Shoe factory boiler explosion (Brockton, Massachusetts)

Origin story for the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code; Tom uses it to establish that codes are written in the aftermath of disasters.

The boiler and pressure vessel code is what I call the granddaddy code. It's about 105 years old. It started because of a boiler in Brockton, Massachusetts, which blew up. Mike's back there, he's from Brockton, but this was before Mike's time. I actually have a picture of it somewhere — a nice picture of a mill building, a whole city block size, about five stories tall. That's the before picture. The steam boiler in the basement blew up, and the after picture is just level, like a firestorm in Germany after World War II, just nothing left. That irritated a few people, and so the American Society of Mechanical Engineers formed the boiler and pressure vessel code.

The catalyzing event for the strengthening of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. Boiler explosion leveled a city block; Tom previously had two copies of the photographic book documenting it ("borrowed on the no-return plan").

One of the most important codes in the world today is the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, which I think in 2005 celebrated its 100th anniversary. It's the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. It is used almost throughout the world. But it got its real growth a few years after it started, right down here in Brockton, Massachusetts. There was a shoe factory in Brockton that looked like this one day, [Tom shows before photo] and the next day it looked like this. [Tom shows after photo] It's the best picture I got. I used to have two copies of this book; they've both been borrowed on the no-return plan.