The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

146 TH E LOCO .MOT I VE. [October,
edly amount to about $30,000. The injured persons were all employes of the Liebel
House.
The story of the explosion, as gathered from the employes, was as follows : The
foreman, Mr. Hitchcock, states that he went into the fireroom about rive o'clock p. m.
and remarked to the fireman that he had plenty of water; it showed about 3 inches
from the top of the glass. He states that he had the fireman open the cocks on the
bottom of the glass and column, and they showed water. The factory shut down at six
o'clock, and the fireman asserts that about five minutes before six he closed the draft
doors, opened the fire doors, and covered the thin lire with fine coal. At six o'clock
the pressure had been run down to about 60 pounds, the usual working pressure being
from 75 to 85 pounds, and the safety-valve being set at 95 pounds. The fireman left a
few minutes after six o'clock.
The night watchman went to work at about quarter of six, and at quarter past six,
when the men had gone home, he went to the boiler room and found the water level
in the glass about 3 inches from the top. He opened the cock under the glass and ran
the water out, and it returned quickly to the normal level. The fire was banked so that
no bright coals were showing, the ash-pit doors were closed and the fire doors opened.
After this he went around to see if all the doors were locked. The explosion occurred
at ten minutes of seven, at which time the watchman was in the machine room, on the
first floor of the building.
It appears, from the testimony of these men, that there was plenty of water in the
boiler, and that the explosion took place on a falling steam pressure; for, as has been
said, the regular working pressure was 75 or 85 pounds, and the gauge showed only 60
pounds when the fireman left, after banking the fires. It does not appear reasonable to
suppose that the pressure ran up, from any cause, during the short interval that elapsed
between the departure of the fireman and the explosion, fifty minutes later. We are
forced to believe, on the contrary, that some kind of weakness was developing, progres-
sively, in the boiler, so that it was only a matter of time before the failure would take
place, whether the pressure was maintained at the usual point, or reduced. This view
was borne out by a subsequent examination of the torn sheets of the boiler, for it was found
that a groove had developed along two of the longitudinal joints for a considerable dis-
tance, weakening one of them so much that rupture followed. A similar groove was
found to extend along another longitudinal joint for a distance of 56 inches,
although it had not cut deeply enough in this place to cause the plate to give way.
The boiler was only 44 inches in diameter, and was so difficult of access that the groov-
ing could hardly have been detected before the explosion took place.
Boiler Explosions.
July, 1001.
(189.) — On July 5th a boiler exploded in the creamery at Whigville, near Attica,
Ind. The front of the building was blown out, and the principal portion of the boiler
was thrown several rods into a creek. A small boy who was playing outside was struck
by a fragment of wreckage and bruised. The employes were outside loading milk at
the time, and so escaped injury. The creamery was operated by the Gibsonville Altruist
community, which has its headquarters at Whigville.
(190.) — A boiler exploded on July 8th in the C. & C. laundry at New Albany, Ind.