_Answer._--Yes; in an establishment in Hammersmith some years ago, the
stoker was in the habit of putting a bit of iron on the end of the
horizontal lever of a safety valve when the steam rose too high, and the
manager was about, and when it went down he would take off the bit of
iron and put it where he could find it for the next occasion. The
manager had gone away one day, and advantage was taken of it to have a
little carouse in which most of the men took a part; and when the steam
rose the stoker popped his bit of iron on the lever and all was quiet
for a time, when another noisy safety-valve began to blow off, and on
went another bit of iron that stopped the noise, and during all this
time the fires of seven or eight boilers were burning fiercely, and the
stoker should have checked his fires instead of what he had done; but in
the midst of the carouse all the boilers began to belch forth steam when
the manager came on the scene. The stoker tried to pick off the bits of
iron before the manager could see them, but the steam was to high for
that; and when at last the noise subsided and the steam had cleared
away, the whole of the revellers were on view, caught in a trap, as
there was only one exit. Most of the men were fined or suspended, the
bits of iron were discovered on the levers, and the stoker had a week's
notice to clear out, and lock-up valves were fitted on every boiler and
the keys kept in the manager's desk ever after.
19. _Question._--Can you always depend on the safety-valve lifting when
the steam rises?
_Answer._--I always keep an eye on the pressure gauge, and if I find
that the safety-valve does not lift at the pressure it ought to lift at
I know that the valve is sticking, and I lift the lever and let the
steam out; the cause of the sticking may be that the valve has worn down
in its seat and becomes conical, or there may be a shoulder on the valve
that would cause it to stick, or it may be that the lever and fulcrum
were smeared with oily dirty waste in the process of cleaning and not
wiped off, but left to bake between the parts, which would prevent the
free action of the safety valve.
20. _Question._--Why is the safety-valve lifted at times, especially
when getting steam up?
_Answer._--It is often done by old stokers as well as new ones, and is
more of a silly habit than of trying the pressure of the steam,
especially as there is nowadays a pressure gauge for every boiler in a
stoke-hold. By lifting the safety-valve while steam is in the boiler and
dropping it down again is a dangerous practice; there is a rush of steam
to the valve when lifted, and when it drops the rush of steam is
instantly stopped, and rebounds like an india-rubber ball hit against
the wall, and this commotion within the boiler is likely to blow the
stop-valve to pieces or the manhole cover off. Besides that, there is
always dust floating on the surface of the water, especially in a boiler
just cleaned, and when the valve is lifted the dust is carried up with
the steam, and when the valve is dropped the dust is caught under it and
often causes the valve to leak.
21. _Question._--When the water in the gauge-glass appears motionless
while the boiler is working, what does it portend, and how would you
proceed to rectify the stagnation of the water?
_Answer._--It portends that the passage for the water is choked and
requires clearing, and I would lose no time in commencing to rectify the
stoppage; as a stoker who is responsible for the safety of the boiler I
am always prepared for emergencies. I commence by shutting both cocks of
the glass, the steam and the water, and unscrew the small bolt in the
water gauge, which is fixed there for the purpose of clearing the tube
that conveys the water to the glass, and with an iron wire in one hand,
I open the water cock with the other hand, and push the wire into the
small hole from which I took the bolt, giving several pushes and pulls
while the water and steam are flying out, until the tube is quite clear;
then I withdraw the wire, shut the cock, and serve the steam cock in
like manner; and while I was doing all this the bottom cock of the gauge
(the blow-out cock) was open from the beginning. Then I commence to put
the pressure on the glass by warming it with steam from the top cock
slowly; then I open the water cock a little, and so on, alternately;
then I commence shutting the blow-out cock a little. By these
man[oe]uvres the pressure on the glass is put on gradually instead of
popping it on too suddenly and breaking the glass, as is often done by
the _more-haste-the-less-speed_ stoker; now I shut the bottom cock and
open the other two, and the water bounds into the glass quite frisky,
and the boiler is safe for the present.
22. _Question._--What would be the consequence if the steam cock of the
water gauge was choked, while the water cock was clear, or vice versa?
