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	Individual Details		Individual Details

Age:	45
Died:	4th Apr 1868
Accident:	4th Apr 1868
Year Born:	abt. 1823
Colliery:	South Pelaw
Company:	Hunt, Perkins, and Co.
Occupation:	Brakesman
Notes:	death caused by boiler explosion
Buried:	[not known]
Category:

Boiler Explosions.

No. 29 accident in the list arose from the explosion of a boiler, which caused the death of an engineman who was about to relieve his fellow engineman, but had not taken charge of the engine at the time when the explosion took place.

After a careful inspection of the parts of the exploded boiler I attended the inquest, when the following statements were elicited.

William Speed was the brakesman or engineman in charge at the time of the explosion ; John Swinney was the colliery engineer, and had the general charge of the boilers, to see that they were sufficient and kept in proper repair, and John Porter was the foreman blacksmith who superintended the execution of such repairs.

The steam was heard to be blowing off at the safety valves immediately before the explosion took place ; the deceased was found between the 3rd and 4th boilers, reckoning from the engine-house; he was dead, having been injured about his brow ; he had been bleeding, but was blackened when found amongst the wreck about half an hour after the explosion. Deceased had been seen going towards the boiler fire holes a few minutes before the explosion occurred.

The explosion took place about 4 a.m. on the 4th of April.

At the colliery there were 4 boilers placed side by side, numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, No. 1 being the one next to the side of the engine house.

It was No. 2 boiler, the 2nd one from the engine house, which exploded.

There were two floats and two safety valves (one 3½ and the other 3 7/8 inches in diameter) in connexion with each of the boilers. Each boiler had an unplugging apparatus and a feed pipe and valve, but there was not a valve to prevent the water being thrown out of one boiler into another through the feed pipe.

The boiler was cylindrical, and had hemispherical ends ; it was 28 feet in length over the ends, and was constructed of plates 3/8 ths of an inch in thickness, and they were found to be of nearly their primitive thickness along the lines of fracture. The boiler had been constructed by the Birtley Iron Company, the owners of the colliery, and had been in use about 29 years. The plates had cracked and had been patched in some parts. The boiler had been repaired on several occasions, but the fractures did not pass through any of the patches. A model of the boiler showing the seams, lines of fracture, and the position of the fittings was exhibited at the inquest.

The boilers were fed with water from the mine and deposit a thin hard incrustation, but they were cleaned once a month. There was nothing amiss with the feed apparatus. The water was heated before being sent into the boilers.

The most recent repairs to the boiler were made about 4 days before the explosion took place. Flash flues and external firing were employed.

The steam jug was found to have had its valve open, so that the exploded boiler would have a steam communication with the other boilers and with their safety valves at the time of the explosion.

The ordinary working pressure was 30 lbs. per square inch, and the valve weights required to be at the ends of the levers to get this pressure upon the valves. The exploded boiler was filled on the First of April after being repaired, and was boiled the next morning, and the steam raised to its working pressure. Daily sludging was practised. The feed valve was closed at the time of the explosion. The boilers were fed by a donkey engine. Some of the plates forming the boiler appeared to be crystallized, and more or less brittle and deteriorated by long use or exposure to the heated air and gases from the fire. There were no appearances to indicate that there had been any want of water in the boiler, or overheating of the plates composing it.

My opinion as to this boiler explosion is, that it occurred under the usual or ordinary working pressure at a longitudinal seam where an old crack, about 10 inches in length, was discovered (after the explosion) to have existed in the plate, but which does not appear to have been detected previous to the explosion. In pinning some of the rivet holes when repairing the boiler immediately before the explosion I think it highly probable that the plate had been further weakened at this old crack, and that to such an extent as to render the boiler incapable of sustaining the working pressure, so that it exploded as soon as the steam was got up and that pressure was brought upon it.

There appeared, from the evidence, to have been no leakage at the old crack to lead to its detection previous to the explosion, and hence it had probably not extended through the entire thickness of the plate.

• 1868 Mines Inspectors Report, South Durham District by John J. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 17
• 1868 Mines Inspectors Report, South Durham District by John J. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 22, Accident Number: 29

Email	Researcher	Date	Interest
	Carole Carr	15 Apr 2020	Mark Leathard was my great grandfather x3

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