Abstract
THE time having again arrived when domestic boilers will be a source of trouble to paterfamilias, Mr. Munro comes forward with an account of a series of experiments with red-hot kitchen boilers, apparently reprinted from the Transactions of some Society. Whether this be so or not we do not wish to inquire, but to us it seems that the diagrams of steam-pressure are little suited to the “intelligent householder” for whose edification they are intended. The chief conclusions drawn from the experiments are that (1) a dead-weight safety-valve should be fitted to every boiler; (2) water will flow into a red-hot boiler although there is no free outlet, and, also, that a steam-pressure can be attained in such circumstances sufficient to cause rupture of the strongest boilers in use; (3) whilst a very high steam-pressure may be generated in a red-hot boiler by the sudden injection of cold water, a disastrous explosion cannot thus be produced; (4) an explosion, in the true sense of the word, cannot occur unless the boiler contains water as well as steam. Probably the perusal of Mr. Munro's book will help to diminish the disasters from boiler explosions.
Kitchen Boiler Explosions.
By R. D. Munro. Pp. 44. (London: Charles Griffin and Co., 1895.)
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Kitchen Boiler Explosions. Nature 51, 197 (1894). https://doi.org/10.1038/051197b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/051197b0