A Terrible Boiler Explosion and Its Lesson

first-class one in every respect. There were two boilers, only one
of which was in use at the time of the explosion. It was not old,
was well made and well taken care of. There is absolutely no
evidence of carelessness or of improper conditions, so far as they
could have been known at the time. The usual pressure of 90 pounds
was on the boiler at the time of the explosion. The effects were
such as should be expected. The boiler was practically blown to
pieces; walls were knocked down, and bricks were thrown, some of
them to a great distance. The only two persons in the boiler room
were instantly killed, and buried under the debris. Three others
were seriously injured, and several received slighter wounds. One
of the men killed was the regular fireman of the boiler, and the
other was Patrick Shields, an inspector of the Hartford Steam
Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company. Mr. Shields had been in
the boiler room not more than five minutes, and was found seated in
a chair, covered with bricks and other material, and shockingly
mutilated.

The following extract from a letter from J. M. Allen, president
of the Hartford S. B. I. & I. Company gives some additional
information, and also reveals the probable cause of the
explosion:

‘The boiler which exploded in the works of the Graves
Elevator Company, of Rochester, New York, by which one of our
inspectors lost his life, was a boiler that was only four years
old. It was 66 inches diameter, 16 feet long, constructed of
****-inch steel plates; dome, 36 x 39 inches. There were 98 3-inch
tubes; was well built and well set, and the boiler room was
regarded as one of the best equipped in that vicinity. When the
boiler was constructed, the plates were all tested by coupons being
sheared from their edges, and the tests were very thorough and very
satisfactory.

‘Now, as to the cause of the explosion, our chief inspector
has made a careful examination, and has satisfied himself that it
resulted from one of those incipient cracks that are hidden in the
joints by the over-lap of the sheet. We have found several similar
cases. The cracks are so located that they cannot be discovered by
an inspection, as from an internal inspection the inner lap does
not show any fracture whatever, and the outer lap covers the
fracture which has not worked through the plate. As to the cause of
this kind of fracture, we have pretty well satisfied ourselves that
it comes from an effort to bring the plates together at the edges
after they have been rolled; that is, the outer lap sometimes
‘cocks up’ a little above the lower plate, and is brought
into place by hammering. We are led to arrive at this conclusion
from the fact that, in visiting boiler works, we have seen this
kind of practice, and have protested against it, as it is very
liable to start an incipient fracture which, under the conditions
of use and pressure, is liable to develop into a dangerous
weakness. There seems to be no other well-founded reason for such a
weakness being developed. The holes are punched in the plate and
considerable metal is taken out, and then the effort to bring the
lap of the plate together would be liable to bring a pretty severe
stress at the points where the plate is forcibly bent.

‘I do not wish to be hypercritical in regard to the
construction of boilers by the better class of boiler makers, and
could not say that this was the practice in the works where this
boiler was made; for the boilers are regarded as first class in
material and workmanship. At the same time, there seems to be a
point which it is well to consider, and which we have written
about, and concerning which we have sent out printed information
among all the boiler makers of the land.

‘Mr. Shields, the inspector who lost his life by this
accident, made inspections of the boilers in a certain portion of
the western part of the State of New York. He had been in Buffalo,
and arrived in Rochester that day, and was busy looking over the
various boilers insured, on what we call our visits of inspection;
that is, external inspections to see that gages, safety valves and
all attachments were in proper working order. The internal
inspection had been made some time previous. He had just entered
the boiler room: had not been there five minutes; was chatting with
the boiler tender, when the explosion occurred without a
moment’s warning, so far as we can learn, without even a hiss
of escaping steam. The examination of the fragments showed a
fracture on one side of the boiler, which was constructed in three
sections of plates, and the joint which ruptured was up out of the
fire some distance, and was covered by the brickwork of the
setting. I do not think any inspection, save cutting the boiler to
pieces, could have detected this defect. There had been no
indications of leakage, so far as we are able to ascertain no
indication whatever of any weakness; but the crack was
there.’

The present writer knew Mr.Shields for a number of years as a
shopmate, and he has been met occasionally since he was in the
service of the Hartford Company. He was an excellent boiler maker,
thoroughly informed as to the best boiler practice, and was a
faithful, thorough and reliable inspector. That he should have lost
his life under the circumstances narrated, is one of the remarkable
facts of life which continually challenge fiction.

