The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

189;iJ THE LOCOMOTIVE. 87
(118.) — Isaac, Haker's mill, near Loogootee, Intl., was destroyed by a boiler explo-
sion on April 28th, and Francis Baker, a son of the proprietor, was killed.
(119.) — A boiler exploded on April 29th in a mill in Rye, Colo. The engineer,
Charles Laiigracme, was blown 200 feet and killed. .1. M. Hardin was injured badly,
and Louis Mur[)hy slightly. The mill is a total wreck.
Stamps on Boiler Plates.
The makers of boiler plates ought to mark each plate they send out with a stamp
as conspicuous as a Columbus memorial stamp. They ought to, but they don't.
It is a common experience among inspectors to find plates either not stamped at all,
or with stamps so illegible that it is almost impossible to decipher them. Too often the
stamps are so indistinct that all that can be seen of them is a couple of syllables or so,
and perhaps three or four ciphers. Then if the inspector is familiar enough with the
plate-makers of the country, he may be able to make an intelligent gxiess about the
origin of the plate he is examining. There is no excuse for this slip-shod work, for it is
very easy to mark plates plainly, .so that anj-one can tell at a 'glance where they came
from, and what they are. Every shell plate should be stamped hfjiUy in five places:
namely, on each of the four corners, and in the middle. Then, if the boiler-maker puts
them together right-side out (which he usually does), it is easy to tell what the metal
is. The heads of boilers should also be stamped in such a manner that it will not be
possible to destroy all the stamps in the process of punching or drilling the holes for the
tubes or flues. This can be easily done by stamping the head in three or four places
near the flange.
The re(juirements of the United States Board of Supervisors of Steam Vessels, with
regard to stamps, are as follows : "Every iron or steel plate intended for the construc-
tion of boilers to be used on steam-vessels shall be stamped by the manufacturer in the
following manner : At the diagonal corners, at a distance of about four inches from the
edges, and at or near the center of the plate, with the name of the manufacturer, the
place where manufactured, and the number of pounds tensile strain it will bear to the
sectional square inch."' It is also provided that "whenever inspectors shall find a plate
of iron or steel with stamps differing as to the tensile strength of the material, they
shall rate the tensile strength of the same in accordance with the lowest stamp found
thereon."
While we are discussing this subject of stamps, it will do no harm to touch upon
one point that appears to be worthy of attention. A plate-maker, let us assume, has
been sending out plates to some boiler-maker or other for a year or so, at the end of
which time the boiler-man discovers that thej- are not properly stamped. The manu-
facturer's name is on them, it is true, and sometimes the grade of the metal also : —
that is,
"Shell,'' "Flange,'' or •• Firebox;" — but the strength of the plate is not given. So,
when an important job comes up, the boiler-man sits him down and writes a letter to
the plate-maker, calling attention to his remissness, and asking what the strength of the
metal is. In a day or two he receives a reply, saying that "ycu can rely on anything
we send you having a strength of 60,000 pounds." So the boiler-maker gets out his
stamp and marks all the plates of that make that he happens to have on hand, " 60,000
lbs.," regardless of any tests that may have been made. Now we do not say that things
of this kind do happen; yet it is quite conceivable that they might, and it would be well
for boiler-makers to avoid all chance of it. and insist on their plates being stamped in
fuU by the makers.