The Steamboating Forum

Good day all, I have a boiler which was manufactured in 1919. It is a beautiful specimen and is fully functional. I had it tested by an approved non destructive testing firm and they said the boiler is 100% in good condition, however in order to certify the boiler i need to have the manufacturer information and what design standards the boiler was built to. the problem is this, unless I can get the boiler identified and all the information acquired then I will have to go through a design analysis which can amount to thousands of South African Rands.

It stands half meter tall. has one central flue running up from the bottom to the top with two cross water tubes running across the flue. The boiler was found on the Congo river and was used to power a barge on the rivers there.

If any one can shed light on the history of this boiler, manufacturer location anything at all I would be most gratefull.

Kind Regards Brent

Is there anything that can be seen on the brass nameplate?

I'm very curious about a boiler that was made in 1919 and has what looks like arc welded construction.

- Bart

Vasily Petrov discovered continuous arc welding in around 1802, so plenty early enough.

The brass plate is affixed to the boiler but gives nothing about manufacturer or country of origin, so I am stumped. I have had the boiler checked by NDT for any cracks, welds are all good and the wall thickness is in excess of 6 mm all round, The inspector told me that the big boilers he checks that punch out 20 bar use between 3-4 mm walling. so this boiler is made to be hell of a strong, she steams up very nicely. Next is the main pressure test and boroscope inspection.

On the boat, the steering is in place and the firebox redone, not to fit it all and start turning the Hansbrouck #10 engine. looking forward to that.

regards

Hi Brent

At risk of sounding like a recruiting officer for the SBA, did you know that the SBA's boiler testing "arm", SBAS Ltd. has the ability to offer boiler design assessments at a price we wrinklies can afford? So, as a member you could possible send a CAD drawing and get it assessed. Given that you have NDT values for metal thickness, that would not make the task of assessment too difficult.

This comes with the "health warning" that I am not an engineer and have not used the assessment service.

Regards

Pete