Scientific American, July 6, 1872
Locomotive Boiler Explosion
One of the most destructive boiler explosions which has recently come under our notice, our readers will find represented in the accompanying engraving, which is from a photograph furnished by out correspondent, Mr. Charles D. Bingham. It seems that, on the 9th ult., the locomotive Charles Millar, of the Utica and Black River Railroad, while preparing to start out from the depot at Watertown N.Y., suddenly exploded, the boiler being under a pressure of but 105 lbs. of steam.
The whole top of the boiler, weighing some 2,000 lbs., was projected into the air to a height of at least six hundred feet, falling at a distance of a quarter of a mile from the engine. Other portions of the machinery were hurled nearly half a mile away, many tearing through roofs of houses, but providentially injuring no one, The smoke stack was thrown some two hundred feet, falling between a couple of freight cars. One of the heavy driving wheels was tossed ten feet away like a feather, and the steel connecting rod twisted all out of shape. The force of the explosion was terrific, shattering every window in the vicinity, and, as it shown in our illustration, expending itself on the forward portion of the locomotive. The apparatus in the interior of the cab escaped with but little damage, and its occupants at the time--The engineer and fireman--were, strange to say, unhurt.
No lives being lost, it is of course probable that the circumstance will, in course of time, be forgotten, and no official investigation made; but a mere superficial examination of the broken portions of the boiler conclusively proves gross and criminal negligence on the part of the railroad company. Our correspondent informs us that the iron was corroded in places almost entirely through; that he saw a deposit of scale in a rust crack which extended within one tenth of an inch of the outside surface, and that the thickness of sound iron varied from one eighth to one thirtieth of an inch. The employees of the road state that the boiler had been in use for over seventeen years, and the condition of the pieces shows that it had been poorly cared for.
What the consequences would have been, had this accident occurred when the locomotive was attached to a passenger train in motion, or had it been stationary in a crowded depot, we leave our readers to conjecture. There are plenty of laws in our statute books which compel parsimonious corporations to manifest some regard for human life, and it is the duty of the government to enforce them. We have no doubt but that there are hundreds of locomotive boilers throughout the country which are in as bad a condition as this one was, and which may at any moment prove the means of a fearful calamity.