BULLETIN fall 2007 • VOlUME 62 • NUMBER 3 The first motorcycle was powered by steam? Find out on page 18. Donald E. Tanner Executive Director Richard L. Allison BULLETIN cover photograph by John Gilroy. Assistant Executive Director – Administrative George Bynog Assistant Executive Director – Technical Paul D. Brennan, APR Director of Public Affairs David Culwell Publications Editor Kimberly A. Miller Manager of Publications Cover Story BOARD OF TRUSTEES 18 Born to be Wild . Sylvester Roper, Inventor of the David A. Douin First Motorcycle Chairman Robert J. Aben Jr. First Vice Chairman Mark Mooney Second Vice Chairman Donald E. Tanner Features Secretary-Treasurer Joel T. Amato Member at Large 6 2007 Registrations Donald J. Jenkins Member at Large 9 National Board Testing Laboratory Continues to Set Daniel C. Price The Standard Member at Large Martin R. Toth 14 Cast Aluminum Heating Boilers — By Terry Parks Member at Large 26 2007 General Meeting Highlights ADVISORY COMMITTEE Charles G. Schaber Representing authorized inspection agencies (insurance companies) Greg McRae Representing pressure vessel manufacturers Departments Brian R. Morelock, P.E. Representing boiler and pressure vessel users 2 Executive Director’s Message: The NBIC Comes of Age Edward J. Hoveke Representing National Board certificate holders George W. Galanes 3 Perspective: A Sign for the Times Representing the welding industry Charles E. Perry 7 Inspector's Insight: Pressure and Temperature Monitoring of Boilers Representing boiler manufacturers Lawrence J. McManamon Jr. Representing organized labor 30 Profile in Safety:Martin R. Toth, Chief Boiler Inspector, State of Tennessee 32 People: Aben and Price Elected to Board of Trustees; Tom Monroe and The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors was organized for Frantisek Musuta Join National Board; Keith Rudolph, Mario Ramirez Become the purpose of promoting greater safety by securing concerted action and maintain- National Board Members; National Board Welcomes Kenneth Watson and ing uniformity in the construction, installation, inspection, and repair of boilers and Anthony Jones; Castle, Cate, and Wheel Elected as Honorary Members; Doty and other pressure vessels and their appurtenances, thereby assuring acceptance and interchangeability among jurisdictional authorities empowered to assure adherence Steen Receive Safety Medals; In Memoriam: John Lemire and Joseph Cvar; to code construction and repair of boilers and pressure vessels. National Board Mourns Passing of Former Member David Kenison; Leland The National Board BULLETIN is published three times a year by The National Board Cooper Remembered; Call for 2008 Safety Medal Nominees; Call for of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors, 1055 Crupper Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43229- Presentations Announced for 77th General Meeting 1183, 614.888.8320, nationalboard.org. Postage paid at Columbus, Ohio. Points of view, ideas, products, or services featured in the National Board BULLETIN do not necessarily constitute endorsement by the National Board, which disclaims 41 Do You Know . .? Sue Haas, Accounting Associate responsibility for authenticity or accuracy of information contained herein. Address all correspondence to the Public Affairs Department, The National Board of Boiler and 42 Training Matters: Welding Procedure Workshop Pressure Vessel Inspectors, at the above address. © 2007 by The National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. ISSN 0894-9611. CPN 4004-5415. 43 Training Calendar 44 The Way We Were EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S The NBIC Comes of Age BY DONALD E. tanner, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR It’s hard to believe the National Board Inspection Code will users. Those purchasing the NBIC now have the option of buying be 65 years old in just three short years. And it is even more one part, two parts, or the entire three-part edition. In addition difficult to believe the very first code printed in 1945 is the fore- to the hard copy binders, each part will be individually offered in Irunner of what will be distributed in just three short months. a CD-ROM format. Interestingly, the first code There is yet another option for NBIC purchasers, particularly “book” was more of a pamphlet. those desiring more technically sophisticated information re- Measuring 5-1/2 inches wide and trieval. Beginning with the 2007 edition, the NBIC will be offered 8-1/4 inches long, its 24 pages in a Web-based format. As such, the NBIC will be instantly avail- were humbly enjoined by two able to anyone with an Internet connection. As with the 2004 metal staples. edition, NBIC hard copy/CD-ROM subscribers will continue to an- nually receive only one addendum at year’s end. The Web-based That “Preliminary Printing,” NBIC, however, will include the most recent changes as approved as it was called back then, did by the NBIC Committee and released for publication. not as much address the mechanics of pressure equipment Some of you may notice a as it did