The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-03-03
HOW COKE is MADE.
tToRY OF THE LEADING INDUSTRY
OF CoNNELLSvILLE.

the world-Grown From Two to Twenty
Thousand Ovens In Fifty Years-Enor-
nous Amount of Water Necessar-
Some one has called coke mineral char
coal" He meant that coke was soft coal
from which the gases had been expelled
by heat out Of contact with air, just as
wood Is made into charcoal by being
burned without air.
The crushed coke, which Is becoming
favorite fuel with housewives and cooks,
is the coke left as residue in the making
of illuminating gas 1t is soft, dull black
and has q pumicelike texture, but the
coke which is made for foundries and
blast furnaces is hard and is of a silvery
gray color, almost metallic In its luster.
This is the Connellsville coke, produced
In the coke region of Pennsylvania, made
famous by its bloody labor strikes and fa-
tai conflicts between tho Huns" and
militia. Thousands upon thousands of
tons of coal are mined In the Connellsville
country and burned In the thousands of
ovens into COKE and when any labor trou-
BILE checks the output of this region
foundries, machine shops and blast fur
naces all over the country shut down. The
two experimental ovens which were built
in this district SO years ago have grown
into &c, 900 ovens, and the few bushels OF
coke which the pioneers tried vainly to
sell have expanded to over 5000, 900 tons
yearly.
The very nature of the industry connects
the coal mine and the coke oven with the
closest intimacy. The ovens stretch out
from the shaft top on either side of the
railroad tracks, built so close together
that the bank" looks like solid wall,
pierced with low arched windows set in at
short intervals Over the bank of ovens
runs a narrow gauge track, and steam and
smoke cloud the perspective. The Con-
nellsvile coke region Is the largest coke
producing district In the world, and their
cokomaking has reached its highest point
toward perfection The Connellsville
ovens are what are known as the "bee
hive" type, varying from 10x feet to 12H
| feet In diameter and from g to 8 feet in
height. Each oven produces at charge
I from to Al tons of coke each 4S hours
which Is the length of time required to
produce coke from coal All coal will not
| coke, for noncoking coal will crumble
with the heat, whereas cooking" coal
will hold its substance and become min
eral sponge when the gases are driven out
When the coal is brought to the shaft
! top from the bottom of the mine, 1t Is
| dumped into a chute which conveys the
| coal to the "larries," as the small dump
! cars which run on the tracks over the
| ovens arc called Small locomotives draw
! the larry wagons to the ovens in the larger
| plants, but in others steel cables, horses
| or mules are the motive power used to
< carry tho coal to be coked Time and Ia
| Dor are saved by machinery in the mine,
| on the shaft top and around the ovens.
| The mine cars brought up on the cages"
\ from the bottom of the shaft are pushed
| off the cage and an empty car run on au-
\ tomatically, and other forms of self
I dumping cages are used. The coal slides
| down the chute and over the screens into
! the bins from which the larry wagons are
| loaded
| When the larries reach the ovens, they
| are dumped, and the coal slides down.
| When an oven Is charged, the coal is lev
| eled down, and the door Is bricked up,
and all the chinks and openings are closed
\ with loan, except a space of about two
| inches at the top of the door, which ex-
tends across the full width of it. The
heat of the oven-for a full charge of coal
is put In as soon as the charge of newly
made coke has been taken out-sets fire to
the coal on top The draft and course OF
! the air are so regulated that the coal burns
from "out to in, and the amount of air
necessary to keep up a slow, smoldering
combu stion is regulated by closing or
opening airways in the door In 4S hours
the coal is coked, and the door is broken
open, and the glowing coke In the oven
is drenched with water to cool it, so that
IL will not set fire to the cars, for the coke
j ,.Nta fba froi iphf
standing ON the tracks before the bank of
ovens
Enormous quantities of water are used
In cooling coke. AS it requires about 800
gallons of water to cool one charge of
coke, the Connellsville district, when all
of the ovens are at work, uses up over
8, 900, 900 gallons of water day, enough
to supply a town of 90, 900 inhabitants.
Sometimes this water has to be pumped
from a distance for the mine water is
strongly impregnated with sulphur, and
sulphur Is just what the cokemaker does
not want In his product Ono large coke
works in this district, in order to be as
sured of an adequate supply Of pure water,
| pumped it from river l | miles from the
ovens, using an inch pipe which had
formerly been used for supplying town
| with natural gas. The coal mined In the
| Connellsyille district Is remarkably pure
| and Is all coked The vein from which Ii
Is taken Is nine feet thick, and the coal Is
mined on the room and pillar" system.
The great loss of life caused by miners
using naked lamps, and so igniting the ex-
plosive gases which collect in the work
ings, has led many miners to adopt the
electric incandescent light for the shaft
bottom, pumproom and stables, and the
miners are required to carry safety lamps.
As the light is none too good, many min.
, ers take fearful risks by using naked
lamps. The Connellsville district has
been the scene of many accidents and
| ,x.oot ,T,a of lifa -Chicapo Record