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BOILER PLANT TESTING PLANT TESTING - A CRITICISM OF THE PRESENT BOILER TESTING CODES AND SUGGESTIONS FOR AN IMPROVED INTERNATIONAL CODE BY DAVID BROWNLIE - INTRODUCTION. THERE is at present no practical and definite Code in Great Britain for boiler plant testing, and, consequently, such tests are largely carried out according to the fancy of the particular engineers engaged. I am decidedly of the opinion that the time has arrived for the adoption of a standard up-to-date Code devised on thoroughly practical lines, especially in view of the urgent necessity of fuel economy, and the fact that nearly 50 per cent, of the coal consumption is used for the one operation of steam generation. of Great Britain What is supposed to be the Standard Code in Great Britain is that of the Institution of Civil Engineers Report of the Committee on Tabulating the Results of Steam Engine and Boiler Trials . Revised 191 3. Published by Messrs. William Clowes Sons Ltd., 94 Jermyn Street, London, S.W. i. Price 3- net. The original Committee of the Institution of Civil En- gineers for this purpose was appointed on the 29th June, 1897, and they made an Interim Report on the 25th April, 1901, followed by a final Report on the 14th April, 1902. The Committee was then reappointed on the I9th October, 1909, to revise the original Code of 1902, and the Report of this latter Committee is embodied in the present 1913 Code. In practice, however, this Code is ignored because it is too com- plicated and unpractical. I am of the opinion also that the Code is entirely out-of- 581122 vi INTRODUCTION date, and, with all due respect to the Institution of Civil Engineers, the devising of an Improved Code is essentially thebusiness of two branches of engineering, chemical and mechanical. The Standard Code in America-for Boiler Plant Testing is the Rules for Conducting Performance Tests of Power Plant Apparatus, Code 1915, of the American Society of Mechan- ical Engineers, 29 West Thirty-ninth Street, New York, U.S.A., being the Report of the Power Test Committee, which resulted from the Councils resolution of 1 3th April, 1909. As is of course well known, this Code is at present under revision by the Power Individual Committee, No. 4 n Messrs. E. R. Fish Chairman, D. D. Pratt Secretary, A D. Bailey, W. N. Best, A. A. Carey, and E. B. Ricketts, and by the courtesy of the Secretary I have been able to study the preliminary draft of the Report of this Committee, so that any criticisms and remarks of mine in this book apply to the Final Revised Code. I think that this American Code, even as revised by the Power Individual Committee, No. 4, is still open to criticism, although much superior to the British Civil Engineers Code. I suggest, therefore, that the time is ripe for the devising of a Standard International Boiler Testing Code by the American, British and French Engineering and Scientific Societies work- ing in collaboration. In Great Britain the premier societies concerned are the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Institution of Chemical Engineers, with various other societies like the Civil Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Mining Engineers, and the Society of Chemical Industry, holding a watching brief. In America the lead would presumably be taken by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and in France by the Ingenieurs Civils de France...