The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

1894.] THE LOCOMOTIVE. 99
genial man, and well thought of by those who knew him. Be was r single man, but
was to be married in a month or bo.
The boiler of the Rambler is shown in section in Fig. 2. It contained two furnaces,
~1
Fig. 3. — The Exploded Boiler, seen from Below.
which were separated by a water-leg. The explosion was caused by the failure of the
crown-sheet of the right-hand furnace, as indicated by the heavy dotted line in Fig. 2,
and shown in detail in Fig. 3, which is a view
of the exploded boiler as seen from below. An
examination of the boiler indicates that the ex-
plosion was due to improper and defective brac-
ing of the crown-sheets, especially of the one
over the starboard furnace. Five of the braces
at the right-hand rear corner of this crown-sheet
had the appearance of having been broken for
a considerable time, and three others had been
nearly broken off at some previous time. This
left an unbraced area of about 252 square inches.
About two feet beyond these, there were three
braces which were made straight, 2" x £", with
the lower ends riveted to the side or quarter
radius of the fire-box crown, and the upper ends
twisted through a quarter turn and secured
above by pins to two angle irons that were riv-
eted to the wagon-top of the fire-box. Two of
these, and one similar brace near the front, ap-
peared to have had no pins before the explosion.
The plate first parted at the unbraced area
mentioned above, where the braces had been
F ig. 4.- Illustrating the Action
of Z-Braces.
broken previously. The rupture passed across the top of the fire-box to the front, and
the front half of the crown-sheet was torn out bodily, and has not been found. Of the