establish the framework certain irony comparing for what would become one of the the 2007 National Board world’s most significant inspection Inspection Code with its documents. predecessors. As this American National Stan- Quoting from that original code: dard has significantly expanded in content over “This guide will be called the NATIONAL BOARD INSPECTION the past 62 years, its CODE and a copy will be placed in the hands of every member physical dimensions — and of the 2000 National Board commissioned inspectors. It thanks to technology — will serve as a textbook for the beginner and as an important have actually shrunk. influence toward uniformity for the more experienced.” Now with a Web-based format, the new NBIC The first code was broken into six chapters: Introductory; will be conveniently Laws, Rules, and Regulations; Rules for Inspection of Existing accessible to anyone, Boilers; Rules for Inspection of New Boilers; Rules for Boiler including those with a simple, handheld Internet-access device. Repairing; and Reference Data. Yes, the NBIC’s footprint has been extensively reduced. But its Fast forward 62 years and witness the introduction of the growth and influence within the pressure equipment industry has 2007 National Board Inspection Code. While dramatically more been nothing less than remarkable. elaborate in content, it will comprise three parts: installation, inspection, and repairs/alteration. For the first time in the code’s While the original NBIC Committee may never have envisioned extensive history, these parts will now be segregated into their publication in the formats of today, I am sure they would be individual binders. very proud of how that first modest pamphlet evolved. This multi-document NBIC is evolutionary for a number of Both in size and stature. v reasons, the foremost of which maximizes accessibility by NBIC 2 NATIONAL BOARD BULLETIN/fall 2007 PERSPECTIVE A Sign for the Times BY Paul BRENNAN, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS It was a typical December day in Johnstown, Ohio. “I didn’t think about the danger I was in at the time,” Mr. Harvey recalled. “Not just anybody could go in and shut it down correctly. However, for this small bedroom community of 3,500 located just . There’s a certain sequence in which things must be turned off.” I30 miles northeast of Columbus, the events of December 1 would be anything but typical. The first, he pointed out, are the water valves. “When water hits the boiler, it could be like a low-pressure bomb and take out a The tree-lined streets of Johnstown displayed residue of the good part of the school and any people there.” season’s faded flora. Evenings yielded a sobering, precursory chill. And so it was on this invigorating December For defusing what was a potentially volatile morning that Johnstown’s young children situation, a humble Butch Harvey now enjoys gathered to attend Oregon Elementary School for heroic status — particularly among the an anticipated pre-Christmas curriculum. “Firefighters students, parents, and teachers of Oregon would later Elementary School. But around noontime, Principal Linda Broebeck noticed an unpleasant smell in the estimate boiler According to Mr. Harvey, the affected boiler was school building. About the same time, a custodian temperatures brand new, having been brought on line last from nearby Adams Middle School spotted smoke October 13. “The condensation station, where coming from the elementary school’s basement. well in excess the steam turns back into water and . fed of 1,200 back into the boiler by pumps was wired Principal Broebeck followed procedure and improperly so the boiler couldn’t get any water,” evacuated the children before calling Aleron, a degrees . .” he pointed out. “And the water shut-off [low controls and mechanical company, which just water fuel cut-off] was wired improperly so the happened to be performing repair work at the boiler wouldn’t shut itself off.” school location. Aleron dispatched on-site contractor Butch Harvey to Oregon Elementary’s boiler room, By his own admission, Mr. Harvey has quite a bit of experience where he made a disturbing discovery. with pressure equipment that totals, according to supervisor Myers, “many, many years of boiler installation and “I found a lot of smoke and a boiler that was running without maintenance . ..” water,” he explained. Firefighters would later estimate boiler temperatures well in excess of 1,200 degrees when Mr. Harvey When the veteran mechanical contractor observed “not just prepared to enter the boiler room. anybody could go in and shut it [the school boiler] down correctly,” he put his finger on one of the most profound “He actually crawled on his hands and knees down by the boiler problems facing pressure equipment owners/operators today: at the risk of his own life to turn off three main valves,” lack of technical understanding. emphasized Maintenance Supervisor Mike Myers. 3 NATIONAL BOARD BULLETIN/fall 2007 PERSPECTIVE It was indeed fortuitous the school had someone on premise who point — something such as: knew what to do.