_Answer._--The consequence would be most serious for the boiler, as the
water would be forced up into the glass by the steam under it, and would
make it appear as if too much water was in the boiler, and the stoker
would proceed in the usual way to blow out some of this, apparently,
surplus water; and then watch to see it come down to the working level
in the glass, but he watches in vain--it will never come down. He might
empty the boiler dry, and the water in the glass will be there as long
as a breath of steam remains in the boiler to keep it up. And in the
event of the water-cock being choked while the steam-cock was clear the
consequence would be equally dangerous, for the water that was in the
glass before the stoppage occurred would remain in it, for the stoppage
would not allow it to drop down into the boiler again; so there it would
remain, and when the stoker came round to look at his boiler, unless he
happened to notice that no movement of the water was visible, he would
pass on without further ado, and remain in total ignorance of his
danger. Hence the necessity for the stoker to blow out his water gauge
every time he comes in front of his boiler, and if the water enters the
glass in a sluggish or dilatory way the cocks need to be cleared of the
partial stoppage, and let the water enter the glass with a rush.
23. _Question._--Could a boiler collapse without affecting the fusible
plug?
_Answer._--Yes; the tank that supplied the boiler with water leaked
badly, and to stop the leaks a quantity of fine oatmeal was mixed with
water and poured into it, and in due time reached the boiler; but
instead of the oatmeal permeating the whole of the water in the boiler,
it never got beyond the parts surrounding the fireplace; it stuck on the
sides and top thickly, and was baked hard on them. After a few days the
sides of the fire-tube bulged inwards nearly twelve inches, and the
boiler had to be stopped and blown out, and the fusible plug was found
to be unaffected--it was one selected by a Boiler Insurance Company, who
had to repair this damage, and the stoker was exonerated from blame, but
there is little doubt that if the plug had leaked the mishap would have
been attributed to shortness of water and the stoker would be blamed for
what he did not do, and get the sack into the bargain.
24. _Question._--Why is it that an injector can force water into a
boiler from which the steam comes to work the injector at a greater
pressure than is in the boiler?
_Answer._--The secret of the working of the injector is due to the
velocity of the steam issuing from the point of a conical tube, and
water issuing from another conical tube somewhat larger than the steam
cone, and a partial vacuum created in the barrel by the steam and cold
water meeting--as both cones face each other. The cones are about four
inches long, one and a quarter inch wide at the mouths, and about one
half of an inch at the points. The suction pipe, steam pipe and delivery
pipe are about one inch diameter, and the overflow pipe half an inch
diameter, and the water tank three feet below the level of the injector,
the space within the barrel might be twelve square inches; the water and
steam cocks are supposed to be always open, and this is how the injector
is started working. The water-wheel is turned partly round, and a
figured disc behind it indicates the quantity of water let into the
barrel, while the steam is let in by turning a wheel attached to a
quick-screw spindle; then there are ructions inside--the steam and water
have come together, and the water overflows through the half-inch pipe;
but by a little manipulation of the water, air will soon start it
working; then the overflow ceases, and the air rushes into the pipe and
hums, and the injector is working. And the reason of its working is, in
my humble opinion, the concentration of water and steam, with the vacuum
thrown in, that gives additional pressure to the water in the injector.
I might venture to say it gives fully ten lb. on the square inch over
and above the pressure of steam within the boiler.
25. _Question._--The noise created by the injector while working being
very objectionable, could it be mitigated? And, if so, how?
_Answer._--Yes; I succeeded in quieting an injector in one establishment
where anything louder than the scratching of a goose-quill was
considered a nuisance. I first began by putting a piece of paper against
the mouth of the overflow pipe while the injector was working, and the
noise ceased, but soon after that the paper was sucked up into the
injector. I then applied a leathern disc, which answered well, and
proved just the right thing; sometimes the water blurted out, but not
often, and the leathern disc was permanently established; but the
injector would not work with water above 100 degrees of heat; so I would
start with cold water and gradually turn on the hot water and shut off
the cold, and she never noticed the change, but the noise was stopped.
26. _Question._--How would you quiet a noisy pump--one of those stuck up
in a corner of the stoke-hold that can be heard, but not often seen?
_Answer._--I had one of them once--a very good little "Manchester Donkey
Pump," but as noisy as they make 'em--and it became a question whether
she should be discarded for an injector; she was bolted to a wall in the
basement of a block of offices and could be heard throughout the
building, and my employer told me that he would willingly give a 5_l._
note to anyone who would stop the noise. The donkey was vertical; I took
off both valve covers and drilled a 3/8-inch hole in each projection
from the cover that gave the valve its lift, and drove a wooden peg into
each hole from the under side, and rasped them down to give the required
lift, and put the covers on again and started the donkey, and after some
more raspings of the plugs I started her again, and this time was
successful; she worked like india-rubber, no noise whatever, and I
gained more than was offered to quiet her--a cheque of 21_l._ This
happened in Draper's Gardens, Throgmorton Avenue, E.C.
