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


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 As, CAT tons were produced with
bituminous coal, and but 3O3,O67 tons
with anthracite fuel In the following
year anthracite iron took the lead over
charcoal iron, and anthracite fuel thereupon
quickly supplanted 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 smelt
ing purposes could be produced, and in
1879 coke wrested the sceptre from anthra-
cite as 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-seventh 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
Connellsville 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, G19 ears, contain
ing 4, 1872, l39 tons
BY referring to a 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 SIS, 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, 600 for the first six months
in this year and the railroads must have
realized about Is much money in freight to
different parts of the country where the
coke is consumed Most of this coke is
still produced in the erudest and most
wasteful manner in old-fashioned ''bee
hive ovens; for The Connelsville Courier
states that in the week ending August 5
there were ), lI6 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-prpduet coke process European dis
covery extensively employed in France and
Germany aud 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.
ee-hiye oven, are cheaply built, and by
product ovens aud stills are costly; never
theless, the time surely will come when the
latter method viii be employed exclusively,
aud then the coke maker will discover that
the distillates which were formerly wasted
are his most valuable product Then the
coke viii become 4 by product