To the Editor of the Scientific American:

As long as I have been a reader of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN I have been pleased with the manner in which you investigate and explain the cause of any boiler explosion which comes to your knowledge; and I have rejoiced when you heaped merited censure upon the fraudulent boilermaker. In your paper in December last you copied a short article on "Conscience in Boilermaking," in which the writer, after speaking of the tricks of the boilermaker in using thinner iron for the center sheets than for the others, and in "upsetting" the edges of the plates to make them appear thicker, goes on to say: "We call attention to this, because the discovery of such practice has made serious trouble between the boilermaker and the steam user. We would not believe that there were men so blind to the duties and obligations which rest upon them as to resort to such practice, but the careful inspector finds all such defects, and in time we come to know whose work is carefully and honestly done, and whose is open to suspicion. In States and cities where inspection laws are in force that give the methods and rules by which the safe working pressure of a boiler is calculated, there is no alternative except to follow the rules; and if certain requirements regarding construction are a part of the law, there is no authority or right to depart from it, and yet there are boilermakers who try to force their boilers into such localities when their work is not up to the requirements of the law."

Now, if some boilermakers are so dishonest as to try and impose upon the locomotive engineer, who they know will carefully examine every part of his boiler, and who is able to detect any flaw, it is not to be expected that the farmer will escape. Nor does he. The great number of explosions of boilers used in thrashing and in other farm work proves that there are boilermakers who "force their boilers into such localities when their work is not up to the requirements of the law." And the boilermaker, if he be dishonest, is doubly tempted if the broad width of a continent intervenes between him and the farmer for whom his work is intended, and if in the place where the boiler is to be used there are no inspection laws in force. The farmer who lives many miles from a city, and who has no means of testing any boiler he may purchase, is wholly at the mercy of the boilermaker, and must run it until it explodes or time proves it to have been honestly made. Then, again, there are boilermakers who, although making boilers of good iron and of the proper thickness, finish them off so badly that the farmer is put to great inconvenience and expense to put them in working order. Two years ago I purchased a straw-burning engine and boiler made by an Eastern firm. Before it had run ten days the boiler began to leak at the saddle-bolt holes. The engineer tightened the nuts as far as possible, but could not stop the leaks, which at last became so bad that we had to stop work and take the engine to the shop. Upon taking off the saddle and taking out the bolts it was discovered that they were too small for the holes in the boiler, and that they had been wrapped with candle wick and white lead to make them fill the holes, and that a light washer had been put on each bolt between the head and the inside of the boiler. This washer kept the lead in its place, and prevented the boiler from showing a leak when first fired up. The water pipes in the fire-box soon gave out and became utterly useless. Upon inquiring of the patentee of this straw-burning device, who was supposed to have put it in my boiler, he stated that he had had nothing to do with it, but that it was put in by the firm selling these engines, and "as cheaply as possible." Before I got this boiler and engine in fair running order I had spent hundreds of dollars and had to do entirely away with the water grates.

Last summer, needing another tharshing engine, I was induced to buy one of the same make as my old one, but with a different straw-burning device. The firm who sold it to me agreed that it should have none of the faults of the old one. Well, I got it, and, upon hauling it out to my ranch, and getting up steam, I found it to be much worse than the first one I had bought. The boiler leaked at nearly every hole where a tap had been screwed into it. It took an engineer, a boilermaker, a blacksmith, and a fireman several days to get it in shape so that we could use it at all; and after we did start up, the boilermaker had to be sent for several times to stop new leaks that were continually showing themselves.

I send you by this mail for your inspection one of the saddle bolts and one of the bolts taken out of the piston, and also the certificates of the engineer, boilermaker, and machinist who repaired the boiler. In justice to my fellow-farmers I ought to publish these certificates and the names of these boilermakers to the world, but, for the present at least, I refrain from so doing. These boilermakers will see this article and they will know, if the public does not, for whom it is intended. If it has the effect of making them exercise more care in the construction and fitting up of their engines and boilers, I have not written in vain.

D. FREEMAN.

Los Angeles, Cal., March 7,1884.

[The two bolts and the certificates above referred to accompany the letter of Mr. Freeman. We can only wonder how it was that, after having been treated as he relates in the first instance, he should have had any further business with parties who would send out such boilers, for the testimony of the engineer and workmen make the case even stronger than Mr. Freeman has put it.--ED.]