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EXPERIMENTAL STEAM BOILER EXPLOSIONS. lh
P RO~'ESRO R R. H. TH U RST ON.
Thl' public, quite :It' mu ch as professional engineers, have from the l'lIrli('~ t period in the l~i st~ry of th ~ application of steam to ~seful pur.pO~l'!'. fl'lt It per fec tly Justifiable dI strust of the steam boiler , whatever It:' form. Indeed, the grea ter our familiarity with that powerful in strument, the more thorollAhly do we appreciate the daJlgE'r which attends its US<', allo tllO~e of tbe profe ssion who have ever had charge of the mal'bil)ery of a ::. team Ye~se], ne ed 110t be reminded of the unceasing sense of a,)xil'ty and l'e~ p o n sibility that, in most cases, has probably oppres cd tllem by day and by night, when steaming, even where they have felt the greates t confidence in the intelligence and zeal of those to whom they hav e entrust ed the care of the boilers. Such te rl'lLle disasters as that which occurred on the W estfield last ~ummer, and the r pidemic of explosions that have signalized the last few months, have thoroughly re-awakened and intensified the apprehensions so universa ll y felt. It is to be hoped th at a useful r esult may be a more earnest and intelligent inves tiga ti on of the subject, and such additional legislation as may make the sys tem of governmental inspection far more efficient than it is at present in th e prevention of dangerous explosions. During a few years past a numb er of accompli shed engineers have been called, by the char acter of their duties, to imestigate the circumstances attending n early every case of steam Loiler explosion in Great Britain, and recen tly many cases in the United Stat es h&Ye been examined with similar ca re and skill. A committee of the most ex peri enced and talented am ong British engineers has also )'ecc 1I tly given att enti on to th e same ~ ubject, with the ohject of determini ng what leg iHlat ion should be recomm ended, and how far lcgi:;lu.tion may be cx pecteu t o r emedy this apparently rapidly increasing cause of danger to t he public. . TIte very considerable amo un t of informati on thus obt:un ed has been extremely useful in di:;pell ing many of th e strange superstition s