Proprietor, Neiman Machine Works, Freeport, Illinois
It is interesting to note the various views expressed by writers
on valve gears, reverse motions, boilers, etc.
There are some mistaken ideas relative to boiler safety. When we
consider that the greatest explosions known to this world were
caused by steam pressure, some of them so disastrous that the Atom
careful about the condition of our boilers. Boilers are always a
dangerous magazine of energy even with the best of management. So
it is criminal to be careless and negligent about a boiler.
It is a mistake to place too much confidence in the so-called
boiler inspections that are passed onto the public these days. In
our experience of more than sixty years we have not seen an
Inspector use hammer test on a boiler. We maintain that no boiler
inspection is worth the name without a careful hammer test. We have
seen case after case of boilers carrying 125 lbs. and more steam
pressure and with excellent external the sheet. And some of these
boilers were carrying full steam pressure around the clock.
All of our boiler safety rules and formulas, including those
prescribed by the U. S. Naval and Marine Service and the A.S.M.E.
code are based on perfectly sound sheets and seams. In other words
new condition. It is quite obvious that these rules cannot apply to
old boilers, 20 to 50 years old and more or less neglected through
these years. Owing to the foregoing facts, we cannot urge too
strongly that the utmost care be used in handling old boilers. The
years since appearance where the hammer revealed soft and thin
spots, so thin that a few sharp blows of the hammer sent the bail
of the hammer through they were built have made them subject to
‘general debility’ and they are not what they used to be .
. .So be careful, Boys, PLEASE!
