BROKEN STEAM-CHEST COVER.
A very serious and troublesome accident, which may come under the head of steam-distribution gear, is the breaking of a steam-chest, or of a steam-chest cover. It takes skillful management to get an engine along when this has happened. The most effectual way to restrain loss of steam when a chest or cover has broken, is to slack up the steam-pipe, and slip a piece of iron plate, lined with sheet-rubber, leather, canvas, or any other substance that will help to make a steam-tight joint, into the lower joint of the steam-pipe. If this is properly done, it ends the trouble, when the joints are tightened up. But the difficulties in the way of loosening steam-pipe joints in a hot smoke-box are often insurmountable, especially when the nuts and bolts are solid from corrosion, which is generally the case where they have not been touched for months. In such a case it is better to resort to the more clumsy contrivance of fitting pieces of wood into the openings to the steam-passage, and bracing them in place by means of the steam-chest bolts. A man of any ingenuity can generally, by this means, save himself the humiliation of being towed home, and yet avoid spending much time over the operation. When the engineer has succeeded in securing means for preventing the escape of steam, the main rod must be taken down, and the valve-stem rod disconnected from the rocker-arm. In this instance the piston needs no further attention, after the main rod has been disconnected; for there will be no ingress of steam to the cylinder to endanger its safety.