Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1899-10-26
COKEINDUSTRY
Representative of Universal Fuel
90 in the City.
OTlUMWA ASSURED OF COGE PLANT
Splendid Results Of Tests Made In Chi
cago of Coke Manufactured From
Lucas Coal-.rhe Iowa
Company.

Kilian II. Seibel, of the Universal
Fuel company, of Chicago, manufac-
turer of coke from Iowa bituminous
coal, was in the city today, and left
this afternoon for Burlington. Mr..
Siebel had with him sample of coke
manufactured from coal from the Luz
cas- mines, which was demonstrated by
recent test made in Chicago, to be
equal to the celebrated Connellsville
coke for smelling purposes. As has
been previously stated in the Courier,
number of plants for the manufac-
ture OF coke by the Hemingway pro-
cess will be established in the coal
fields in this state, and Ottumwa will
secure one of them. William Daggett
will be one of the executive officials
and will go to Chicago in few days,
at which time the organization of the
Iowa company will be completed. The
location of the Ottumwa plant, Mr..
Siebel said this morning, has not been
announced. There will be four other
plants in the state. Des Moines, Coun-
Gil Bluffs and Davenport have been Sc
lected as three of the towns, but the
fifth place has not been determined
upon. Each plant will have battery
'of 100 ovens and a daily capacity OF
500 tons of coal, 26O tons of coke and
100000 cubic feet Of gas, together
with the other bi-products that result
from the manufacture of coke by this
new process.
! There is no question now as to the
practicability of manufacturing coke
out of Iowa coal. The process has
been discovered and tested, and those
who have interested themselves in it
are assured that great revolution in
all industries wherein coke is essential
| is at hand. The average Iowa coke will
go about 76 per cent in fine carbon,
about 10 per cent in ash and about /
point so in sulphur, making a very
! fine coke for metallurgical purposes
and smelling iron. 1t is equal to the
best coke in America and can be pro-
duced at much less expense than the
product of the eastern plants. Con-
nellsville coke laid down in Ottumya
at present costs $6.4c per ton, and be-
ginning Jan. the price will be adj
vauced to $500.
Tests of Iowa coke have been going
on for the past three days in .cupola
No. OF the Chicago City railway com
pany. Lucas coal has been used and
for the first time in history Iowa coal
has been cooked and with it iron smelt.
ed. The test OF its smelling qualities
was from the time the blower in the
cupola was turned on until the time
they drew the seventeenth label, which
was lust seventeen minutes.
The result of the experiment and
the discovery of the process cannot be
foretold 1t opens an avenue for Iowa
coal and invites industries to this field
| that it would be impossible 10 obtain
in any other manner. 1t promises to
Irevolutionize the iron industry and the
extent OF the benefits that will be de-
rived cannot be estimated. The BIZ
products alone will defray the expense
of securing the coal, and the nslnufac-
tnre of the coke. The 100-oyen plant
which will be erected near this city.
will be the means of reducing the price
OF gas fully SO per cent, it is claimed
The Iowa coke plants will prove main
feeders to the Grant shelters at Omaha.
Neb.. the Franklin and d. ID. smelters
at Deadwood,. S. D.. and. the Argentine
smelters at Kansas City, Kan. They
will all use Iowa coke in preference to
that manufactured in the far east,
owing to the great reduction in the
cost.
The Iowa company will consist OF a
president, vice president, secretary and
treasurer. which will constitute the
board of directors. One OF. the Letters
will be a member of the Iowa com
pany,. as they will hold one million
dollars common stock in the Iowa
company. Companies similar to the
one that is being organized in Iowa
for the development OF this new pro
cess, will also be organized in Illinois
Utah, New. Mexico and Colorado. Mr..
Seibel will have charge OF The DISPOSE
ton of the bi-products of the plants it,
Iowa.