The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

iy93.] THE LOCOMOTIVE. 89
4,168,485 tons of Bessemer steel, 609,889 tons of open-hearth steel, 84,709 tons of
crucible steel, and 4,548 tons of miscellaneous steel, making a total of 4,927,561 tons,
which is the greatest amount on record for a single year. Of the liesscnier steel, Penn-
sylvania pro(hiced 57 per cent. The jjrices of iron and steel have never been lower than
at present. .
The litjioft for 1892 of the chief engineer of the National Boiler and General Insurance
Com))any, of Manchester, Kng., is at hand. It is very interesting, and contains
many useful suggestions concerning the care of boilers, and the defects they are liable
to develop. The number of boiler explosions in the United Kingdom during tlie past
twenty years is said to have been 786. These are divided, in the Ifejxtrt, into two
classes, one giving the statistics of explosions during the years 1873-1882, and the other
during the years 188:5-1892. The results are:
No. of E.xplosions. Persons killed. Persons injured.
First decade, 487 563 855
Second decade, 349 206 480
For the twenty years, 780 769 1.335
From these data it appears that the average number of explosions per year was 43.7
during the first decade, and 34.9 during the second; that the average number of persons
killed and injured per year was 141.8 during the first decade, and 68.0 during the second;
and that the average number of ])ersons killed and injured per explosion was 3.24
during the first decade and 1.96 during the second. The marked decrease in the num-
ber and violence of the explosions is largely attributed, by Chief Engineer Ililler, to the
regular inspection of a continually increasing number of boilers by the boiler insurance