The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-09-01
H|LLEKE TELLS OF WONDERF u OUTPUT. OF PRODUCT OVEN
Members of Civic Clubs Visit New Plant of SlosS-Shef- field Company Output
 Gauged By Millions

Gauged By Millions
 Four hundred members of the Kiwanis, Rotary and the Civitan Clubs were visitors yes terday afternoon of the Sloss- Sheffield Steel and Iron Com pany at the new by-product plant of that company at North Birmingham.
 The visitors saw for themselves how the gas is made, which in a short time Is to be used by the Birmingham housewife for lighting and cooking purposes. A. F. Hnlike, who built this last word in the way of by-product plants told the guests that the daily output was 240o0 o00 cubic feet of gas, half of whien goes back into the ovens to keep them hot for the manu- facture of more gas and coke and by products.
 Birmingham's present consump-
 feet per day. The by-product
 plants gas will he able to supply
 several cities of the size of Bir-
 mingham.
 Mir. Hillike was introduced by Hugh Morrow vice president of the SlN~- Sheffield company. as man wno mad come up on his own merit and who had not only achieved, but had lost no friends while ascending the ladder, because he had preserved all the es- sential qualities of real man.
 It was with regret that the guests learned that Mir. HilliHe is to leave Birmingham 10 become general man. ager of all the coking properties of the Semet -Solvay company, but MT, Hillike assured them that that posi- tion would bring him here often
 MT. Hllike superintended and con- ducted the building of the plant and has had supervision of it's operations. F. W, Miller is superintendent and A. W. Nickerson, assistant superintend ent. These gentlemen helped explain the operations of the plant.
 THEIR HOSTS
 From the town office. besides Vice President Morrow, Russell C. Hunt secretary and treasurer and M. F, Vim son, chief clerk to the president, and others lent their assistance in enter tainment of the guests.
 The most interesting event was a short talk by Mir. Hillike, in which he briefly outlined the history of the by product industry and pointed out some of it's endless ramifications.
 This particular plant of f2O
 semct-soivny type of ovens, Mir.
 Hiliikc said, had coal consuming capacity of f.0OO,00O toms per an
 nun, and n production capacity as
 follows,
 Nine billion cubic feet of gas,
 seven million gallons of tar. twen-
 ty-two million pounds Of sulphate
 of ammonia. seven hundred thou
 sand tons of coke, and three and
 half million gallons Of light oils.
 MT. HiHke named some of the by products of the closed coke oven Among them is anti-pyrine, one oi many medicines. Another Is the eX- plosive made from toluol the mos' powerful of them all. It was to as sure ample supply of explosives that the government during the war en- cOuraged the pulluInS ol pS Pi ON ovens
 Another staple product is sulphate of ammonia Still another is cArbolic acid Another is benzol. The family of by-products is almost numberless and over 300 by-products of the closed coke oven are manufactured and dis trbuted commercially
 Among the most important by-prod ucts of the byproduct oven are the va rious aniline dyes, which are now be- ing manufactured in this country with success.
 MT Hillike incidentally mentioned the service which the Sloss-Sheffield plant is to perform for Birmingham ir supplying gas and this mention was enthusias stically received.
 On the way to the plant and com ing thence the visitors saw gangs lof men at work digging the trenches for the pipe line to con
 meet the refining plant of the Bir- | mingham Railway. Light and Power Comapny in the city with the gas at the cOking ovens. The SlOss- sheffield is financing this pipe line at Il cost of S250.OO0. to he re- couped by the utility. The line will be 25,OGO feet long. The utility is ready to distribute the gas as soon as the connection is made, which should he this autumn. Visitors made favorable comment or l the coming balloon races, which B1r 1 mingham secured by reason of thu | quality and quantity of the Sloss-Shef | fields by-product gas.
 1 The visitors were handsomely dinet In a large hall in one of the monster brick buildings of the plant During the meal the guests were at first in clined to pass up the iced tea because it had no sweetening. A little later or this feeling was relieved by the pass ing around of dminutive saccharint tablets any one of which was suffi cient to sweeten glass of tea. It was explained that these tablets were bu one of the BOO commercial article; manufactured today out of the by products of the closed coke oven. PERSONAL