The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-08-22
GROWING USE OF COKE.
For Domestic Purposes Reported From
 Boston.

Boston.
 Recent and present anxiety regard ing the outcome of the hard coal prob lem, as it affects the average house. holder and private family. has resulted in creating a demand for coke for do- mestic purposes. According to the New England Gas and Coke company, the leading producers of this fuel, the in- crease in the use of coke by people Who, until the coal trouble came upon the country, always used anthracite coals, has been steady and large, more so outside of Boston, and throughout New England than right in this city, it should be said.
 Coke has gone from $4.5O a net ton of 1000 pounds up to $5.50 a ton recently, which makes it's cost even at that price far less than anthracite coal. The coke can be crushed in various sizes to meet the individual needs of retail buyers. and at the prices quoted it is delivered in Boston. In Brooklyn, Newton and such places an additional charge of 20 cents ton is found to be the rule. A net ton of coke of the quality suitable for domestic purposes runs about AS to 50 bushels of hard coal to the ton. It has been proved by many users of cake that a ton will last as long in daily consumption as will a ton of an- thracite coal. Some users of the coke think it lasts even longer than the hard coal. It really all depends upon it's in- telligent use. A trial of coke under con- ditions of ignorance as to its use and possibilities often brings it into disfa- Vor, whereas under proper conditions and knowledge of how to use it coke may be made an economical household commodity.
 The coke used hereabouts for domes- tic purposes is not a gas-house coke, which is porous and soft; the domestic coke is denser in comparison, and has enough volatine matter to give it a god flame when ignited. In use in "a range or stove, or open fire, etc., far less kindling wood is required to help ptart a fire than is ordinarily needed Nor starting one of hard coal. Coke really is an artificial anthracite coal, tso the manufacturers state, and is about 93 per cent. pure carbon, a chief hecessary element. This makes, as nearly as possible, so it is claimed, a perfect fuel. For it's intended purpose it is specially prepared in patented ovens Of German invention, producing a coke intended primarily for @ steam fuel, having more substance than gas- house coke and without the intense hardness of what is known as metal lurgical coke, produced in the ordinary beehive ovens in the Pennsylvania coal regions.
 |, Where the New England Gas and Coke company has supplied coke for use in large quantities in buildings of great size, in which the consumption of fuel is steadily large for boiler and like use, a competent trained engineer sometimes has been furnished by the company and sent to have charge of the fires for few days or a week un- til the regular engineer of the building thoroughly understood the intelligent use of coke in it's relation to the fur naces where used. One difficulty in reaching success in its use has been that grates with bars too near together have been used, whereas the air space between the bars of grates, when coke Is employed, ought to be at least three quarters of an inch. Coke being lighter | than hard, coal, and producing great heat because of it's carbon, needs a large volume of air coming in at slow velocity under the grates, and the ash pan underneath should be SO arranged as to contain always a good supply of l water to regulate the heat and prevent it's becoming too great.
 In houses 1t has been claimed that the use of coke required constant re-
 plenishing of a fire, either in furnace | or kitchen range. This is because the cock does not understand the nature of | coke, and the caretaker or choreman does not know how to use it in the fur mace of which he has charge. Men are sent out to instruct both cooks and | furnacemen as to the use of coke, and
 when they know how to get the best god out of it's use there is afterward a continual economy in the cost of fuel l In use in furnaces, some householders
 requiring large amounts of fuel have combined coke with anthracite coal, re- sulting in a great saving in the quan- | tity of coal needed. A furnace pot may be filled with coal, forming bed upon which coke may be used most economi- | cally during the day, banking up the
 fire with it At night it is a good plan
 to fix the fire with coal to last through | the night hours, and in the morning the coal will have burned down into a llol.
 low bed which may be filled with coke
 making it possible to heat the house
 well in a very short time, and the use of coke during the day will continue tc
 keep the house warm. This plan has
 been in successful operation in many large private houses. It is simply g question of experiment, at first, ant
 practice afterward in regulating the
 use of coke to determine the amount
 required and the effect of draughts up
 on it. Some people think that an ob
 jectionable gas follows the use of coke
 permearting the house, but this is less
 so than usually comes from the use ot hard coal and unintelligent use o1
 draughts, so it is stated.
 i One means of introduction of cokt
 for domestic purposes has been through peddlers, as they are termed, who sup
 ply grocers and such retail shopkeeperi
 with coke in paper bags or sacks. Eacl of these holds one-half bushel, an,