Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1901-02-28
WHAT COKE IS.
the Fuel Necessary to obtain
q Welding Heat.

(
81 am often asked" said N. w
Swenson, of W~iikesbarre, Pa, to: q
New York Tribune man, what coke
consists OF, and to what uses it is
put. Coke is coaI with the volatile
matter burned off, what is left being
almost wholly fixed carobn. To re-
duce coal to coke, the coal is put
into especially constructed ovens and
allowed to burn about Sc hours. Only
sufficient air is admitted to the oven
to keep the fir going, and this air
is allowed to pass over the surface
of the coal. At the end of SO hours
the volatile matter in the coal will
is called coke. 1t is gray in color,
and is punctured with air holes.
Coke is frequently manufactured
as a ~by-product, and a great saving
is thus effected. This is especially
so in the manufacture of gas, where
the heat obtained from the volatile
matter is sufficient for tne purposes
needed. The furnaces in use in the
Boston Gas company r constructed
so that only the volatile matter will
be consumed. The Boston & Maine
railroad uses on its locomotives the
coke which the gas company thus OBJ
tains as a by-product. Coke was orig
inally discovered and brought into
use in the manufacture of iron. To
manufacture iron what is known as
a welding heat must be obtained.
When you go into a blacksmith's shop
you will notice that the blacksmith
in heating the iron upon which he is
at work plunges it into the deep, red
bed of Goals, through which the arti-
fetal blast, produced by the bellows,
rushes. He gets his welding heat in
this lower, ~deep-colored flame. He
could not obtain it in the flame above.
When a welding heat was needed orig
charcoal was used.
But charcoal, while effective, was
very expensive, and made iron cost
~ and more or less limited in its use.
Consequently, when anthracite, with
its 65 per cent. of carbon and but five
per cent. of volatile matter, was dis
covered, iron manufacturers eagerly
substituted it for charcoal, thereby
reducing b cost of producing iron
and proportionately increasing it's
use. But anthracite, while cheaper
than charcoal, had a mighty draw
back. 1t vas not porous, and it was
difficult to force a blast through it.
In the manufacture of iron wind is a
vital necessity, tons and tons of wind,
in the form of a blast, are consumed
for each and every ton of iron manu-
featured. The density of anthracite
made it difficult to force the blast
through, and interposed a serious and
obstacle to it's use. Then
some one discovered coke, which an
swered all requirements. It wa
cheap. 1t gave a welding heat. And,
best of all, being porous, it gave free
ingress and egress to the vitality
necessary blast.
'Some Goa is of so poor a charac-
ter that you cannot get a welding
from it, try as you may. For
example, at the blacksmith shops in
the GOA mines in Colorado they have
to use coal brought from eastern
mines to get a welding heat, it being
utterly impossible to get it from. the
Colorado coal. This country is
blessed with an enormous supply of
coal, distributed over a diversified
area. Some of it, however, is of in
grade. Yet the cost of trans
portation causes it to be mined. For
instance, in Kansas they are going
400 feet to obtain coal that runs
but IS inches in the vein. They have
do it, however. as it is the only
coal they have Coal is one of the
most valuable natural sources OF
with which Mother Nature
SO bountifully and generously |
us. It will be an increasing |
ource of revenue, for the shortage
Europe can have no other effect
to broaden the markets for
American coal and coke, which will
lt the same time command better and
increasing prices"