. That jDOor workmanship 

 and materials are often the "prime" cause of disastrous explosions is well 

 known, and however this may be, a system of rigid inspection, by compe- 

 tent officials in every state, would speedily bring the construction and use 

 of steam boilers to the proper level. 



The system of inspection should embrace : The form of boiler as affect- 

 ed by the water in the locality in which it is to be used ; the variability of 

 load, and the fuel to be burned in the furnace; the dimensions as affected 

 by maximum capacity required ; the thickness of plates, class of riveting 

 and caulking, and quality of iron to be used as affected by maximum pres- 

 sure under which the boiler is to be worked ; the test to be applied to the 

 iron used, and the tests to be applied to the finished boilers ; the manner of 

 heating and purifying the feed water and its introduction into the boiler ; 

 the style of furnace to used and general arrangement for facility of inspec- 

 tion ; the safety appliances, and standard of tests for '-steam gauges," "safety 

 valves," low water alarms and other devices applied to steam boilers. 



Every steam boiler now in use, and every steam boiler made in the future 

 should be subject to inspection, and a " seal" put upon it, and a certificate 

 with restrictions under which it may be worked, furnished the owner, tam- 

 pering with the one or exceeding the other to be visited with a severe pun- 

 ishment 



In France a manufacturer cannot put in use a steam boiler without a 

 permit from the prefect of the department, in making an application for 

 "license" to purchase and put to work a steam boiler, the manufacturer 

 addresses the prefect on a government blank furnishing the following in- 

 formation : Maximum pressure of steam under which the boiler is to work ; 

 horse power and class of connected engine ; form of boiler desired ; loca- 

 tion of boiler in relation to buildings and public highway ; fuel to be burned ; 

 nature of business conducted in the establishment, and plan of location (on 

 separate sheet). 



The prefect [of the department refers the application to the prefect of 

 the airo'/idissement, who in turn refers it to the mayor of the commune ; this 

 officer then proceeds to an investigation de commodo et incommodo. The in- 

 vestigation is continued for ten days ; five days after its termination the 

 mayor addresses the proces-verbal of the investigation, with his recommenda- 

 tion in the premises, to the prefect of the arrondissement who transmits 

 it with his opinion to the prefect of the department. The prefect then lays 

 the ^roces before the nearest government engineer, who examines and de- 

 livers an opinion upon which the decision of the prefect is based. This 

 decree of 1810 (which as the writer is advised is still in force) in connec- 

 tion with an ordinance passed in 1843 relating to steam boilers, which j)ro- 

 vides that the boiler shall be tested — first, at the shop where it was built; 



