TESTING WELDED OR SOLDERED BOILER-PLATES.

Otago Witness, Issue 1319, 10 March 1877, Page 3

TESTING WELDED OR SOLDERED BOILER-PLATES.

The method recently introduced of manufacturing boiler-shell 3 with welded seams (says the Manufacturer andßuilder) has led to the construction of a machine for testing; the soundness of such welds, their adaptation and value for the purpose in-question being of course primarily dependent on this quality. The contrivance consists of a fixed hydraulic cylinder, twelve inches in diameter, and of twelve inches stroke, connected to a travelling head by rectangular wrought iron bars five inches by two and a-half inches, pierced with cotter holes of eleven inch pitch. The platen attached to the hydraulic ram slides along the bars. When a boiler-shell is to be tested, the travelling head is run out of the way along the rails, and the shell is run in on a truck. The head is brought back to its place, and the cotters are inserted in the nearest holes. Pressure is then applied to the cylinder by means of hydraulic pumps, the ram forces the platen against the end of the shell, and the joint is in this way made ready for the testing process. The shell is now filled with water from a tank by means of a flexible hose inserted into a passage in the platen, while the air escapes by means of a tube in the travelling head, this tube being made to slide diagonally, so as to suit any sized shell ; the tube is then closed by means of a cock, and the test pressure is applied by the hydraulic pump.