Deadly boiler explosions still happen the most recent was reported in a St. Now there are gauges that automatically alter the operation of steam engines to avoid explosions or equipment damage. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) was funded in 1880 mainly as a response to the need for better boiler safety standards.
Its decks were crowded with weakened and emaciated Civil War soldiers and repatriated former Confederate prisoners of war-1,800 died from the explosion itself or drowning. Among lives lost, the greatest tragedy ever was the explosion of the riverboat Sultana in the Mississippi River in April of 1865. Wikipedia has a list of about 100 famous steam engine explosions worldwide. Thus the first steam whistle served a useful function and saved lives and property. Though he never patented it, his device was “added to every boiler, railway locomotive and steam ship around the world,” according to the museum’s publication titled: “A History of The World.”
An employee of an ironworks factory, he devised it to warn engineers when a steam boiler was running out of water, which could lead to an explosion. The British Museum asserts that a British engineer, Adrian Stephens, around 1835, invented the steam whistle. Sometimes the steam goes into a smokestack with the effluent from the fuel being burned, not a good place for a whistle. “Blowing off steam” is necessary-sometimes it is let off through a separate stack that emits clean white steam that quickly dissipates and is a good place for a steam whistle. But there is no tuning out the whistle of a steam engine.Īll steam engines need to vent steam that has already done its work and passed through the engine. The distant hum of traffic on Interstate 80 is something that nearby residents probably can “tune out,” if they are lucky. Matthew’s also note the occasional blasts of a diesel locomotive horn and the backup noise of a piece of heavy equipment-reminders that work is being done. Now, those who usually hear only the reassuring chimes from the clock tower on St. In many cases the whistles blew to summon workers to their jobs, or to give warnings, but one suspects that sometimes the whistle was blown just because it was there. It wasn’t just the whistles of the steam locomotives disturbing the peace it was the whistles from all the steam-powered factories of Laramie. Most of us have no idea what it was like to live in Laramie during the era of steam engines. Though one rail fan spoke for many in saying it was “the best sound ever,” I’ll admit that after a while I had had enough. I had that playing as I composed these lines. Before reading this, one might consider searching for the sound of a steam whistle-especially the ear-splitting ones that can be found through a Google search for “factory whistle sound effects.” Then for a bit of nostalgia, hear “steam locomotive whistle” on YouTube.
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