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THE STOKER'S CATECHISM




                  THE

           STOKER'S CATECHISM


                   BY

              W. J. CONNOR.


                [Device]


                London:
 E. & F. N. SPON, LIMITED, 57 HAYMARKET
               New York:
 SPON & CHAMBERLAIN, 123 LIBERTY STREET
                  1906




Transcriber's Note:

    Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note. Variant
    spellings have been retained. The oe ligature is shown as [oe].




PREFACE.


There is no trade or calling that a working man is more handicapped in
than that of a Steam Boiler Stoker; there are no books on stoking; the
man leaving his situation is not anxious to communicate with the man who
is taking his place anything that might help or instruct him; and the
new man will be shy of asking for information for fear of being thought
incapable for the post he is seeking; and the transfer takes place
almost in silence, and the new man has to find out all the ways and
means at his own risk, sometimes at his employer's expense.

My object is to instruct that man in his business without his knowing
it, or hurting his very sensitive opinion on stoking and other matters;
for I am well aware that it is only the least experienced who are the
hardest to convince, or instruct--against their will. I have therefore
ventured to devise this simple method of question and answer, which I
have named "The Stoker's Catechism," which I hope may instruct and
interest him.

I will not encumber this preface with my personal qualifications for
this little work--the answers to the questions might suffice.

                                                    W. J. C.




THE STOKER'S CATECHISM.


1. _Question._--How would you proceed to get steam up in a boiler?

_Answer._--Having filled the boiler with water to the usual height, that
is to say, about four inches over the crown of the fire-tube, I throw in
several shovelfuls of coal or coke towards the bridge, left and right,
keeping the centre clear; then I place the firewood in the centre, throw
some coals on it, light up, and shut the door. Then I open the
side-gauge cocks to allow the heated air to escape, and keep them open
till all the air has cleared out and steam taken the place of it; by
this time the fire will require more fuel, and when the steam is high
enough I connect her by opening the stop-valve a little at a time till
it is wide open and ready for work.


2. _Question._--Supposing there are boilers working on each side of the
one you got steam up in, how would you act?

_Answer._--I would light the fire by putting in a few shovelfuls of live
coal from one of them instead of using firewood; that is all the
difference I would make.


3. _Question._--What is the cause of the rapid motion of the water in
the gauge-glass at times? Is that motion general throughout the boiler?

_Answer._--No; air enters the boiler with the feed-water, and the
gauge-glass tube being in the vicinity of the incoming water, some of
the air enters the glass and flies up rapidly through the top cock and
into the boiler again; in fact there is very little motion of the water
in the boiler at any time while working. I have proved this to be so,
and in this manner: the boiler cleaners having finished the cleaning,
hurriedly scrambled out of the boiler and left several tools they had
been using on the crown of the fire-box, namely, a bass hand brush, a
tin can, and a tin candlestick, and a small iron pail; the manhole cover
was put on and boiler filled and put to work before the things were
thought of, and then it was too late and they had to remain there until
the next cleaning time, which was thirteen weeks; and when the boiler
was at last blown out and the manhole cover removed, the things were on
the crown of the fire-box exactly as they were left three months
previously. In order to satisfy myself of this, to me, extraordinary
discovery, I placed several articles on the crown of the fire-box,
things that could not stop up the blow-off pipe if they were swept off,
and got up steam as usual, and after three months' hard steaming I blew
out the water and steam, took off the manhole cover, and there were the
things as I had left them thirteen weeks previously; of course they were
all coated with fine mud, but no signs of having moved a hair's breadth.


4. _Question._--But water in an open caldron with a fire under it, as in
the steam boiler, will madly sweep the sides and bottom with terrific
ebullition. How would you account for the great agitation in the open
caldron while the steam boiler had hardly any, although both vessels had
fierce fires under them?

_Answer._--In the matter of the open caldron the action of the water has
no resistance but that of the atmosphere, whereas in the steam boiler
the movement of the water is resisted from the moment it is heated, for
then a vapour rises above it, and, as the heat increases, the resistance
to the movement of the water is proportionally increased, and as the
heat of the steam increases the pressure on the water increases
proportionally all through, the steam being above the water. Any old
stoker knows that when getting steam up in a boiler the lower parts are
often only warm when there may be eight or ten lb. on the square inch in
the upper portions; when the water begins to boil the steam rises in the
form of minute globular particles, and remains above the water until
there is an outlet for it by opening the stop-valve or through the
safety-valve; and as the pressure is the same throughout every part,
nook and corner, and angle, there can be no dominating force to cause
any agitation within the boiler.


5. _Question._--What is superheated steam, and why is it used?

