Excerpt from Fire Losses, Locomotive SparksA survey of the existing literature which deals with the entire phenomena of railway fires, as well as a review of many legal proceedings growing out of claims for fire damages against railway corporations, reveal the fact that the need has existed quite continuously for basic data applying to the subject as a whole. Dr. W. F. M. Goss, while still at Purdue University, made exten sive and original engineering investigations especially concerning the likelihood Of fire from locomotive sparks. He published his findings in 1902 in a treatise entitled Locomotive Sparks. 1 Since then many additional tests have been made by others, and the locomotive has undergone many changes in design and con struction, all Of which has modified the locomotive spark problem considerably.Preceding paragraphs have clearly shown that railroads are charged with the responsibility for a large proportion of the annual-fire losses of the country. The actual facts concerning the detailed circumstances surrounding the origin Of such fires are not easy Of determination, so that claims allocating the source of such fires to railroad Operation are very frequently based on Opinion and conjecture, not on facts. Jointly with all this, the vigilance of the state governments as exercised by their agencies has materially increased and is still continuing to grow. Thus the entire subject of railway fires, their causes and prevention, is becoming of greater and greater importance. Hence any basic data, scientific facts, and other sound information, especially applying to locomotive sparks and their relation to the problem, are bound to be Of great value both as a guide for possible reme dies and as a help in the settlement of complicated controversies.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.