| Disasters - Names |
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Disasters - Names | ||
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| Date: | 3rd October 1856 |
| Colliery: | Penshaw, Whitefield Pit |
| Cause: | Boiler explosion |
| Lives Lost: | 1 |
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| Description | |
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On the 2nd of October a Haycock boiler exploded at the Whitefield Pit, at Pensher Colliery, whereby William Horn, a brickmaker, lost his life.
This boiler was 13 feet in diameter at the broadest part, had a safety valve 3¼ inches in diameter upon it, and was worked at a very low pressure. It had only been 21 months in the place where it exploded, but had been long used before it came there. The brakesman was said to be a steady, careful, and experienced man, and examined the boiler and cleaned it once a month, and had but done so on the Saturday preceding the Thursday when it exploded, when he observed that it leaked at the part resting on the masonry, at the side next to the brick factory, and towards the fire doors. It had also been examined by the engineer or enginewright about a month before it exploded, and three new rivets had been put into the boiler very near the part which was found to be the weakest, since the explosion had exhibited the plates to view.
The boiler, on examination, was found to be far too thin to be used with safety, particularly where it rested on the brick-work, and which part is the most difficult of examination when a boiler is in its seat, which was probably the chief reason of the danger not having been discovered, and shows the necessity of most rigid examinations being made of all boilers, even to the removal of the masonry for that purpose at intervals. The form of this boiler was a bad one for resisting pressure, and boilers of this form have nearly disappeared from this district, although in some of the older collieries a few continue still to be used, which I hope will soon be discontinued. The brakesman in this case, as usual, adhered to his statement, that the proper quantity of water was in the boiler at the time of the explosion, which indeed might be the case, as the bad state of the plates of the boiler were sufficient to account for the explosion, without any extraordinary pressure having existed in the boiler.
| Source: | 1856 Mines Inspectors Report |
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| Fatalities | |
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Horn, William, Brickmaker, boiler exploded | |
All names found |
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