Boiler Constr Dbaxt
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History of Locomotive Boiler Construction in Australia Part 20 discnsses the Boiler or Washout Plugs and Fusible Plugs by J.D. Baxter fina[Droutings for pubticotbn prcpuzd 5y Iat fbztcr Boiler (or'Washout) Plugs As an aside, In the Victorian Railways "Rolling Stock Book of Instruction", although the Instruction No. 144 says "Tbe washout plugs whictr must be drawing has been removed on the occasion of each washout and through which "checked", a close washing out must be carried out are indicated belew:-" From this look will show that instruction thme people involved in washing out boilers therefore Class E, NA and Y called them washout plugs. have only two The Boiler Inspecting staff called them inspedion plug holes. plugs. On the actual The drawing E in G (Engines in General) 53398 BOILER PLUGS locomotives, this in shows that the material used for these plugs is GM-B2. The Rolling facl is far from I k Branch list of metals manufactured at Newoort Foundrv correct. stat6s the 82 Standard GM be a.s follows:- The location of Tin and Antimony 8 - 8.5Vo the plugs is such Antimony less than 1% I-ead | - 1.5Vo that all the interior Zinc2-3Vo Copper 87 -89V0 of the boiler can be General purposes for GM-82:- thoroughly washed I'IIJD PLUG TAP Boiler mountings (Except Injectors), C-ocks, Valves, Coupling and out and inspected. Connecting Rod Brasses, Axlebox Brasses (Oil lubricated), Bushes, Tlte l3/q" diameter Oil Boxes, Nuts and all other small castings. plup are located at the Firebox front comers and bottom to The drawing of the Boiler Plug shows that the size was faciiitate the removal of scale and sediment and to allow for the stamped on the point or water end of the plug. Imported boilers ingress of Tee headed bolts and removal of spent rivets when from the U.K. had the size stamped on the point as per drawing. repairing copper fi reboxes. This was not the practice canied out by the V.R. workshops. The The I3/4" plug holes in the Back Plate were to facilitate the size was stamped on the opposite end so that should a plug be entry of the crown stay gauge as it was necessary to state the leaking under steam it was easy to ascertain the size and thus have diameter of the crown stays on the Boiler Inspection Certificate. the correct tap and new plug available. Further information on this will be in the article dealins with Boiler The spanner referred to in Figure 1 on the next page was a Inspection and Testing. Newport forged tool, the jaws being about one inch deep with the In the manufacture of a new boiler the plug holes were first opening to fit thc head, the shank was 74" diameter about 24" long reamed with a taper reamer to form the 1 in 12 taper before with the end drawn down to about t2" over 4" to fit into a box commencing to cut the thread. spanner used for tapping holes or for removing plugs. The Mud Plug Tap had a L3A.6" square head, 13/6" de€p with the tapping thread 4" long. The letter A was marked 11,8" up from the point with the distance between A to C being 14" and the line locating B in another flute being half way between A-C. It can be seen that the variation of each plug size was equal to Squane xax' 1'39" V+" penetration of the tap. Both the reamer and the tap had six f.in.1.37" flutes and in addition to the size, the letters CS were also '13/1,6" 7:r sDanner stamped on the top of the square. This refened to the material f'1 which in those times was carbon steel. A liberal amount of fish based tapping oil was used while tapping and extreme care was taken to have the tap enter the reamed hole symmetrical to the face of the hole. If this was not done it would give the impression that the plug S:rewed L1 TPI L"ihit. was in cross threaded and if it showed a leak under steam it taper I in 12 would necessitate the cooling down of the boiler. Plugs that were applied cross threaded were not to be tampered with under steam whereas a conectly applied plug could be nipped up under steam. l\ With full threads for the full depth of the holes, the size Stamp No. I N tap & mark lette" was obtained by heavily chalking the thread of the tap, P ug dia. with 3,u 8,, ietters & numbers screwing it in by hand till tight and removing. The depth that the tap entered couid be readily seen and the size would be BOILER PLUG chalked adjacent to the hole. When boilers were in full production the stores had dozens of each size in stock. Each c.x. 8.2. plug was temporarily allocated to its correct hole for final fiuing. Autralian MODEL Engineering May/June 1992 on the edge of a coke fire and allowed to slowly melt. The correct temperature for f')onth tn cla:n pouring was obtained by what was known as Cr own stag heads the pap€r test". consisted of I "white This t folding a piece of white paper (as used for typing) into a sedion about 1" wide to give it rigidity so it could be passed through the molten lead. The correct temperature for pouring had been reached when the paper tumed brown after passing through the molten lead. The pouring operation had to take place in one continuous pour, and with experience it was soon learned when to cease so as to form a nice blob on the countersunk of the Appr ox head. The lead solidified almost Square to fit instantaneously and the plug was picked Fusible plug up 5/8 thick with a pair of tongs and placed between tbe jaws of an engineers 6" vice. The jaws engaged on the cone formed at the point and the blob formed on the head and the vice tightened so that the knurled faces of the jaws were imprinted on the lead. This procedure was used in lieu of I -T^Ftl. I All Dimensions riveting (as stated on the drawing) and when in Inches canied in this manner there was never any sign of leaking through the lead. It was found that plugs as tumed, when applied to holes as Aiso not stated on the drawing, it was usual practice to wrap in tapped, were not steam tight. So each plug was ground in to its the groove between the end of the thread and the head two layen of respective hole. The grinding compound used was the same a.s the graphited asbestos string and to apply the plug with a light smear of fitters used to grind the seats of gunmetal valves. The procedure graphite and tallow on the thread. was to apply the compound to the effective threads, screw in by The correct size plug for each sizp hole should be able to be hand and keep tightening and lomening about 20 times. A short screwed up to the face of the crown sheet by tund and finally spanner was then used for the final tightening and loosening. The nipped up with the special wrench Fig 1. the plug with a plug and hole was then cleaned up and finally fitted From the drawing it can be seen that the material (G.M. 82) is mixture of graphite and tallow, pulled up with a plug spanner until the same as that used for boiler plugs. tight then backed off a quarter tum. The backing off was to allow for the extra expansion of the gunmetal in relation to the steel boiler plate. The tallow bound the Sheet lead melted and poured in. graphite together for adhering to the threads Aporox merting point o' lead = 6?A deg. F to assist in the removal at a later date. The Lead to be riveted af ter pluq is f illed tallow disappeared at the first steaming. Further information on plugs will be dealt '7 /A" Plug No. to be stamped he^e with in the AB Examination. 3/4" vith l/4" figures rrusible Plugs I have not been able to ascertain when fusible plugs were fint introduced but from Screwed 11 TPI the drawing 'BOILERS lN GENERAL 5643A .1" dated 5-10-1944, this type of /l fusible plug was used in copper and steel 6 ir t.' firebox boilers till 1956 when a modified .t type was introduced for steel fireboxes. ol\ The 11 TPI was the standard Whitworth -l form for sA" Whifworth bols inespective of // ltreoox cro||n ti the diameter greater than 5/8", the tapping -T 'I/64" Tapped 7/8" l"lhit. 3/4"J size being wtder the finished diameter. t To fill the plug, the point or water side end was placed on a base which was a steel disc about 3" diameter and about 1" thick, in the centre of which a countersunk hole had been formed with the point of a 1" drill. Both the plug and base were heated to about 50 degrees Celsius and the point placed in the countersunk hole. The sheet lead to be r:sed was wually FUSIBLE PLUG cut up into pieces about 2" square and c.f1. 8.2. placed in the ladle which in tum was placed MaylJune 1992 Austral ian MODEL Engineering i< the plug should be minimum lrt" maximum 3Au.