Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-24
COKE AND CHARCOAL.
Methods of Making and Uses to Which
They Are Put.


From the New York Tribune.
Il am often asked, said NJ. w. Swenson
of Wilkesbarre, Pa, what coke consists
of and to what uses it is put. Coke is coal
with the volatile matter burned off, what
is left being almost wholly fixed carbon To
reduce coal to coke the coal is put into
especially constructed ovens and allowed to
burn for about thirty-six hours. Only suf-
fcient air Is admitted to the oven to keep
the fire going. and this air is only allowed
TO pass over the surface of the coal. At the
end of thirty-six hours the volatile matter
in the coal i'll have been consumed and
the residuum is called coke. 1t is gray in
color and is punctured with air holes.
Coke Is frequently manufactured as
by-product. and great saving is thus eff
fected. This $ especially in the manu-
facture of gas, where the heat obtained
f Nm the volatile matter is sufficient for the
purposes needed. The furnaces III use in
the Boston Gas Company are constructed
So that only the volatile matter will be
consumed. The Boston and Maine railroad
uses on its locomotives the coke which the
gas company thus obtains a by-product.
Coke was orig nally discovered and brought
into use in the manufacture of iron. To
manufacture iron what is known as weld
ing heat must be obtained. When you go
into a blackSmith'S shop you will notice
mat the blacksmith in heating the iron
upon which he is at work plunges it into
the deep. red bed of GOALS through which
the drtlnCia. DidSl, produced by the Del
lows. PUSHES He gets his welding heat in
this lower. deeper-colOred flame. He could
not obtain 1t in the flame above. When a
welding heat was needed originally in the
manufacture of iron charcoal was used.
But charcoal. while effective, was very
expensive. and made iron costly and more
or less limited in its use. Consequently
when anthracite, with its 90 per cent of
carbon and but per cent of volatile mat
ter. discovered iron manufacturers
eagerly substituted it for charcoal, thereby
reducing the cost of producing iron and pro-
portionately increasing it's use. But an
thracite. while cheaper than charcoal, had
a mighty drawback. 1t was not porous
and 1t was difficult to force a blast through
L. In the Manufacture of iron wind is
Vital necessity. tons and tons of wind. in
the form of blast, are consumed for each
and every ton of iron manufactured. The
density of anthracite made it difficult to
force the blast through, and interposed a
serious and detrimental obstacle to its use
Then some one discovered coke, which an
swered all requirements. 1t was cheap 1t
gave a welding heat. And. best of all, being
porous, 1t gave free ingress and cGress to
the vitality necessary blast.
Some coal Is of SO poor character that
you cannot get welding heat from It. try
as you may. For example, at the black
smith shops in the coal mines in Colorado
hey have to use coal brought from eastern
mines to get welding heat. it being ut
terly impossible to get it from the Colorado
coal. This country is blessed with an enor-
yersified area Some of It, however is of
inferior grade. Yet the cost of transporta-
ton causes 1t to be mined. For instance
I'm Kansas they are going down 400 feet to
obtain coal that runs but eighteen inches in
the VEIN They have to do it, however as 1t
Is the only coal they have. Coal Is one of
the most valuable natural sources of wealth
with which mother nature has so bounti-
fully and generously blessed u.s. 1t will be
an increasing source of revenue, for the
shortage IN Europe can have no other eff
feet than to broaden the ma kets for Amer
lean coal and coke (which will at the same
time command better and constantly in
Creasing prices