27. _Question._--When several boilers are working in a row, and one of
the middle ones has to be cleaned, what would you do to keep it cool
enough to enable the men to do the cleaning, and also to protect them
while in the boiler?
_Answer._--Having blown her right out I would take off the wheel of the
stop-valve spindle, tie a piece of canvas on the top of the spindle and
lock the wheel up, so that no one should open the stop-valve while the
men were in the boiler. Many dreadful things have happened through some
thoughtless or meddlesome idiot opening the stop-valve while men were
working in the boiler. I also cover the blow-off cocks of the boilers in
steam, as there is usually a pipe into which the steam and water is
carried off running parallel with the cocks, and take charge of the
spanner used in opening them, in case an absent-minded stoker might
attempt to blow some of the muddy water out of his boiler when the men
were in the empty one, and scald them to death, the steam rushing up
through the blow-off. I then fill the boiler up with cold water several
times, and allow cold water to play into the boiler from the manhole by
means of the hose pipe, and the blow-off cock being open there is always
a cool atmosphere for the men to work in; they can remain longer in the
boiler, do twice the amount of work, and in less time than in a
scorching atmosphere. When the cleaning is done and the boiler rinsed
out, I shut the blow-off cock and fill her with clean water to the usual
height; take off the canvas on the spindle, replace the wheel, and the
boiler is ready for lighting up the fire.
28. _Question._--Does familiarity with one's work as stoker sometimes
lead to carelessness and then to mishaps? And, if so, give an instance?
_Answer._--Yes; familiarity in doing things frequently during work,
tends to a careless off-hand style of self-importance that has often
caused trouble and mishap. A crane driver employed at the Midland
Railway Extension at St. Pancras, came to work one winter's morning and
the steam being already up, turned it on to warm the steam chest and
cylinder, preparatory to commencing work for the day, forgetting that it
had been freezing hard all night, and split the steam chest to pieces.
His plea of defence was that steam had remained in the chest and
condensed, and become ice, then expanding, burst the steam chest; this
plea served all right, but the following summer he was less successful.
He came to me during the dinner hour and said, "Jack, I can't get any
water into my boiler, will you come over and look at her?" I did go
over, and on looking at the water gauge saw it was empty, opened the
cocks, but dry steam came forth, opened the fire door and found a bright
fire of coke; while the engine was pegging away to get water into the
boiler. I said, "Bill, stop your engine and draw your fire at once, and
my name's Walker." I went back quicker than I came; and an hour later
he came over to me looking very down, and said, "Jack, I've done it." I
knew what he meant and went over with him to look at the boiler. It was
as complete wreck, and I told him to fly off and get any money that was
owing him before he got locked up; he did go, and I never saw him since.
This man was an engine fitter before he took to engine driving--poor
fellow, I was very sorry for him. Another instance. A stoker had to fill
a boiler and get up steam in her one Sunday morning, there was a big
tank over the stoke-hold from which water was taken to fill cold
boilers, a two-inch pipe with stop-cock led to the top of each boiler
from the bottom of the tank. But the tank was empty on this occasion; a
donkey pump close by was used to keep the tank filled, but this boiler
was the one from which the donkey took her steam, and was now empty, but
the stoker solved the puzzle: a boiler with steam was in use about fifty
yards away, and having a steam-pipe connection to the empty one he
opened the cock and commenced letting the steam into her, but it was
condensing as fast as it went in; and being one of the extra clever
ones, he lighted a fire in the grate so as to stop the condensing, and
did stop it, and let in sufficient steam to work the donkey-pump and
partly filled the tank, and was proceeding to open the two-inch cold
water pipe when one of the workmen passing by saw some cotton waste
smoking strongly on top of the boiler, which induced him to open the
furnace door, and he saw that the boiler was red-hot and collapsed; he
rushed up to the stoker who had his hand already on the stop-cock to let
water into her when he was forcibly pulled away from it, much against
his will, but when he saw the damage he had caused he sheered off and we
saw no more of him. This case occurred at the London Hydro-Carbon Oil
Works, Southall, W. One more: On a Sunday morning a stoker came in to
break the joint of a manhole, empty the boiler and fill her up again
with water. After taking the dogs off and securing the cover from
falling into the boiler, the stoker gave the cover a tap with the end of
the spanner to loosen the joint, but the cover showed no signs of
slackening, and the end of a crowbar was requisitioned but without
result; and in this case, as in a former one, my opinion was solicited
as well as help. I used the crowbar end harder every blow; when at last
the cover seemed to spring downwards and upwards, I dropped the bar
instantly, thinking the devil had a hold of the cover. After a moment's
thought I went down into the stoke-hold and opened one of the gauge
cocks and steam rushed out; there were no pressure gauges in this
establishment; every one of the twenty boilers had eight weights
suspended from the lever of the safety-valve, each weight representing
five lb. pressure. I took off the weights one by one, and when five of
them had been removed steam began to blow off, showing that fifteen lb.
