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1893
3 June 1893
TERRIBLE BOILER EXPLOSION.
TWO PERSONS KILLED AND SEVERAL INJURED.
BY TELEGRAPH.
(FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)
RYLSTONE, FRIDAY.
A terrible accident, attended with fatal results, occurred this morning at 9 o'clock. The boiler of the steam roller flour mill, erected about two months since, exploded, and was projected fully 30 yards through both walls of a room at the back of Elger's store into the side wall of the next residence, completely shattering the building and crushing almost every article of furniture into splinters. Mr. Elger and his wife were absent in Sydney, but the family of three children, with their grandmother, Mrs. Purvis, sen., and the store assistant, Mitchell, were sitting at breakfast. Mrs. Purvis was driven into the wall of the next building and was picked up dead. The three children were all injured, the eldest having a leg broken. Mitchell, although covered with debris and lying alongside the boiler, was only slightly injured and scalded. Abbott, the fireman, was in the engine - shed at the time, and was carried 40 yards in an opposite direction over or through two fences, his waistcoat being found hanging on to a tree in the orchard some distance further. He has since died. Williams the foreman, who had just left the front of the boiler and was entering the mill, most miraculously escaped unhurt. The boiler was a second-hand one, and was purchased by Mrs. Elger from Ashcroft and Co., being under a quarter of an inch thick. The steam pressure was 62 at the time of the accident. These are the two buildings in which three deaths so suddenly occurred some months since. An inquiry will be held to-morrow.
LATER.
Further particulars of the boiler explosion show the affair to have been most disastrous. The boiler, in its onward flight, completely wrecked the engine-shed and the dining-room of an adjoining dwelling, destroying the wall and bedroom furniture of a house beyond, which Mr. Sly and his wife had just left. Mrs Purvis and the three children and Mitchell were sitting at breakfast, and when the steam cleared 10 minutes after, the children were found covered, or partially so, with the debris. Kate Elger had some large stones on her leg and head and her leg was very badly broken. Maud was competely covered with debris. Purvis was the last found, having been carried forward by the boiler and crushed against the fourth wall. Abbott lingered for six hours in terrible agony. He was not conscious. Dr. Struthers was assiduous in his attentions to the wounded. The sufferers are in a very precarious state, the girls being in an especially critical condition. There were several miraculous escapes. The baker, Nordman, was in the bakery, 80 yards away, where the steam blew in the wall, and threw bricks and iron on the roof. Wilton's saddlery shop was damaged, and a man within was slightly scalded1
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10 June 1893
The Boiler Explosion at Rylstone,
RYLSTONE, Wednesday. - The inquiry into the death of Catherine O. Purvis and William C. Abbott, who were killed by the recent boiler explosion at the Steam Roller Flour Mills, was resumed on Wednesday morning before the coroner, Mr. J. C. McLachlan, of Sydney, appearing for Mr. Ashcroft, from whom the boiler was purchased. It was proved that the boiler was purchased second-hand, £120 having been paid for it. It was semi-tubular, of 25-horse power, and was certified to be in perfect order. Williams, the miller, had the entire supervision of the mill and the boiler, Abbott being under his instructions. Williams had had 20 years' experience. He saw the boiler put in the mill. It had hitherto worked with every satisfaction. The pressure at which it was worked was usually 65lb, which was necessary. There were about a thousand gallons of water in the boiler at the time of the accident. The boiler was lifted 70ft. The arc of the fire box had evidently been heated and honey combed inside by the use of mineral water, but they had always used rain water while here. The arc was a bare quarter of an inch thick. George Ashcroft, engineer, of Sussex-street, deposed to having had the boiler in his possession for nine months. He bought it in a bankrupt estate, and was told it had been tested up to 140lb. New tubes were put in, and it was sent to a master boilermaker to be thoroughly repaired. It was then put under hydraulic pressure of 120lb. He did not believe a pressure of 65lb. would cause the boiler to burst, as it did nothing less than 100lb. William Cruickshank, Government expert and senior engineer to the Marine Board, examined the boiler and took the measurements. He said that considering the time it was built, 25 years ago, it should not have been worked up to more than 35lb., consequently it was working double pressure. If new, it was extremely dangerous to work at 60lb. The present rule of the Marine Board did not allow more than 15lb. The boiler might have been over-heated with an insufficiency of water in it. The test as supplied by Ashcroft was the same as that of the Marine Board, but the working pressure was first calculated on new boilers and then with double-working pressure. Old boilers were never tested at double pressure, and were left to the judgment of the surveyor. New boilers made to work up to 35lb. might go to 210lb. before bursting. He examined the feed-pump of this boiler, which was in bad order. The injector was gone; he did not see it. The portion of the furnace which burst was a quarter of an inch thick. It was iron of bad quality. An engineer would require considerable skill in examination to ascertain whether the boiler was unsafe. The coroner summed up, trusting that good might arise from the inquiry, and that legislation would be hastened. He analysed the evidence, and showed that no one had any knowledge of the boiler being unsafe. He did not think anyone was to blame. A verdict was recorded that the deaths occurred through the bursting of a boiler, which, when supplied, was defective, and incapable of performing the required work. A rider was added, pointing out the urgent necessity for legislation on the subject2
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1905
27 September 1905
RYLSTONE ROLLER FLOUR MILLS.
Mr. John T. Elger's Rylstone Roller Flour Mills are situated in the main street of the town. The building consists of three storeys and a basement, and is built of solid freestone, hewn from the surrounding mountains. The plant is on one of the best and most up-to-date systems in the world, and consists of wheat-cleaning, rolling, scalping, purifying, and dressing departments. From the time the wheat enters the receiving hopper till it is turned out in the shape of flour, bran, and pollard, all the movements of the stock to the various machines are done automatically, by means of elevators, conveyors, spouts, etc. The products turned out are all first-class, and Mr. J. T. Elger has no difficulty in disposing of the same. The power for driving the machinery is derived from a 35-h.p. engine, the steam for which is generated in a 16ft 6in x 4ft 6in Cornish boiler, built by A. E. Hanks and Son, of ? wash, Scotland. The water supply for the boiler is obtained from a large well and dam enclosed on the premises3
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