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66 DEVOTED TO EVERYTHING AND EVERY INTEREST CONNECTED OR_ ASSO- CIATED WITH MARINE MATTERS ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. Published monthly by Penton Publishing Co. CLEVELAND. BUPEPALO ooo concen: 932 Ellicott Square. CHICAGO, (005 gece. 1328 Monadnock Blk. CINCINNATI..... First National Bank Bldg. NEW YORK... ...6.6: 1005 West Street Bldg. PITTSBURG? 0 foe cece: 510 Park Bldg. SEALER... oes eels. 302 Pioneer Bldg. Correspondence on Marine Engineering, Ship Building and Shipping Subjects Solicited. and Mexico, $1.00 per annum. Canada, $1.50. Foreign, $2.00. Single copies, U. S. and Mexico, 10 cents. Elsewhere, 15 cents. Back numbers over three months, 25 cents. Subscription, U. S. Change of advertising copy must reach this office on or before the first of each month. The Cleveland News Co. will supply the trade with the Marine Review through the regular channels of the American News Co. European Agents, The International News (Company, Breams Building, Chancery Lane, London, E. C., England. Entered at the Post Office at Cleveland, Ohio, as Second Class Matter. February, 1910. THE GOVERNMENT'S FACTOR OF SAFETY. Under the above caption Power and The Engineer has some fun with the steamboat inspection laws as regards the construction of boilers. There is no danger of our contemporary becoming 6 far as the law is concerned its criticisms are all true and unduly severe; more besides. We have on several occa- sions dealt with the antiquated collection of junk masquerading under the name of Steamboat Inspection Rules. In our issue of June, 1909, we said: "So far as actual control of the design of boil- ers is the United States steamboat inspection law is a joke and not a very good one at that." concerned, As a matter of fact, the: certificate Tae Marine REVIEW of inspection granted to every modern steamer is illegal. There is no warrant for its issue, because the law does not recognize and does not authorize the use of any form of joint in boiler construc- tion other than the lap seam. That we have boilers even so good as they are is due in no sense whatever to the law. The modern marine boiler is practically built in defiance of the law; it could not be built otherwise. The situation is one of the strangest imaginable. It is incorrect, however, to say that efforts at reform are blocked by the ship owners. There is no foundation, what- ever, for such an assertion, and we can- not understand why it should be made. Time after time both owners and builders have endeavored to have rules modernized through the Board'of Super- vising Inspectors, and as the present rule for determining working pressure is fixed by an act of Congress and not by the Board, Congressional action must be had, but for some reason the Board has never moved in the matter, while tacitly overlooking the fact that they have no authority so far as the vast majority of marine boilers as built are concerned. If anyone were interested in the re- tention of the present rules, it would naturally be the builders, but they have the Every one knows the present rule is a been most insistent on revision. farce, and no one pays any attention to if. As a matter of fact, standard marine boiler practice gives an actual safety factor of about five, as compared with the British 4.5, 'but this, of refers to boilers of the larger course, and heavier types. Doubtless there are num- bers of small and river-boat boilers, in which the factor is far lower, but they, or those building or using them, have not stood in the way of revision. None of the steamboat inspection rules, where boilers are concerned, have ever been retroactive, and there has never been any modification proposed, so far as we are aware, which contemplated or affect- ed boilers already built. In fact, such action would be impossible. It would be interesting to know what would. be the outcome of a claim for damages for injury or loss caused by the failure of a marine boiler of mod- ern design, and whether action could be maintained on the ground that the law February, 1910 makes no provision for butt-strapped seams, no matter how high the value may be. The rule for calculating the working pressure of boilers is only one of the absurdities, however, with which the There js pending before Congress a bill whichis designed to do away with the entire present rules fairly bristle. existing patchwork collection and put the framing of inspection rules entirely in the hands of the Board of Supervis- ing Inspectors and repeals the acts of Congress on which the old rules are based. posed new rules are worse than the old, But in many respects the pro- as is only to be expected. Of the com- mission appointed by President Roose- velt to consider the subject only two members may be said to have known the naval officers to frame rules for the anything of subject. Appointing merchant marine might be expected to result in confusion and dissatisfaction and that is just exactly what happened. They provided for nice soft berths for eight naval officers "not below the rank of commander' on the proposed eight examining boards, who are to examine all candidates for licenses, and suspend, issue or revoke the same and conduct inquiries and perform sundry other duties now executed by the local inspec- tors whose duties are apparently to be confined to actual inspection of vessels. There are many other asinine sugges- tions, too, such as requiring a motor boat, no matter how small, to carry a substantial life boat, or a motor boat, which may go 40 miles off shore, must be fitted with wireless telegraph. When such monstrosities as these and many others are seriously proposed by a com- mission named by the President, what hope is there that a question involving even the moderate technical knowledge for boiler Com- missioner Chamberlain did no more than required to frame a rule seams will receive consideration? any self respecting man of ordinary sense when he emphatically refused to concur in the report. There is, fortunately, no great danger of the bill passing in its present shape, though builders and owners the country over would enthusiastically support a sensible, intelligent effort to put the in- spection rules on a higher plane than they have yet occupied,