Boiler Explosion

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Fascinating 19th century picture

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

I found this image on Wikipedia.

It's worth viewing it fullsize at: LINK if clicking the image doesn't work.

Neil

[“Bill Hancox”Participant @billhancox]

Wow!! I hope the engineer and fireman were in the local pub having a cuppa when that happened. I think that boiler inspector just retired recently.

Bill

[StovepipeParticipant @stovepipe]

Apparently, it was not unknown for a bucket of spanners to be hung on the safety valve lever in that era, to expedite the crew's entry to heaven !

Dennis

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

Hi Neil, ive got that and loads more in a book dedicated to boiler explosions….was not uncommon by all accounts!

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

Low water, screwed down safety valve, wrought iron, neglect, decay, boom.

I hope the fireman and driver got a good send off!

Bri

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

There was a thread on here the other day that got heated about welding copper, take note on doing things that are not fully understood;(

Bri

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

All boilers are dangerous ! They are a potential bomb if used by inexperienced operators.

Proper training and inspections are necessary.

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

That should make cleaning the tubes easier

[nigel jones 5Participant @nigeljones5]

Hi Bri…..indeed there was, and I was called negative for pointing out what was required!

[Boiler BriParticipant @boilerbri]

There's nothing negative about sound advice. That's what most people get from this forum, although a bit drawn out sometimes. I employ very competent welders doing tig welding on stainless steel every day, however all our pressure vessels go out to specialised firms.

its not the here and now, if down the years the loco goes to some unknowing person and runs it in public and it goes pop who knows who may be harmed? Then you end up with a photo like the above!

Better sticking to the tried and tested or leave it alone, but I think he had come to that decision anyway.

Bri.

[HopperParticipant @hopper]

Interesting pic. Looks like the riveted joints on the piece in the foreground were stronger than the boiler sheet, which looks like it split along the section that had been curved in two directions (ie domed). Wonder how far away the other bits landed?

It's wonder to me there have not been more of these incidents. Over the years I worked on boilers in several places where the boiler man was out of the boiler room doing maintenance work up to a city block away more time than he was in the boiler room watching the glass. I suppose modern era safety valves and gas/oil shut-offs for low water make all the difference. Still, Murphy's law and all…

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Way back in the late 70s I was put in charge of a butterworth heater for tank cleaning on a big OBO carrier.

They had a big donkey boiler for operating windlasses and turbine pumps which fed this thing and I had to keep the water level in the middle of the sight glass for 8 hours a day for about a week

The water was fed in via the fire pump and everything went peachy for a couple of days until unbeknown to me the fire pump tripped out in the engine room.

So I'm screwing the feed valve open and the feed water level disappears because there's no pressure and this butterworth heater starts to heat up and bang like an anti-tank gun

I didn't hang about, I was off up the deck and behind the nearest hatch cover

The noise, which could be heard throughout the ship alerted the 2nd engineer who got the fire pump going again and settled things down

Anyway, if a boiler explosion is "imminent" I doubt that, in the majority of cases, any person in the vicinity would be unaware of the impending situation

[Nick_GParticipant @nick_g]

.

This looks as if it was an 'exciting' event.!!

Nick

[Maurice Cox 1Participant @mauricecox1]

Earlier in this thread, "Hopper" wondered how far away the bits landed.

Many years ago, I knew "Billy the steam" who used to drive a horizontal engine that drove the machinery at a brickworks near Maidenhead. He told me that at sometime in its past, the governor drive failed while the attendant was not attending. The engine ran away, The flywheel was made in two pieces, held together by bolts. These failed! One half of the flywheel went into the bottom of the wheel pit. The other half however, sliced through a roof timber at least nine inches square, exited through the roof, and landed near some workers cottages about one hundred yards away!! Billy showed me the sawn off end of the beam which was still visible. The works were out of use by the time I saw this, but it was all still there. The parts of the wheel were retrieved, undamaged, and refitted, and the engine worked untll the brick works closed. I believe that the engine is in a museum now, but I cant remember where . It is mentioned in one of George Watkins's books.

Regards Maurice

[Harry WilkesParticipant @harrywilkes58467]

Here's another "link"

[MikeParticipant @mike89748]

The book I recall is "Locomotive Boiler Explosions" by Christian H. Hewison, published in 1983. I've now lost my copy. The only point I can remember is that the only British railway company never to have a boiler explosion was the LNER. There are plenty of cheap second-hand copies if students of the livelier effects of over-pressure steam on overheated metal care to look on line.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

From my Machinery's Handbook (18th ed.):

The test of a very specially designed bronze and steel flywheel of built-up construction, 49" diameter and 900lbs weight.

"This wheel burst at 1775 revolutions per minute at a linear speed of 372 feet per second. The hub and main spokes of the wheel remained nearly in place, but parts of the rim were found two hundred feet away."

It's worth noting that when using some small but fast lathes with cast iron faceplates it's possible to spin them at speeds that the flywheel calculations in this book suggest might be unwise.

Neil

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