Boiler Massachusetts

Brockton at that time was a major center for shoe manufacture, which employed some 35,000 people, and steam was used for leather processing in various local factories. A little over 18 months after the Grover shoe factory explosion and fire, another boiler exploded on December 6,1906, this time in the factory of the P.J. Hamey Shoe Company in Lynn, Massachusetts. As a result of these two major accidents in Massachusetts in quick succession, a five-man Board of Boiler Rules was convened by ASME, whose charge was to write a boiler law for the state this board published its boiler laws in 1908 and the state of Massachusetts enacted these laws, which were the most rigid boiler inspection laws in the United States to that date. 

The boiler explosion at the Grover Shoe Factory, Brockton Massachusetts, on March 20, 1905. The only constant in these "before and after" photographs is the chimney at the rear. This explosion in particular led to the development of the ASME Boiler Code (public domain). 

In 1906, iiiiolhc r cx]>losioii in a shoe fuctury in Lynn, Massucliuselts, resulted in death, injury, and extensive property damage. After this accident, the Massachusetts governor directed the formation of a Board of Boiler Rules. The first set... 

Figure 1.1 Firelube boiler explosion in shoe factory in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1905. (Courtesy Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co., Hortford, Ct.)... 

The ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (B PVC) was conceived in 1911 out of a need to protect the safety of the public. This need became apparent shortly after the conception of the steam engine in the late 18th century. In the nineteenth century there were literally thousands of boiler explosions in the United States and Europe, some of which resulted in many deaths. The consequences of these failures were locally focused and, other than one or two, received minimal national or international attention. Undoubtedly, one of the most important failures that proved the need for Boiler Laws was the boiler explosion that occurred at the Grover Shoe Factory in Brockton, Massachusetts on March 10,1905. That incident resulted in 58 deaths and 117 injuries and completely levelled the factory. This catastrophe brought attention to the need to protect the public against such accidents with pressure-retaining equipment. 

SCAQMD is the only non-attainment area in the U.S. Virtually all boilers in the SCAQMD are affected and must reduce NO, by an average of 90%. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) has already been retrofitted on over 4,000 MW of boiler capacity in the SCAQMD. In the Northeast. NESCAUM (Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management), which is made up of representatives from eight northeastern states Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont, was formed to solve the non-attainment problems of this ozone transport area and has proposed Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) values and other rules stricter than those of the EPA, including SCR for NO control. 

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