_Answer._--If a boiler is placed at a long distance from the engine or
whatever the steam may be used for, there is much or little condensation
according to the distance and the weather, so that there would always be
water mixing with the steam, and that is most objectionable where a
steam engine is concerned, and by super-heating the steam it comes to
the engine as hot and dry as if the boiler were close by; but whatever
the heat of the steam may be, the pressure cannot be increased after the
steam has left the boiler. In proportion to the pressure of steam so is
the heat of it; the higher the pressure the hotter the steam.


6. _Question._--If your water gauge-glass broke while the boiler was
working, how would you proceed to rectify the mishap?

_Answer._--By immediately shutting off both cocks, the water-cock first,
then I would open the blow-out cock (at the bottom of the gauge-glass)
and keep it open to the finish, and commence unscrewing the nuts,
clearing them of any bits of india-rubber that adhered to them, also the
sockets. Get one of the half dozen glasses already cut, and my string of
rubber rings, enter two rings on the bottom end of the glass, slip the
nut over them, slip two rings on the top part of the glass after having
slipped the nut on, and enter the rings in the sockets, then screw up
both top and bottom nuts by hand alternately, and when screwed up
evenly, open the steam cock a shade to warm the glass, and when it is
hot enough, open it more and commence closing the blow-out cock, by
tapping it lightly by hand, then open the steam cock a little more and
open the water cock a little also, and shut off the blow-out cock, and
presently the water enters the glass, and both top and bottom cocks may
now be opened to their full extent, and the job is done.


7. _Question._--How would you cut a water gauge-glass to the proper
length?

_Answer._--I usually cut a piece of iron wire the length the glass
should be, in this way: I measure the length from under the top nut to
the top of the bottom nut, and cut my iron wire to that measurement;
then I cut several glasses in my spare time, instead of doing it when
the glass breaks. I mark a circle where I wish to cut the glass, and
with a three-corner file I run it round this circle to a depth of the
16th of an inch, and break it off on the edge of the vice, bench, or
other solid woodwork; of course this iron-wire gauge will perhaps only
answer for this particular boiler, but in some stoke-hold the boilers
are all alike with regard to the gauge-glasses.


8. _Question._--What is the cause of a vacuum in a boiler? And how does
it affect her injuriously?

_Answer._--The vacuum is mostly caused by letting cold water into a hot
boiler, the hotter the boiler the stronger the vacuum; when the water is
hotter than the boiler, there will be little vacuum; a strong vacuum in
the boiler will cause the air outside to press on the boiler in
proportion--the stronger the vacuum inside, the greater the pressure
outside. In this circumstance the pressure is misplaced for the boiler
was constructed to bear an internal pressure and not an external
pressure. And in getting steam up the pressure on the boiler has to be
reversed, and this tends to loosen the plates and rivets and makes her
leak, if she never leaked before. I have frequently known boilers to be
filled with water over-night to be ready for lighting up in the morning,
and have found the gauge-glass empty; this puzzled me at first, but on
opening the blow-out cock of the water-gauge the air rushed into it with
a gurgling noise, then I knew there was water in the boiler held up by
the vacuum, but I soon altered that by opening the side-cocks, and
letting air into her which soon killed the vacuum, and down came the
water into the glass again to the proper level. When getting steam up, I
always open one of the side gauge cocks and keep it open until steam
issues from it; that permits the foul air to escape and prevents a
vacuum being created; there used to be a vacuum valve in the vicinity of
the steam dome, that opened inwards and prevented a vacuum from being
created.


9. _Question._--If you had only one boiler and one engine at work, how
would you manage to clean your one fire without letting the steam go
down?

_Answer._--When pushed for steam, which usually occurs when the fire is
getting dirty, I get ready all the tools and some of the best of the
coals, and having a bright fire I take the long poker and skim all the
fire to one side and throw a couple of shovelfuls of coals evenly over
it and rake out all the clinkers on the opposite side, then with the
long poker (some people call it Kennedy) I skim all the fire over to the
opposite side and throw a couple of shovelfuls of coals evenly over the
bright fire, and rake out the clinkers on the other side, then I spread
the fire evenly over the bars and sprinkle some more coals over all, and
shut the door. This performance from first to last need not take more
than ten minutes, and the boiler was making steam all the time, and at
the finish I had a better fire than at the beginning, and the steam
hardly lost a pound; but the job must be done quickly.


10. _Question._--What is the cause of the humming noise that issues from
a steam boiler at times, and how would you prevent it?

_Answer._--It is caused chiefly through bad stoking, in having an uneven
fire, full of holes, or crooked bars, the cold air rushing through where
there is the least resistance, and into the tubes, causes the humming
noise--a locomotive nearing home after her day's work has very little
fire on the bars and will generally hum, so there is some excuse for
her, but none for a stationary boiler. Some stokers take