In this connection, it seems to be no less than our duty to
reproduce from the Locomotive a portion of the article which it has
twice printed upon this danger which lurks unseen in boiler
construction. The article referred to was entitled ‘Cracked
Plates.’ The part especially bearing upon the cause of the
explosion referred to above is as follows:

‘The accompanying cut shows a crack due to a different
cause, and it ought to carry with it a useful lesson. It represents
a piece of plate that was cut from a boiler in active service, and
which was believed to be in good condition. The boiler from which
it was taken was 48 inches in diameter, with tubes 15 feet long,
and the plates were of steel, of an inch thick. The piece of plate
shown in the cut formed the edge of one of the sheets, where two
sections of the shell were united by a longitudinal, double-riveted
lap-joint. It was taken from the upper part of the boiler, and was
not exposed to the fire. It contained one well-marked crack
extending completely through the plate, besides many other shorter
ones running into one another in all sorts of ways, some of them
extending through the plate, and others not quite through it. All
these cracks were entirely covered by the inside lap of the joint,
so that they could not be seen from the interior of the boiler: and
on the outside, the boiler was covered at this point by a thick
layer of non-conducting asbestos covering. We mention these points
in order that the reader may understand how easy it would be to
overlook this defect. Yet it would not be putting the case too
strongly to say that although the boiler appeared to be in good
condition, it was actually on the verge of explosion. For a
considerable distance along the joint the strength of the plate was
entirely destroyed, and at other places it was held together by the
merest skin of metal, as was afterwards shown by breaking the plate
across along the line of the cracks. The fractured area was almost
entirely black, though bright spots were noticeable at intervals of
two or three inches or so.

‘The cause of this defect will be sufficiently obvious to
those who are familiar with the processes of boiler making. In
rolling plates into the cylindrical form, preparatory to riveting
them up into shells, it is customary to bend one end of the plate
to what is judged to be the proper radius, by the use of the
sledgehammer. The plate is then run through the rolls and rolled
into shape, the end that was previously bent being introduced
first. When the plate has been rolled all but the last 5 or 6
inches, the last end slips off the first roll, and the rolls can no
longer ‘grip’ the sheet. The result is, that the last end
of the sheet is not bent to the proper radius, but remains
straight, or nearly so.

‘In order to bring the outer lap to the proper curvature, it
is customary for one man to hold a sledge against the projecting
edge of the lap, while another workman strikes the shell on the
inside. In this way the lap is bent down into place, and after the
shell has been brought to conform with the ‘sweep’ or
templet, in every part, it is ready for riveting.

‘Now it will be seen that the treatment required for
bringing the laps together in this manner is rather violent; and it
follows that nothing but the best of materials will stand it
without being greatly distressed and permanently weakened. Under
the sledging operation the material is likely to be strained beyond
its elastic limit, unless it possesses great ductility. The
greatest strain on it comes on the outer lap, at or near the line
where it touches the inner one, or along one of the lines of rivet
holes, where the plate is weakened by the loss of material. We have
no doubt that the cracks shown in the cut were started in this way,
and that they afterwards crept into the plate gradually as the
boiler yielded slightly under varying pressures, until they reached
the highly dangerous state described above.

‘If the sledging were done while the sheet was hot, it would
not be so objectionable; but the great majority of boiler makers
will not attempt to heat the plate before sledging the lap down,
because when the sheets are hot they are apt to buckle out of shape
and give great trouble. If the sheets are to be sledged cold, the
proper way to do it is to bend each end to the proper radius before
beginning the operation of rolling. A convenient way to do this is
to lay the ends of the sheet over the upper roll, and bring it down
to the proper radius very gradually.

‘In the early days of steel boilers, before the manufacture
of that material was understood as well as now, plates were much
more apt to be injured by sledging than they are at present. Steel
having a high tensile strength is almost certain to be deficient in
ductility; and for this reason it is customary, in the
specifications sent out from this office, to make the maximum
allowable strength of plate 65,000 pounds to the square inch, when
such plate is to be exposed to the fire. We also specify that the
steel used shall show an elongation of 25 percent, in a length of 8
inches, that it shall show a reduction of area of not less than 56
percent, and that its elastic limit shall be at least 50 percent of
its ultimate strength. The plate should also be capable of being
bent double and hammered, when either hot or cold, without showing
cracks; and it is also desirable that it should stand this same
test after being heated and quenched in water. Steel that possesses
these qualities makes excellent boilers, and it will stand a great
deal of abuse in the boiler shop without developing defects in
after service.’