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Re: Steam Engine
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Posted by pdxGREEN on August 01, 2001 at 12:33:29 from (172.181.28.50):
In Reply to: Steam Engine posted by pdxGREEN on August 01, 2001 at 12:28:40:
Investigators: Steam engine may have exploded after water touched metal plate The Associated Press
MEDINA, Ohio (AP) The explosion of a vintage steam engine that killed four men may have been caused by a sudden gush of water across a red-hot metal plate that created intense boiler pressure, investigators said.
A team of experts, including metallurgists from Case Western Reserve University, the state's chief boiler inspector and a steam engine enthusiast, went over the pieces of the 1918 steam-powered farm tractor Tuesday. Medina County sheriff's Detective John Detchon said a stuck or faulty gauge may have fooled owner Clifford Kovacic into thinking the water level was higher. Steam engines need water continuously covering the firebox inside the boiler to keep it from getting red-hot, or adding water will cause rapid expansion of steam. "It's entirely the operator's responsibility and nobody else's," steam engine expert Bill Kennedy said. Kovacic, 48, was backing the 83-year-old tractor into place at the Medina County Fairgrounds on Sunday evening when it exploded, sending steam, hot water and shrapnel hundreds of yards away. Kovacic was killed, as were his 27-year-old son, William; Alan Kimble, 46, and Dennis Jungbluth, 58. About 50 people were injured, including two police officers. Sgt. Scott Thomas, one of the investigators, said detectives are exploring whether Kovacic was distracted by police officers trailing him to the fair. Officers planned to ask him about damage the machine caused to freshly paved city roads during its 1.3-mile trip to the fair. Thomas said the officers were approaching the tractor as it prepared to back into a parking space. The machine, which jerked when it backed up, may have exploded when the motion suddenly sloshed water on a hot sheet of metal, Thomas said.
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