The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

172 THE LOCOMOTIVE [November,
Boiler Explosions in England.
The Report of the English Board of Trade concerning the working of the boiler ex-
plosions acts of 1882 and 1890, is very interesting. It appears that formal investigations
under the provisions of these acts were held in 32 cases during the year ending June 30,
1892, and that preliminary investigations were held in 56 other cases. Of the 88 explosions
thus investigated, 46 were of land boilers, and 42 of boilers on board vessels of one sort
or another. In the formal investigations the court placed the responsibility for the
accident as follows : The
owner was blamed for neglect in 13 cases ; the engineer and
his superintendent were blamed for neglect in 1 case; the owner was blamed for "reck-
less management" in 1 case; the "user" of the boiler was blamed for neglect in 1
case; the owner was blamed for not employing a proper engineer, or for em2:)loying an
improper one, in 2 cases; the owner was held responsible for the neglect of his engineer in
3 cases; the owner was blamed for neglecting his insurance company's advice in 2 cases;
the owner was exonerated in 4 cases; the maker of the boiler w-as blamed for misrepre-
sentation in 2 cases; the seller of the boiler was blamed in 1 case for neglecting to
ascertain the boiler's condition ; a boiler insurance company was held responsible for the
negligence of its inspector in 1 case; and a "person who ignorantly advised the owner
as to the working pressure " was blamed in 1 case. The responsible jiersons were ordered
by the court to pay costs, the amount of which varied, but which were as high as
in several instances.
The causes of these explosions are classified, in the report, as follows:
-....
Deterioration, corrosion, and defective fittings, - . - . . 34
Defective design, workmanship, material, or construction, or undue working
pressure,
Ignorance or neglect of attendants, --------
Miscellaneous, ------------
Ajipendix D gives a report upon the formal investigations that have been made,
under the acts of 1882 and 1890, since August, 1889. Seven such investigations were
ordered in 1889, twenty-eight in 1890, and twenty-seven in 1891. Five of these cases
were not proceeded with, for various reasons; so that the actual number of cases
formally investigated in these three years was 57. The vessels that exploded were as
follows: Vertical boilers, 16; cylindrical boilers, 14; Cornish boilers, 11; Lancashire
boilers, 3; locomotive boilers, 5; chimney [?] boilers, 1; return flue boilers, 2; stoji
valves, 1 ; copper cylinders, 1 ; Kiers, 2 ; lard pans, 1 ; total, 57. These explosions
caused the death of 35 persons, and 116 persons were injured.
"No instance has occurred," says the report, "in which the explosion has been
attributed to 'accident,' although in one case the owner appeared to have taken every
precaution except that of the application of a hydraulic test, and the examination of the
boiler while under such test. To another case a singular cause of explosion was assigned,
a tube having corroded and burst, owing to the solvent action of chlorine upon the iron.
The corrosion might have been avoided by the judicious use of proper feed water and
alkali wherewith to cover the tubes, and the explosion of the corroded tube might have
been prevented had the boiler been properly examined by a skilled person. In 29 cases
no examinations were made by competent persons, these boilers having been worked for
periods varying from 3 to 40 years without examination, although this might have been
done at a trifling expense. In 10 cases examinations were made in a careless or per-
functory manner, and defects, which in fact existed, were not discovered. In 4 cases
examinations were made by competent persons, and the owners' attention was called to