The Locomotive - Lighthouse Survival Blog

1893.] THE LOCOMOTIVE. 173
defects, l)iit they failed to remedy tliein. In all these 43 cases, if proper examiiiatious
had been made by competent persons, and the defects discovered and pointed out had
been remedied, the explosions would have been prevented; but it follows that in order to
be really effective the examination of boilers must be undertaken by competent persons
at sutticieutly frequent intervals.
*»
"The remaining 14 explosions were attributed to the following causes: To short-
ness of water and consequent overheating, 6 ; to absence of safety-valves, or defects therein,
and consequent over pressure, 6; to a safety-valve that had been wedged down. 1; to
faulty construction, 1.
"These investigations have been conducted in public, and reports of the proceed-
ings have appeared in the local newspapers. The commissioners' reports have dealt
exhaustively not only with the cause of the explosion in each case, but with all the
attendant circumstances, including the operations of the insurance companies. It is
beyond question that the publicity given to the judgments of the commissioners as to
the relations between the insurance companies and the owners of boilers, and the culpa-
bility of the various parties whose conduct has been called in question during these
investigations, must have a beneficial effect in directing increased attention to the obliga-
tions resting upon all concerned. The Commissioners have throughout adhered firmly
to the principle of holding the owners or users of boilers responsible for their safe work-
ing condition, and also for the acts of their servants. Owners or users of boilers have
accordingly been found to blame in 48 cases.
"It is fair to say that many owners are chargeable with ignorance or thoughtlessness
rather than with willful negligence in failing to have their boilers examined by compe-
tent persons. They have bought boilers and used them without a thought as to their
working condition, and this has been proved over and over again by the fact that small
users of steam have been working with their employes in the vicinity of the boiler when
it exploded, and in several instances the owners themselves fired, fed, and worked the
boilers. The risks thus incurred may be well illustrated by citing the facts of one
or two cases. A miller had used a boiler for many years without examination. The
mill faced a village green across which children passed on their way to and from school.
The boiler exploded a very short time before the school hour, the mill was wrecked, and
the green was covered with bricks. One child was killed, but had the boiler exploded
a few minutes later, when the children, were passing in greater numbers, the loss of life
would have been terrible. This was a case of simple ignorance. The miller merely
acted as the rest of his neighbors had done, for it was proved at the investigation that it
was a common practice in the neighborhood to work boilers for twelve or thirteen years
without any examination. In another case a respectable timber merchant worked a
boiler for forty years without any examination by a competent person. He assumed
that the boiler would work safely until it was worn out, and he continued working it
until it exploded and caused very serious injuries to the attendant Tvho had been in
charge of it for the whole period. In another case a miller worked a boiler for thirtytwo
years w^ithout any proper examination, believing that so long as he could generate
steam in it the boiler was in a safe condition, an opinion shared by many other owners
in the neighborhood whose boilers were never examined. The boiler, in places, became
reduced to the thickness of paper; and it exploded and killed the attendant.
"In the cases investigated seventeen boilers were insured and forty were not
insured. The relations between the owners and users of boilers and the companies that
insure them, have naturally been a prominent feature of these inquiries. It has been
found, as might have been anticipated, that owners of boilers endeavor to relieve them-