. The Locomotive . heproperty damage amounted to about $4000. It was said that a few days prior to the explosion steam escaping through a crack in the cast iron shell close to one ofthe heads of the mangle. To stop this leak, autogenous weldingwas resorted to and while this method of repair temporarily stopped I92I.] THE LOCOMOTIVE 227 the escape of steam it would appear that it materially weakened theshell. Examination of the broken parts showed that the casting hadbeen cracked for some time at the base of the flange, as shown inFig. I, this defect extending around the circumference
. The Locomotive . heproperty damage amounted to about $4000. It was said that a few days prior to the explosion steam escaping through a crack in the cast iron shell close to one ofthe heads of the mangle. To stop this leak, autogenous weldingwas resorted to and while this method of repair temporarily stopped I92I.] THE LOCOMOTIVE 227 the escape of steam it would appear that it materially weakened theshell. Examination of the broken parts showed that the casting hadbeen cracked for some time at the base of the flange, as shown inFig. I, this defect extending around the circumference meeting the welded portion at both ends,and varying in depth from oneeighth to three eighths of aninch from the inside surface ofthe shell. The extent of thiscrack at the point where the leakdeveloped could not be deter-mined because the welding haddestroyed all traces other thanthose mentioned above. Thewelded portion extended forabout twenty-five inches aroundthe circumference and wasabout five inches wide butits. Fig. I. holding power was probably slight since a large portion of it appeareddefective. At the break, the larger part of the weld had the appear-ance of slag which indicated that the metal had not fused at all,excepting on the outside surface. While no doubt the crack whichalready existed in the mangle cylinder would, in time, have causeda failure, it is, on the other hand, very likely that the welding hastenedthe end. The head which broke away weighed approximately 750 poundsand was blown through the brick wall of the laundry and across thestreet, a distance of about sixty feet, coming to rest near the ticketof^ce in the railroad station. The flight which it took is illustrated inthe picture on the opposite page, the head lying at the spot marked 2and the hole in the hotel wall, boarded up when the photograph wastaken, at the spot marked i. The head itself is shown on the frontcover of this issue of The Locomotive. The cylinder and the otherhead were driven in the
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