The Stoker's Catechism

by W. J. Connor

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.