Records of Steam Boiler Explosions

In this meticulously compiled volume, the author gathers and distills dozens of nineteenth‑century reports on steam boiler explosions, offering listeners a rare window into the industrial hazards that shaped modern engineering practice. The opening sections outline the early legislative and professional responses to catastrophic failures, from the 1815 London tragedy to the formation of safety standards in the mid‑1800s. By tracing how engineers, parliamentary committees, and early inspection societies confronted these dangers, the work frames a compelling narrative of trial, error, and progress.

The core of the book presents concise abstracts of individual incidents, each accompanied by technical commentary and, where available, sketches that illustrate failure modes. Listeners will hear how systematic inspection and rigorous testing emerged as the primary means of preventing future disasters, a theme reinforced by the author’s own papers delivered to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in the 1860s and 1870s. Together, these records reveal the early foundations of safety engineering that still inform modern practice.