The Final Report

The Medina Sheriff's Office Releases its Final Report on the Case 110 Explosion

January/February 2002
Richard Backus 
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Members of the steam hobby have been holding their collective breath since the tragic explosion of Cliff Kovicic's Case 110 at the Medina County Fairgrounds on July 29, 2001. Initial reports on the precise cause of the explosion were confusing at best, and now, with the Oct. 5, 2001 release of the Medina County Sheriff's final report, hope that any confusion surrounding the tragic accident would be laid to rest has been, in some measure, extinguished.

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The Medina County Sheriff's final report states its conclusion simply: 'It is obvious from physical examination, photographs, and testing, along with computer generated stress analysis conducted on the stay bolts and crown sheet fastening points, that ninety plus years of corrosion and erosion had taken its toll on this boiler.' If Medina Sheriff Neil F. Hassinger was trying to quell further discussion on what caused the July 29 explosion with this statement, he doubtless failed to that end.

Primarily, this is because of strong sentiment in many circles that even a weak boiler, if properly tended and its water level kept up, will not fail in the cataclysmic fashion as experienced in Medina. This is not to suggest that anyone within the steam community would suggest in any way that any owner/operator should run a steam engine in less than a safe operating condition - the truth is quite the opposite. The steam community is universal in its embrace of the need for greater considerations of safety when operating steam engines and the attendant need for owners/operators to have their equipment properly tested and inspected to ensure its safe operation. What appears to be the greatest bone of contention is the idea that Kovicic's Case, simply due to its age, was inherently unsafe at any operating pressure and that, by extension, all antique boilers are unsafe at any operating pressure.

More Details

While some sources have said that Kovicic's Case 110 was of 1918 vintage (this date appears in the 'General Details' section of the final report), serial number dating shows that engine number 20753 was constructed sometime between 1908 and 1909. This is also the date that appears through most of the final report, and it appears that any confusion surrounding the Case's date of manufacture stems from dating the boiler number (9487) versus the engine number.

A diagram from the Medina Sheriff's Office final report on the Case 110 explosion, detailing the progression of the crown sheet as it collapsed and then propelled itself in a downward fashion. The energy released from the explosion has been estimated at 330,000 foot-pounds.

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