The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1900-03-24
A wasteful Method of Making Coke
From the Philadelphia Record.

rum TIC PIMA RecOru-
The production of coke in the United
States is an industry which has grown from
small beginnings to enormous proportions.
The chief use for coke is in the smelling
of iron, and it is well within the memory
of iron masters now living that when the
first locke iron was made it was neces-
sary to fight the bitter prejudice against its
use. In the earliest days of iron making
in this country all of the pig iron was made
with charcoal fuel Then bituminous coal
came into use for this purpose to small
extent, and this was followed by anthracite
coal In 1854 charcoal iron was made in
this country to the extent of 305, ,623 tons,
while only 4S, CAT tons were produced with
bituminous coal and but 303, ,O67 tons
with anthracite fuel. In the following
year anthracite iron took the lead over
charcoal iron, and anthracite fuel thereupon
quickly supplaated both charcoal and BIZ
luminous coal in making pig iron. Grad
ually, however, another change took place.
1t was found that by converting bituminous
coal into coke an admirable fuel for srts,it=-
ing purposes could be produced, and in
1875 coke wrested the sceptre from anthra-
cite as a pig iron smelling fuel. Since
that time the production of anthracite iron
has been slowly declining, thus following
in the wake of charcoal iron; and at the
present time the output of anthracite iron
is only about one-seyenth Cor less) of the
amount made with coke.
As the production of iron has increased
enormously of late, so the production Of
coke has followed suit. The Connellsville
Courier is source from which reliable
figures of the output of Connellsville coke
may from time to time be obtained long
before any compilations have been made
for official or semi official publication. The
most recent figures given by this paper
show that the production of coke in the
Connellsyille region during the first half of
1899 was larger than that of any other
half year by the amount of half million
tons. The shipments from January / to
July aggregated 24S, ,619 ears, contain
ing 1872, 139 tons.
By referring to table giving the an
nual shipments of coke from the Connells-
vile region since 1880. published in the
annual statistical report of the American
Iron and Steel Association, we find that
the shipments from the Connellsville region
during the first half of the present year ex-
ceeded the total shipments of any full year
prior to 1888, and of one or two subsequent
years as well. The value of this product
at the place of shipment did not fall much
below $40, 900, 900 for the first six months
in this year, and the railroads must have
realized about as much money in freight to
different parts of the country where the
coke is consumed Most of this coke is.
still produced in the crudest and most
wasteful manner in old-fashioned tsbee-
hive ovens; for The Connellsville Courier
states that in the week ending August 5
there were Is, 146 ovens in active opera
ton. These ovens belch forth, night and
| day, clouds of black smoke carrying off
valuable volatile chemical substances which
could all be saved by the use of the modern
by-product coke process European dis
covery extensively employed in France and
Germany and introduced successfully to
some extent in this country.
The beehive oven coke burners are fol-
lowing in the footsteps Of the old time
charcoal burners, who ruthlessly wasted all
of the valuable distillates, and in addition
thereto destroyed the forests upon which
they depended for their supplies of wood.
Beehive ovens are cheaply built, and by
product ovens and stills are costly; never
theless, the time surely will come when the
latter method will be employed exclusively,
and then the coke maker will discover that
! the distillates which were formerly wasted
are his most valuable product. Then the
coke will become by-product.