ON THE SETTING OF STEAM B01LEB.S. 



145 



The facility for inspootion wliicli is given is another im- 

 mense advantage of this system. I have alluded to the 

 difficulty there is in getting about in ordinary flues ; and M. 

 Livet has received letters of commendation from nearly all 

 the Boiler Insurance Companies' engineers, one of which 

 only I will quote. It is from the Cliief Engineer of the 

 Yorkshire Boiler Insurance Company, who says : " Your 

 system is the very best on the score of inspection; the 

 present mode of setting does not give a chance of a proper 

 thorough inspection, except when attended with great diffi- 

 culty. I can only say, that if wishing could effect such a 

 change, I would at once have all the 3,000 boilers under 

 my care set upon your principle, and I am sure my staff 

 of inspectors would join me in this matter." 



In the arrangement j^roposed no part of the boiler is 

 hidden from view ; and as the dividing wall does not in 

 any way suj)])ort the boiler, any of the half-round bricks 

 in contact with it may be removed at will. It is also found 

 that the shell plates remain cleaner than in the ordinary 

 setting. The grit is chiefly deposited in the chambers 

 at the back and front of the boiler, while, owing to the 

 perfect combustion of the coal, very little soot passes into 

 the flues ; and not only are the plates cleaner, but smoke 

 almost entirely disappears. 



I have thus dwelt somewhat at length upon the special 

 features and advantages of this form of setting, because I 

 have wished to show how important a part the flues may 

 and ought to be made to play in economical steam genera- 

 tion ; and I think I have shown that this setting fulfils 

 the four conditions, mentioned at the outset, by which the 

 object of l)oilor sotting is best attained. A legion of in- 

 ventors have aimed at making im^jrovenients in the furnace, 

 with more or less success; the form of hre-bar, the air 