pressure was in the boiler while I was trying to knock the manhole cover
in. On inquiry it transpired that the man whose duty it was to blow out
this boiler the previous day asked his mate to do it, and the mate
forgot all about it (it being Saturday night), and these omissions
nearly caused a catastrophe. This occurred in Pimlico, S.W.
29. _Question._--What advantage to the employer is the self-acting
stoker for steam boilers?
_Answer._--He can use the very cheapest and smallest coals; the cold air
is never permitted to enter the boiler; there is no cleaning out fires
with the door wide open; the steam is more uniform in pressure; the
boiler will last longer, and little or no smoke. There is a drawback to
these advantages: there must be a live stoker to keep the automatic
stoker up to its work; he has to keep the coals supplied to the "Jacob's
Ladder"; he has to regulate the supply of coals to the boxes over each
boiler, and regulate the supply of coals dropping down into the
fireplace, regulate the speed of the travelling furnace by means of the
ratchet, clean out the ash-hole of clinkers every two hours and wheel
them out of the stoke-hold, regulate the water-supply to the boilers,
and keep the steam at the proper pressure, and rectify any and every
derangement and mishap that occurs to the self acting stoker.
30. _Question._--But are not these "self-acting stokers" smoke consumers
as well?
_Answer._--The self-acting stokers have to be kept working by the live
stoker, and are smoke consumers so long as the coals let down on the
travelling furnace is exactly proportionate to the requirements of it,
but if the supply should exceed what is necessary, the grate becomes
choked with coals and has to be cleared of some of them, and in doing
this with coals partly burnt, smoke is inevitable; and if the supply is
insufficient, the grate becomes bare of fuel, and cold air finds its way
through the bars and checks the steam. To remedy this, the coal is let
down and carried onward by the moving grate before they can be ignited,
and soon begin to smoke, so that in these two extremes, too much or too
little coals will cause smoke; but if this type of furnace is in charge
of a competent stoker, there is little chance of the bars being choked
with coals, or starved for want of them.
31. _Question._--Is it not possible to consume the smoke of a boiler
furnace independent of patents and mechanical contrivances that can
only be worked by an experienced stoker?
_Answer._--I have proved it possible where several boilers were
connected and working, and using small and smoky coals. In an
establishment in West London the system in vogue was in this manner: all
the bridges were built hollow, and an iron flap covered the bottom of
the bridge, and a long iron rod from the flap was carried to the front
of the boiler, and an inch steam pipe with cock attached entered the
fireplace above the door, and was joined to a two-inch perforated pipe
that was fixed from left to right over and above the dead-plate. When
the fires required replenishing, the flap was opened, then the door and
steam cock, and six shovelfuls of coals were hastily thrown in evenly
over the fire, and the door was then shut. The result of this
performance was a mixture of steam and smoke observable at the chimney
top, the steam was kept on while any smoke was visible; then the next
boiler was served in like manner, and was a continual round of work to
the exclusion of other things. This method prevailed for many years
before I came on the scene, and noticing that a great quantity of steam
was wasted for the purpose of hiding the smoke, and the six shovelfuls
of coals hardly compensated for the steam spread over them, I induced
the man who built the bridges, after inspection, to build them solid,
and then I commenced a new method of firing, in this manner: I sprinkle
the small coals with water from a hose-pipe, and burn one fire down low,
but bright; I shut the damper nearly close and commence firing towards
the bridge and sides, until the grate is full nearly to the crown of the
fireplace, allowing the gas to remain in the furnace and flues for
twenty minutes, then I open the damper a couple of inches; by this time
there are numerous jets of flame flickering all over the coals, and now
I open the damper to the full extent and I soon have a rousing
steam-making fire. I serve the next low fire in like manner, and so on.
