Southbridge Sav. Bank v. Exeter Machine Works

• Decision Date: 27 October 1879
• Citation: 127 Mass. 542
• Parties: Southbridge Savings Bank v. Exeter Machine Works
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

127 Mass. 542

Southbridge Savings Bank v. Exeter Machine Works

Supreme Court of Massachusetts

October 27, 1879

Worcester. Bill in equity, filed October 17, 1878, to restrain the defendant from removing a boiler from a parcel of land in Brookfield. Hearing before Colt, J., who allowed a bill of exceptions in substance as follows:

The defendant, in July 1877, delivered to one Stevens, to be used on trial at his machine-shop in Brookfield, an Exeter sectional boiler, which by agreement between them was to remain the personal property of the defendant until paid for. On August 6, 1877, Stevens made a mortgage to the plaintiff of the machine-shop and land, including in express terms the boiler, and, for failure to comply with the conditions of the mortgage, the plaintiff foreclosed the same, and claims to hold the boiler by virtue of the mortgage and foreclosure.

On the ground inside of the engine-room of the shop was built a brick wall about eight feet high, separate from the outer wall of the building, and forming the two sides and one end of the casing surrounding the boiler. There was no front to the casing, except the iron-door front hereinafter mentioned. Over the top of this brick casing, plates of sheet-iron were laid, covered with gravel, resting there of their own weight and removable at pleasure. In one of these plates was an opening for a smoke-pipe, which was of sheet-iron, and also removable at pleasure. Resting on the casing on the inside about three feet above the ground, was an iron plate, not a part of the boiler, designed to support the weight of the sections of the boiler; midway between the front and rear and connecting the sides of the casing, was a brick partition, built on the ground to within three inches of this plate, and designed to be the rear part of the fire-box. About eighteen inches above the ground, within the fire-box resting on the casing, was a grate, not a part of the boiler. On the iron plate were placed the sections of the boiler. Each section weighed four hundred pounds, and occupied a space three and one third feet long, three feet high and four inches thick. Each section was a boiler in itself. By adding or removing these sections the size of the boiler could be increased or diminished. In case any one of the sections should become defective, it could be disconnected and taken out. The boiler in question consisted of eighteen sections each of which rested on the iron plate of its own weight, without screws or attachments, and nowhere touched the sides or ends of the brick casing or the plates above. Water-pipes or nipples, connecting the sections of the boiler with a drum on the outside of the casing, passed through holes cut in the sides of the casing, and, by unscrewing these pipes or nipples, they might be removed singly or all together with the drum. Steam-pipes connected the sections and drum on the outside of the casing above the water-pipes, and were removable in the same manner.

The front of the casing consisted of an iron-door plate, which fitted against the ends of the casing, but was not in any way fastened to the casing, except that it was kept in place by means of iron bands passing around the sides and ends of the casing and through the door plate, and there held by nuts screwed on to the ends of the bands. By removing the nuts, this door plate became detached from the brick-work. By removing the steam and water pipes, the sections or boilers became disconnected and independent, and in no manner attached to the casing or anything appurtenant thereto, and could then be taken out separately through the top or the opening in front, without disturbing the brick-work.

It was contended by the defendant that the advantage of such a sectional boiler was, that it was portable, and was designed so to be; that it could be put in, as well as taken out without disturbing the brick-work. It was in evidence that it was frequently set up on standing frames; and that the boiler in this case was put in on trial, and Stevens intended that it should not become a fixture. The boiler, in connection with the steam-engine, shafting, pulleys, belts and machinery,...