Boiler Explosions, Collapes and Mishaps: Being the Summary of Boiler Explosions and the Recommendation for Their Prevention Contained in the Reports of the Board of Trade from 1882 to 1911

From the PREFACE. In this small volume the author has endeavoured to bring together the results of all the inquiries and investigations made under the Boiler Explosions Acts, 1882 and 1890. There have been over two thousand of these inquiries, and though each in turn has been the subject of comment at the time by the Engineer-Surveyor-in-Chief to the Board of Trade or by the Commissioners holding the investigation, the lessons which they teach have perhaps been forgotten or have never been brought to the notice of the general body of steam users. It is true that the boiler insurance companies, through their engineers, have warned thoso who insure with them against the more common causes of explosion, but the record of Board of Trade experience contained herein will, it is believed, bring more forcibly to the minds of owners and users of boilers the dangers of disaster and their responsibilities in respect to their plant. It is also of great importance to a steam user to ascertain correctly the cause of an explosion. Blame or liability may be attached either to himself or some other person according to the decision of this question. A coroner's jury has the power to incorporate in its finding a decision as to the cause of an explosion. At such an inquest the coroner is usually assisted by an engineer, who, selected by the coroner, may not always have the experience necessary to found a proper decision. Such engineer does not go into the witness box, but makes a report to the coroner and sits with him to advise him. A factory inspector may also attend the coroner's inquiry and ask questions, nominally for the purpose of testing whether the Factory Acts have been complied with, but sometimes to support some theory which he has formed as to the cause. Factory inspectors are seldom boiler experts. The Board of Trade surveyors, holding their preliminary inquiry, generally make a thorough investigation. They are usually competent boiler engineers, but are not infallible, and the engineers of boiler insurance companies have often questioned the opinions expressed by them in their reports. It is upon their report that the Board of Trade decides whether a formal investigation should be held. The formal investigation and the judgment of the Commissioners, carrying with it perhaps censure and order for costs, does not affect the civil liabilities of the parties, but it cannot be ignored as a powerful weapon of cross examination in a court of law. From the foregoing it is clearly important to the parties interested in an explosion that no incorrect theory, carrying with it blame or liability to themselves, should be upheld at any of the above inquiries....