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| Date: | 8th June 1868 |
| Colliery: | Kelloe |
| Company: | East Hetton Coal Co. |
| Cause: | Boiler explosion |
| Lives Lost: | 2 |
| Category: |
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| Description | |
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Boiler Explosions.
No. 45 accident in the list was also a case of boiler explosion ; it caused the deaths of two persons, and occurred at about 20 minutes after 7 o'clock p.m. on the 8th of June.
In this case there were 8 boilers placed side by side, and it was the 3rd boiler from the eastern side of the range that exploded ; No. 5 and No. 8 boilers were not being worked at the time, but the other 6 boilers were being used.
The evidence at the inquest led to the following conclusions : the boilers numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4 had their fires damped up during all the day of the explosion, had each been properly charged with water during the forenoon, and were examined and found to be all right at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, at which time the feed water was going into No. 7 boiler alone.
The steam valves of Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 boilers were closed at that time ; the feed is supplied by a donkey engine from a pond in which there was plenty of water.
No leakage had been observed in the boiler that exploded, which had been cleaned about 8 days previous to the occurrence. The closing of the steam valves puts the boilers out of communication with the steam gauge so long as they remain in that state. There was no alarm whistle for indicating a want of water. The boilers were sludged twice a day. A considerable amount of fur was deposited by the feed water. The damper was down at 5 p.m., when John Morgan, who was one of the enginemen, left the engine.
The boilers were fired by means of Jukes' apparatus. There was an outside kep clack in connexion with the feed to prevent the backing of the water. Where Jukes' apparatus is employed a leakage cannot be seen, but may be detected by hearing the evaporation of the water.
On the 8th of May, about a month previous to the accident, about 20 rivets had been renewed in the boiler, and a length of about 8 feet of seam had then been caulked on the underside of the fire end of the boiler, and on the 29th May, when these repairs were finished, the foreman stated that he examined the boiler and observed no danger.
A model of the boiler, showing the positions of the seams and of the safety and working apparatus and those of the lines of fracture caused by the explosion, was produced at the inquest by Mr. Benjamin Dawson, the colliery engineer, together with samples of plates which had been torn by the explosion.
He stated that the boiler was built by Messrs. Hawkes and Co., and was about 27 years old, but that it had only been in actual use about 14 years, having been at Murton and at Wingate Collieries before being used at Kelloe Winning. There was no considerable thinning of the plates that had been torn by the explosion. The boiler was 30 feet in length, and 6 feet in diameter, and had upon it two safety valves, each 4 inches in diameter, and two common wheel floats, but no water-alarm whistle.
The steam gauge was not in connexion with No. 3 boiler at the time of the explosion. The steam, feed, and sludge valves were found closed after the explosion. There was no sign of want of water or of overheating on the plates of the boiler.
The water used is the limestone feeder, and forms a considerable amount of scale or fur on the boiler plates ; sometimes it is 3/16-ths of an inch thick ; the boilers were cleaned about once a fortnight or once in three weeks.
The boiler was tested by hydraulic pressure up to 70 lbs. per square inch about two years previous to the explosion.
The safety valve weights required to be at the ends of the levers to give the working pressure of 35 lbs. to the square inch.
The boilers were under the inspection of a Boiler Insurance Company, and had been last inspected by a person on behalf of the Insurance Company on the 26th May, when No. 3 boiler was at work ; a few small leakages were then observed in it over the fire, and the caulking was afterwards done in consequence.
In this instance, I am of opinion that the boiler had a proper supply of water in it, that the safety attachments were in proper working order, and that the explosion took place either at the ordinary working pressure or at the usual very slight extra pressure arising from the resistance of the safety valves to the steam in blowing off.
I think that the tearing of the boiler had originated at an old crack, about 15 inches in length, which appeared to have extended in a longitudinal direction along the boiler, but had not been detected until after the explosion occurred. After the boiler had exploded, and until this old crack was discovered, I had thought that there must have been some unusual amount of pressure to cause the boiler to explode, but when it was found I changed my opinion as to the cause. When once a considerable rent is made in a boiler the pressure acting upon the plates adjacent to the line of separation is generally sufficient to tear the boiler to pieces, even through the strongest parts of the solid plates of which it may be composed.
| Source: | 1868 Mines Inspectors Report, South Durham District by John J. Atkinson, H.M. Inspector of Mines, Page: 18 |
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| Fatalities | |
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 | Scarr, Thomas, Fireman, boiler explosion |
| | Smith, John, Fireman, boiler explosion |
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