But it is necessary always while burning one fire down for the purpose
of banking it up, to have all the other fires in good condition and
capable of keeping up the steam independently of the one to be banked
up; if the others should burn down too low before one of them is banked,
smoke will follow the neglect. I remained several years in this employ;
my method was very successful, with proper care and watchfulness, and
was adopted in a similar establishment in South London. The former
establishment was the West Middlesex Water Works, and the latter the
Southwark and Vauxhall Water Works. One ton of Welsh coals was allowed
every twenty-four hours to get the seven fires up after cleaning. Here
is another method for consuming the smoke, but is a very wasteful one;
four or five shovelfuls of small smoky coals are thrown on or near the
dead-plate, where they remain until they become sufficiently heated to
ignite, and are then pushed on to the bars by the rake, and a similar
quantity again thrown on the dead-plate, and when ignited pushed on to
the bars as before, and so it is continued. It is expected that the
smoke while passing over the bright fire towards the bridge will be
ignited, but only a very small portion of it becomes flame, and the
smoke tends to deaden the bright fire to a great extent. The door has to
be opened so frequently in this method, and in pushing the coals from
the dead-plate to the bars a large amount of live fuel drops down into
the ash-pit, and if this should be thrown into the furnace again, the
fire is deadened immediately. There is no economy in this method, which
I tried years ago but never continued since.
32. _Question._--Is there any difference, and if so, what is it, in
locomotive and stationary boiler stoking?
_Answer._--There is a wide difference between the methods, not only of
firing but of the general work of the firemen and the stoker. (I cannot
see why one should be called stoker and the other fireman, for they
both have to keep the fire going and the steam up). The loco. fireman
had to be at the engine shed forty-five minutes, and the driver thirty
minutes, before the time of the train starting; the fireman gets the
stores necessary for the journey, such as oil, tallow, cotton waste,
yellow grease, and perhaps fog signals, gets his lamps from the lamp
room already trimmed--these are the head lamp, side lamp, water gauge
lamp, tail lamp and hand lamp; he places the head lamp on the right hand
side of the buffer plank, the side lamp on the left side of the tender,
the gauge lamp close to the glass, the tail lamp behind the tender; he
has to take his engine to be coaled (it used to be coke in my early days
on the L. & N. W. R.), and fills his tender with water, and brings his
engine over a pit, fills the axle-boxes of engine and tender; by this
time the driver shows up, and goes under the engine and thoroughly
examines every part of the gear; then he oils her, and both men sign on
for the particular train that the engine's number is in line with, and
run down the incline to Euston, where they hook on to their train and
wait. If it should turn out to be a particularly heavy train, the driver
will request the pilot-engine driver to hook on and go perhaps as far as
Tring or Wolverton with the train, otherwise the pilot will detach at
the top of the incline at Camden; if it should be a night train, with
the pilot in front, it is an experience never to be forgotten by a young
stoker. (I was not far in my teens when I had this experience, but an
old man now). And at last the signal is given us to start; we blow the
whistle and off we go, two engines panting, puffing, sending up showers
of sparks, and soon we leave Camden behind, and by the time we reach
Watford we are travelling about fifty miles an hour; this is the speed
to test the stoker who has to light his lamps the while, travel round
the foot-plate and keep his balance, and replenish his fire and climb
the tender frequently; but the passenger trains are a luxury in
comparison to the luggage trains. The luggage engines being bigger and
stronger than the passenger engine requires more steam and water,
because she has more than double the load to run with, and at the
stations wagons have to be shunted frequently and often re-shunted; some
are left and others taken to far-off places; the guard's van has to be
detached always in order to have it at the end of the train; the stoker
is hard at work with the brake putting it on and off, jumping down to
hold the points, or coupling wagons--this is not his business, but he
does it to facilitate the work. When the luggage train had to get into a
siding to let a passenger train go by, there was no pit (except at a
station) for the engine to stand over, and both men would have to crawl
under the engine to do anything necessary, through wet, or snow, or mud;
and when starting the engine out of the siding or from a station, and
the driving wheels slipping round, the stoker had to jump down with his
shovel and scrape up a bit of gravel, or sand, or clay, and pop it on
the rail in front of the driving wheel, and if that should stop the
slipping, the engine gave a bound forward and the stoker had to run to
keep up with the engine, throw his shovel on to the foot-plate, and
scramble up the best way he could, or be left behind. In bad weather, if
it rained, hailed, or snowed, both driver and stoker had to keep a
look-out by holding their hands up before their eyes and looking between
their fingers; when it rained, and one side of each man was wet through,
they would change places till the other side got wet through also. These
were the good old times. Drivers and firemen in the present time may
thank their stars that the way was well paved for them before they
started. So there is hardly any similarity between a stationary boiler
stoker and a locomotive stoker, except keeping the steam up perhaps; the
loco. stoker is the king of all stokers.