Kramer v. Willy

• Decision Date: 19 March 1901
• Citation: 109 Wis. 602,85 N.W. 499
• Parties: KRAMER v. WILLY ET AL.
• Court: Wisconsin Supreme Court

109 Wis. 602

85 N.W. 499

KRAMER

v.WILLY ET AL.

Supreme Court of Wisconsin.

March 19, 1901.

Appeal from circuit court, Outagamie county; Frank M. Fish, Judge.

Action by Caroline Kramer, administratrix, against T. Albert Willy and others. Judgment for defendants. Plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

Suit by plaintiff, who is administratrix and widow of William H. Kramer, deceased, to recover damages for his death, resulting January 17, 1899, on the explosion of a steam boiler, the property of, and in the flouring mills of, the defendants. The plaintiff's evidence disclosed that the deceased at the time of his death was 33 years of age; that up to about 9 years before he had been a farmer. At that time he came to Appleton, and was apprenticed to the tinner's trade, and worked at various occupations until 1895, when he became employed as a fireman for the defendants, and was employed in that capacity, either by them or others, from that time to some four months before his death. During a considerable part of the time of his employment by the defendants as a fireman he served as engineer, and something like four months before the accident he became their chief engineer, and thence up to the time of his death had charge of their boilers and steam power. The boiler in question had been used about four years, and was manufactured for the defendants by manufacturers having reputation amongst the best boiler makers in the United States, and was of superior materials. It was 16 feet long by 72 inches in diameter, consisting of a steel shell three-eighths of an inch thick, with seams fastened with a double row of rivets 2 1/2 inches apart, and rested upon a brick foundation. The boiler had been in continuous use and carefully cared for, and needed no repairs until a few days previous to the explosion, when the deceased discovered a slight leak in a norizontal seam. He notified the owners on Sunday, January 15th, who employed one Fairbanks, running the only boiler shop in Appleton, with large experience and good standing and repute as a repairer of boilers. After looking at the boiler, he indicateda portion of the brick wall needing to be removed, and the following day came, and, under the directions of the deceased, proceeded to examine and repair the boiler. He examined it carefully inside and out, discovered no defects after emptying and filling it with water two or three times, except the slight leak referred to, and attempted to calk it. As he did so, the leak, which had formerly been for only some four inches of the seam, extended along until he had completed his calking for a distance of several feet and stopped the leak. He then inquired of the deceased, “Shall we test the boiler?” to which deceased replied, “No; it is not necessary.” He accordingly went away, the brick foundation was replaced, steam generated the following day, and when it reached somewhere between 90 and 100 pounds pressure the boiler exploded, killing the deceased, who was engaged in his duties about the same. It was then found that in the underlying lap of steel, at about the place where the leak had been, was an old crack extending horizontally a distance of some feet between the two rows of rivets. This crack did not extend through the whole thickness of the metal, but varied in depth from one-sixteenth of an inch to nearly the whole thickness, and is assumed to have been the cause of the explosion. It could not be discovered by either external...