. The Locomotive . ce he noticed a brownish stain on theshell, well up on the side where the brick wall of the furnace and theshell join. To his trained eye this indicated a leak and he there-upon questioned the chief engineer as to whether any leakage hadbeen noticed. The reply was in the negative but our inspector,jievertheless, was not satisfied. Climbing on top of the boiler he pro- 1921.] THE LOCOMOTIVE. 197 ceeded to learn, if possible, the source of the leak that had causedthat stain on the boiler shell. The engineer called his attention to awater pipe running across and somewhat above
. The Locomotive . ce he noticed a brownish stain on theshell, well up on the side where the brick wall of the furnace and theshell join. To his trained eye this indicated a leak and he there-upon questioned the chief engineer as to whether any leakage hadbeen noticed. The reply was in the negative but our inspector,jievertheless, was not satisfied. Climbing on top of the boiler he pro- 1921.] THE LOCOMOTIVE. 197 ceeded to learn, if possible, the source of the leak that had causedthat stain on the boiler shell. The engineer called his attention to awater pipe running across and somewhat above the boiler, mention-ing that considerable condensation collected on this pipe and thatpossibly there was some water reaching the boiler from this did not seem an altogether satisfactory explanation, however,so the inspector ordered some of the asbestos covering of the boilerremoved at a point where he believed a leak might be. The boilerwas then filled with water under pressure and it was probably some-. Water Issuing from a Lap Seam Ckack. what of a surprise to all present but the inspector to see water spray-ing out through a crack in the boiler shell as shown in the photo-graph herewith. The leakage was through a lap seam crack and itis practically certain that this boiler would have caused a disastrousexplosion if it had remained in service. The watchful eye of the in-spector, however, prevented further use of the boiler and therebysafeguarded life and property. The case just cited brings to our mind a somewhat similar one inwhich the owner had repairs made and only by good fortune was aserious accident averted. The engineer of the plant, a laundry, no-ticed some steam issuing through the covering of the boiler and uponinvestigation found that the steam came from a crack in the shel of 198 THE LOCOMOTIVE. [July, the boiler. The crack was of the lap seam type but the owner did notknow its dangerous character and neither did the self-styled boiler-maker he called
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