MORE BOILER EXPLOSIONS

This writer owned and operated boilers for many years in a state
that had strict boiler laws and inspection every year. During this
time I became acquainted with several inspectors. They told me of
two explosions that had occurred from rust along the long seam.
They explained the cause. Some of the boilers used on traction
engines had the lap joint seam down on the lower side with the edge
of the inside sheet turned upward. Changes of temperature causes
metal to ‘sweat.’ This means condensation will form
moisture that will run down into the little trough at the top of
the inside sheet. This makes an ideal condition for rust to form,
and often the metal will be thin as a razor blade at this critical
point. If the seam is on upper quarter, that is near the top of the
barrel, there will be no little troughs either inside or out. Butt-
strap joints should be located on the upper quarter of the boiler
shell for the same reasons.

Other things also cause explosions. I once knew an elderly man
who walked on a crutch. He had survived an explosion. I knew his
son well and he told me how it happened. He said his father was
firing a boiler for a sawmill. It was built with a good air-tight
ashpan. He made a practice of filling his firebox with green wood,
and closing the heavy draft door so he would have a good fire after
they came back from dinner. One day as they quit for noon, the
blocksetter wanted a light for his pipe, so he raised the door, got
a live coal, propped the door up with a stick and forgot to close
it.

Now there were other things that were wrong with the equipment.
The boiler was fitted with an old weight lever safety valve that
had a bevel seat. These were outlawed many years ago. This valve
would stick fast in the worn seat sometimes, but Mr. Shackelford (I
don’t remember his first name), would watch it very carefully
and raise it when it stuck.

When they got back from dinner, the fire was blazing hot, and
the pointer on the steam gauge was clear around resting on the back
of the pin. They all yelled ‘let’s get from here,’ and
ran as fast as they could except for the dumb block setter whose
light for his pipe had caused the trouble. He ran by and kicked the
prop from under the draft door. When this heavy iron door fell, the
jar did it– the boiler let go as though it had been filled with
dynamite! They picked the block setter up in a basket. The rest of
the crew were all hurt, and Mr. Shackelford walked on crutches for
the rest of his life.

Now many folks will say they had no business running a boiler
with’ a faulty safety valve; but new pop valves didn’t grow
on the bushes these days. They had trouble getting hold of any kind
of a sawmill and they were getting tired of living in log houses.
After all, they didn’t have to lock their doors with double
bolts every night. Sometimes a poor guy might steal a sack of corn
or maybe a fat hen, but there was no danger of getting your throat
cut if you slept out in the yard on hot nights.

Now back to busted boilers. In a late issue of IMA, pictures are
shown of a boiler disaster. The men who were firing the boiler
didn’t survive and the blame was placed on them. They had
pumped water onto a red hot crown-sheet! Now I began firing a
boiler in 1906, and have owned and repaired many of them since, but
I have never seen one in which the water entered on top of the
firebox. All of the traction engines and locomotives built since
1900 have the delivery pipes entering the boiler below the water
line, about halfway down the side, and up toward the front end.

The pictures in the May/June 1980 IMA show the flues to be bent
outward at a point where the longitudinal seam was often located on
engines of that type. The firebox appeared to be sound and an
experienced boiler man would have looked at the crown sheet. If it
had been dry and hot, the soot would have been burned off and the
metal would have been a rusty red down to where the water line had
been. I have seen two or three crown sheets myself that had been
hot, and have had the job of rolling the upper rows of flues that
are always loosened if the water is run low very long.

There is no way of proving it now, but it is my opinion that the
young men who lost their lives 76 years ago were killed by the
failure of a rusted seam in a poorly designed boiler. A stuck
safety valve may have helped!

Now I want to put in a few words about ‘foaming’ in
boilers. In the big wheat regions of Oklahoma, Kansas and the
Dakotas, much of the well water will foam. I ran an engine in
Kansas where in part of our run I had to wash the boiler every
night. I had a brother who ran a Case 65 HP in east Arkansas,
threshing rice. The boiler started foaming. Most of the water in
the rice country is clean soft water. They washed the boiler
several times. No help; it still foamed. Finally the owner found
the cause. They found a big bar of soap, well wrapped in cloth, in
the engine tank. A mean competitor had paid them a nighttime visit.
Oil containing detergent will cause foaming. I had a bad case many
years ago from using water out of an empty oil drum. It didn’t
hurt the boiler; it damaged the valve gear. We repaired the gear
and used the engine for seven years afterward. Bad water was one of
the things that put the steam engine out of use.

I will now try to show some of the good and not-so-good ways to
rivet a boiler together. Damage often occurs while a boiler is laid
up during the winter. Temperature changes will cause moisture to
collect on the inside sheets.

Pictured is an engine with a well-designed boiler. Please note
that the seam is on the upper quarter of the barrel and that there
is no place either inside or out that can collect moisture.

Also notice that the delivery pipe from the injector enters at a
point about midway on the side. There is an independent steam pump
on the left hand side that works through a heater. The delivery
pipe from it enters the boiler at a point on the left side opposite
the one on the right side.

This fine old engine is shown at Pawnee, Oklahoma. Please note
that the drive wheels are solid steel, four feet wide. Note
extension rims.

When laying a boiler up for the winter the front end should
always be a little higher than the rear so that no water can stand
in the bottom of the barrel. Also hand plates should be reamed, so
that there can be circulation of air. These old engines will sell
for $10,000-15,000 now, so it will pay to take care of them.
Another thing: when you put your engine away for the winter it is a
bad practice to blow out the water while it is hot. This will cause
any mud that is in the water to dry and form a hard film that is
hard to remove. It is best to wait until the boiler is cool, and
then before opening the blow-off valve, pour in about two quarts of
non-detergent oil. Detergent oil will cause your
boiler to foam. A heavy steam cylinder oil will cause trouble by
building up a coat of insulation on the flues and firebox. Kerosene
will remove oil, but there is some chance that it will cause a
leak. If it should, it is easy to stop by caulking. I have been
using a thin non-detergent oil in my old boiler for about 15 years,
and have not had any trouble.