Patent GB-801116-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to the discharging of coke from horizontal coke oven batteries
IPC: C10B41/04
Filed: 1956-10-01
Abstract: 801,116. Discharging coke ovens. WOODALL-DUCKHAM CONSTRUCTION CO., Ltd. Oct. 1, 1956 [Oct. 7, 1955], No. 29859/56. Class 51 (2). [Also in Groups XX and XL (b)] In a method of aligning the pusher machine 11 and coke guide machine 12 on opposite sides of a horizontal coke oven battery 10, a beam 17 of electromagnetic radiation is projected from a transmitter 14 on one machine through the upper part of the oven to a detector 18 on the other machine to generate a signal when the machines are correctly aligned, the radiation having an energy within the range 0.005 to 150 MEV so that the beam will be substantially attenuated by an oven door but will penetrate smoke &c. The radiation may be either gammarays emitted by a radioactive substance incorporated in the transmitter (see Group XX) or X-rays. The detector comprises a Geiger- Muller tube, scintillation counter tube or crystal detector which may be connected to a pulse amplifier and is arranged to operate a relay when the pulses recur at more than a predetermined frequency. The detector may be adapted to respond only to a continuous beam incident throughout the coke discharging operation, or to an intermittent beam, a modulated beam, or a beam of short duration. In Fig. 2, the transmitter 14 is controlled by a lever and chain arrangement 16 and projects a continuous beam 17 to the detector 18 which operates a relay 19. Warning lights 21, 22 on the pusher machine 11 and quenching car 13 respectively are illuminated through a circuit comprising collector shoes and rails 24, 26 and a lead 25. The quenching car operator then actuates a switch 23 to complete a circuit for the ram contactor 27 so that the pusher ram 20 can be advanced ; the ram can be stopped at any time by re-opening the switch 23. Interlock contacts 28 ensure that the ram can only be advanced while the pusher machine is at rest; the transmitter is similarly interlocked with the flopperplate 15. A manually-operated switch 29 can be used if the relay 19 fails. In Fig. 3, the transmitter 14 is controlled directly by the switch 23 through a circuit including collector rails contacting collector shoes 26 on the machines 12, 13 or through electromagnetic induction means on these machines. When a beam of radiation is incident on the detector 18, the relay 19 permits operation of the pusher ram 20 through its contactor 27. Re-opening of the switch 23 stops the pusher ram by cutting off the radiation beam. When the relay 19 is working, a second beam of radiation is projected from a transmitter 30 on the pusher machine to a detector 31 on the coke guide machine operating a relay 32 to light the lamp 22. The transmitter is interlocked with the flopper-plate 15 and with the travel controller so that the beam can only be transmitted when the flopper-plate is in position and the machine is at rest, and it can also be interlocked with a tilt switch so that the beam will be cut off if the machine is tilted. In a modification, two detectors are located at spaced positions on the pusher machine, so that the relay is only operated when both detectors receive radiation. Alternatively two transmitters can be spaced apart on the coke guide machine, their respective beams being received either by a single detector or, if the beams are collimated, by two spaced detectors on the pusher machine. Specification 801,117 is referred to.