El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-09-01


r is revolutfonizinE the steel in
- dustry Of the United States. II
Is increasing its efficiency and wiping
out the waste Il il creating new
byprOducts and Is making our country
independent Of many things which Il
formerly imported from Germany and
other parts of the world. One sees
evidences Of this at every step in 60
ing through a great plant like that Of
the United States Steel trust AT Ems
ley The plant covers almost 20 acres
and connected with il are many great
buildings devoted 10 the utilization of
byproducts which not long ago went
TO waste.
Just hack OF the mighty furnaces.
winch are now smelling more than
tnree-quarters or million tons OF
iron a year. are long rows Of the old
fashioned bee hive coke ovens, which
only feW years ago made most Of
rne coke Of the United States These
ovens are OF brick Zach Of them Is
about 2 feet I'm diameter, and so tsll
that 4 man could stand upright within
Dr.. The coal was put in by hand
through a hole in the top. Il was
fired by hand. and the volatile gases
passed off and we're lost in the air.
The coke was dragged with "a kes and
the cars were loaded ny hand There
vas great waste OF material, time
and labor
TODAY the coal is turned into coke
an ovens which cost hundreds Of thou
sands OF dollars to build The ovens
are ina great series as high as a
three story house and several hundred
feet long They are charged auto
maticaLy by steel cars. which carry
the coaf on tracks high above them
and drop II into the ovens. After the
coke is made, steel hands worked by
machinery. push the blazing chunks
into steel cars, and the tram is car
RED under a sprinkler which floods
A. with wafer As the cold water
touches the super-heated mass a vol
cano Of steam rises like mighty
cloud into the air At first the cloud
is black. but a second later il turns
20 the color or milk and forms a huge
mass Of vapor more wonderful that
the pillar Of fire which led the Israel
only 80 seconds TO cool the great
mass
Nothing Lost Except Steam
Tn this new method Of making coke
about the only thing that Is lost is
this steam Philip D. Armour. the
man who did so much 10 build up the
meat packing business OF Chicago.
once said that he was able TO save
every bit OF the hog but the squeal
Bv means Of recent inventions the
every bit Of the coal, and in the mai
ing Of pig iron they are creating val
liable by products out Of everything
that goes into the pig In these new
coke ovens the monthly saving IS
greater than the output OF large
coal mine. have this statement from
George Gordon Crawford president q
the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad
COMPANY which operates the great
Ensley plant said Mr. era v-fOrd-
~ . H.r-
We are able 10 save every month more
than $4,000 tons Of coal This rs on
the basis Or an output Or 100000
pounds OF coke per month. The saving
dred pounds OF coal VIII make nine
pounds more coke in the by product
ovens than We are able rO get from
The same amount IN the beehive oF-
ems We are also able 70 save more
than six pounds OF nut coke and coke
Dust from every hundred pounds Of
furnace coke that we make. and the
total saving is about 49, geo tons
Forry-three thousand tons would be
a big monthly output for one Of our
largest coal mines and such . mine
would probably be exhausted within
50 years The saving We are making
here will 20 on continually, and we
shall create that amount Of new coal
every month long as the plant is
kept working
Mention some ~ your Gfs--iiy--
products, Nr. Crawfotd-- - 7
We NE the coke dust and nut coke
- fus1. ana the result is hundreds o.
millions Of cubic feet OF gas, which we
use for running our works Twenty
fivei million cubic feet Of such gas
geek TO the steel plant where II is
used fer the creation Of power And
then. We have the by products from
the gases created in making the coke.
which Weld I'm round numbers, from
each 100000 tons Of coke more than
looo5090 gallons Of tar. over 1900 tons
~ stlphate Of ammonia and almost
5000 gallons OF benzol products
By Product - Valuable.
Dufing my stay at the works I have
gone. through the by product plaNt
which creates these great saving.
The gas from the coal is carried 10 u
IN fErest pipes. and the various prod
uqfrs are manufactured from the gas
nj retorrs and machines Of one kind
OF other The sulphate Of ammonia,
which is so largely used for fertilizer.
Cqmes from the ammonia gas in the
qoaL This is passed through sui
1nhuriC acid and the mixture rs re-
Through 2 centrifugal machine like
Lfhat IN a sugar refinery " hen the
stuff comes out II looks much like
brown sugar. but n is really com
bination of sulphur and coal II IS
worth about $50 a ton at the present
war prices and ss the factory makes