Steam boiler explosions, in theory and in pactice; . r less danger-ous. Low water and red-hot metal in a locomotive orother fire-box boiler, are, for this reason, far more dan-gerous than in a plain cylindrical boiler; as was indica-ted by the experiments conducted by the Author, thelatter must be entirely deprived of water before thisdangerous condition can arise. In the course of the nu-merous experiments already alluded to, many attemptswere made to overheat the latter class of boiler, but nonewere successful until the water was entirely , with apparatus devised for the
Steam boiler explosions, in theory and in pactice; . r less danger-ous. Low water and red-hot metal in a locomotive orother fire-box boiler, are, for this reason, far more dan-gerous than in a plain cylindrical boiler; as was indica-ted by the experiments conducted by the Author, thelatter must be entirely deprived of water before thisdangerous condition can arise. In the course of the nu-merous experiments already alluded to, many attemptswere made to overheat the latter class of boiler, but nonewere successful until the water was entirely , with apparatus devised for the purpose ofkeeping the steam moist under all circumstances, indi-cate that it is difficult, if not impossible, to overheateven an uncovered fire-box crown-sheet, if the steambe kept moist, and that such steam is very nearly asgood a cooling medium, in such cases, as the wateritself. LOW WATER. 69 Figure 5 # represents a boiler exploded by the intro-duction of water, after it had been emptied by care-lessly leaving open the blow-cock. This boiler was. Fig. 5.—Boiler Exploded ; Cause, Low Water. about five years old, and the explosion, as is usual insuch cases, was not violent, the small amount of waterentering and the weakness of the sheet conspiring toprevent the production of very high pressure, or thestorage of much energy. The whole of the lower partof the shell of the boiler was found, on subsequent ex-amination, to have been greatly overheated. One manwas killed by the falling of the setting upon him ; noother damage was done. Figure 6 shows the effect of a similar operation on awater-tube boiler. The feed-water was cut off, and not The Locomotive ; Sept. 1886 ; p. 129. 7o STEAM BOILER EXPLOSIONS. noticed until the water-level became so low that theboiler was nearly empty and the tubes were of the tubes burst, and the damage was speedily Fig. 6.—Tube Burst ; Low Water. repaired at a cost of $15, and the works were runningthe next day.* That low water and
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectsteambo, bookyear1887
