this soft metal is melted and
runs out, allows the steam to rush down through the opening in the lug,
putting out the fire and preventing any injury to the boiler. This all
sounds very nice, but I am free to confess that I am not an advocate of
a fusible plug. After telling you to never allow the water to get low,
and then to say there is something to even make this allowable, sounds
very much like the preacher who told his boy "never to go fishing on
Sunday, but if he did go, to be sure and bring home the fish." I would
have no objection to the safety plug if the engineer did not know it was
there. I am aware that some states require that all engines be fitted
with a fusible plug. I do not question their good intentions, but I do
question their good judgment. It seems to me the are granting a license
to carelessness. For instance, an engineer is running with a low gauge
of water, owing possibly to the tank being delayed longer than usual, he
knows the water is getting low, but he says to himself, "well, if the
water gets too low I will only blow out the plug," and so he continues
to run until the tank arrives. If the plug holds, he at once begins to
pump in cold water, and most likely does it on a very hot sheet, which
of itself, is something he never should do; and if the plug does blow
out he is delayed a couple of hours, at least, before he can put in a
new plug and get up steam again. Now suppose he had not had a soft plug
(as they are sometimes called). He would have stopped before he had low
water. He would not even have had a hot crown sheet, and would only
have lost the time he waited on the tank. This is not a fancied
circumstance by any means, for it happens every day. The engineer
running an engine with a safety plug seldom stops for a load of water
until he blows out the plug. It frequently happens that a fusible plug
becomes corroded to such an extent that it will stand a heat sufficient
to burn the iron. This is my greatest objection to it. The engineer
continues to rely on it for safety, the same as if it were in perfect
order, and the ultimate result is he burns or cracks his crown sheet. I
have already stated that I have no objection to the plug, if the
engineer did not know it was there, so if you must use one, attend to
it, and every time you clean your boiler scrape the upper or water end
of the plug with a knife, and be careful to remove any corrosive matter
that may have collected on