Raymer v. Standard Steel Works

Citations

• 216 Pa. 101
• 64 A. 902
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 569

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Unsafe appliance.</p> <p>In an action against a steel company by one of its employees to recover damages for personal injuries, it appeared that plaintiff was injured while working about a crane employed in carrying steel billets from the furnace where they were heated, to the die on which they were to- be hammered into shape. His employment required him to assist by means of large tongs in changing from time to time the position of the heated billets on the die as the hammering proceeded. The tongs were attached to the billet by a chain passing around it. While thus engaged the tie rod connecting the crane from which the billets and tongs were suspended, with the mast or upright, broke, with the result that the arm of the crane being unequal to the burden, dropped below the proper level, and with it fell the burden, billet and tongs, in such a way as to injure the plaintiff. Binding instructions for defendant were given on the ground that the evidence established that .the tie rod conformed to a standard of safety that common experience had accepted as adequate. Held, that there was sufficient conflict of testimony on this point to require a submission to the jury.</p>