Alan Vickers asks "when the testing and certification for colliery
steam boilers was introduced." Whilst not being able to answer the
question, i can say that the Coal Mines Act of 1855 required that
'every steam boiler shall be provided with a proper steam gauge, water
gauge and safety valve.' This was repeated in the Act of 1860, and
again, with expanded wording in the Act of 1872... . Thus every
colliery boiler should have been safer from 1855, although not
reliably safe until the introduction of annual boiler inspections,
with associated hydraulic and pressure testing, which was, i believe,
more an insurance requirement rather than a legal one.
Barry Job.
Eur. Ing. Dr. Barry Job,
Department of Geology,
School of Sciences,
Staffordshire University,
College Road,
Stoke-on-Trent,
ST4 2DE.
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