3 16 The Safe Working of Steam Engines, etc. [July, 



To ensure safety in the working of engines and boilers it 

 is necessary that they should be regularly examined by a 

 thoroughly competent person who is able to detect defects and 

 to fix a safe working pressure for the boiler. 



The best method of securing this is to insure the engine and 

 boiler with a reliable boiler insurance company who will 

 undertake the periodical inspections, and will advise on all 

 necessary repairs, and on the precautions to be followed in 

 working the boiler. The person who is placed in charge of 

 the boiler should understand the danger of tampering with 

 any of the safety fittings. 



It should also be remembered that under the Boiler Explo- 

 sions Acts, the Board of Trade order inquiries into all 

 explosions from boilers, and in cases where they consider it 

 necessary, public formal investigations are held. 



The Courts holding these investigations have power to 

 censure any party who is held to blame in connection with 

 the explosion, and to order him to pay the whole or part of 

 the costs of the enquiry. This power is frequently exercised. 



Most of the serious explosions which have occurred from 

 agricultural boilers have arisen through the working of old 

 or second-hand boilers which have not been properly inspected 

 and tested for some time previously; or through the safety 

 valve being weighted or screwed down so that the boiler was 

 worked at a much higher pressure than it could withstand. 



A case of this kind occurred recently on a farm at North 

 Lopham, Norfolk, and in the course of the investigation by 

 the Commissioners of the Board of Trade it transpired that 

 the engine had been worked by a former owner after he was 

 warned by an engineer who conducted some repairs that the 

 boiler was unsafe, and that on one occasion afterwards it had 

 been worked at high pressure in a crowded sale-yard. Evidence 

 was also given showing that it was not customary to have 

 boilers examined for purposes of safety. 



The Commissioners found that the explosion occurred owing 

 to the weakness of the side of the firebox, due to wasting by 

 extreme corrosion, the thickness of the metal at the line of 

 fracture being simply that of a knife edge. They censured 

 several persons whose conduct in connection with the boiler 

 came within the scope of their report, and expressed the view 



