IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE AND COKE OVENS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Cox, of Ivy Bridge Cottage, near Caerleon,
in the County of Monmouthshire, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of
***IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE AND COKE OVENS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Cox at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th May
1856.
I, JOHN Cox, of Ivy Bridge Cottage, near Caerleon, in the County of
Monmouthshire, Civil Eng", do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE AND COKE OVENS, to be as follows:-
My improvements,in coke and coke ovens consist in the substitution of a
non-absorbent floor for the ordinary.brick floor, by which I prevent the absorp-
tion of water (used in the process of making coke), and thereby avoid the
conséquent deterioration of the floor, and improve the quality of the coke.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Cox in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th November 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
Cox, of Ivy Bridge Cottage, near Caerleon, in the County of Monmouth, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Cox, Her special licence that I, the said John Cox, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Cox, or my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, tho Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE AND COKE OVENS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Cox, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Cox, do hereby declare the nature
of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
nicut -
This Invention consists in the application of non-absorbent bottoms or floors
to' ovens used for the manufacture of coke, which shall admit of the. coke
being purified from the sulphur and phosphorous, by which it is contaminated,
by pouring water over it whilst in a red hot state in the oven, without the said
Bottoms or floors absorbing or retaining a portion of the water so used, which
absorption or retontion by the ordinary bottoms or floors, would tend injuriously
to affect the working of the ovens in the succeeding charges, and likewise, by
injuring the surfaces of the bottoms or floors, render ovens from which coke is
taken in a mass by mechanical means difficult to discharge; and, as a conse
quence of the use of these improved bottoms or floors, the coke manufactured
on them is of superior quality.

page_text: Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
the manner of performing the same.
And, first, I make the bottom or floor of a coke oven (whatever may be
the form or shape adopted) of fire-brick or other suitable material, of such
character and quality that it will not sensibly expand with heat or shrink with
cooling, which bottom I make convex, or otherwise inclined, so as to discharge
the water (which may fall upon it) out at the door. I then coat or cover the
bottom (so formed) with a mixture or composition capable of being vitrified or
semi-vitrified by heat, which I apply to it by means of a fire at the mouth of
the oven, or otherwise, as convenience may suggest, sufficient heat being
obtained for the purpose. Any substance capable of being vitrified or semi-
vitrified may be used for this coating, but the combination of materials and
their relative proportion which I prefer are the following, namely, sifted
iron borings, fifty pounds; potters' clay, forty pounds; sulphur, two pounds;
sal ammoniac, one pound; and common salt, four pounds. These quantities may
be slightly varied without materially affecting the result.
Secondly, I form or cover the bottom or floor of the oven with iron, or other
suitable metal or metals which will resist, without melting, the heat necessary
for the coking process, and without cracking the alternations of temperature to
which it would be exposed in the process of making and cooling the coke in
the oven, provision being made for the free and unrestrained expansion and
contraction of the metal. The metal which I prefer to use for this
purpose, on
account of its economy and of its freedom from any tendency to crack, is sheet
iron, commonly called "boiler plate, which I fix to the bed or bottom at one
end or place only so as to allow it to expand and contract without warping. If
the coke oven be of either of the forms usually known as the "round" or
"oval," I cover the bottom or bed with a piece of plate slightly convexed, that
is, rising about two or more inches from the sides towards the centre, so as to
allow the water used in the process to flow freely towards the sides, from
whence it makes its escape from the door; to facilitate which, I give the bottom
a slight inclination towards the door, and to allow of its free expansion and
contraction I fix it in the centre only. But if the oven be of the shape which
I prefer using, and. from which the coke is usually drawn in one mass by
machinery, that is, a four-sided oven, having its two opposite sides of equal
length, the front and back ends being of lesser and unequal lengths, forming
an oven tapering from the front to the back, then I prefer to slope or incline
the bottom of the oven from the back to the front, and to make it convex
only in the direction of the width, so as to lead the water to the sides, and
from thence to discharge it at the front door; and if the oven be of such size

page_text: that I can procure a plate of adequate dimensions to cover the bottom, I fix it
only at the back end of the oven; but if the oven be of such size that. I. cannot
obtain a plate of sufficient size in one piece, then I make it of three, or more
pieces in the direction of. its width; but each plate in one piece from the front
to the back, and Imáke the middle piece to overlap the two side pieces, in the
manner of slates on a roof, as shewn, in section, No. 1, Fig. 1. Instead of
making the metallic bottom. of the oven; convex, and leading the water. to the
sides, I sometimes prefer to make the bottom in two pieces, lying or resting on
a trough piece or channel reaching from the back to the front of the oven;, for.
the purpose of conducting the water away, which-trough or channel. I.cover
with a plate or plates when the oven is, 'at work, as shewn in section; No..2,
and which serves to introduce Fisher's Patent drawing apparatus, where: the
same is used.:
.
Thirdly, I sometimes apply, similar troughs or channels at the sides of the
oven with a single plate between them, which troughs or channels I cover. with.
plates, as shewn in section, No. 8.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING..
Figure 1 is a vertical section of coke ovens,' shewing-three modes.of. con-
structing metallic bottoms or floors, of which, No. 1. is composed of two side
plates a, a, and a.centre plate 6 overlapping them, being convex at the centre;,
these plates rest upon a bed of; fire-brick or other suitable substance, and are
fixed at the back ends, as shewn by the round pins c, c, c, and are connected
together with: slotted holes, as shewn atid, d, so as to permit freely of, expan-
sion, and contraction:
j
No..2.is' composed of two plates e, e,.sloping and dipping to the centre of
the oven, and resting on the edges; of a. longitudinal trough, or channel f
which is covered by a plate or plates, g, overlapping the edges of e, e, and pre-
vents the coke from choking the course of the water. The fixing, expansion,
and contraction are provided for in a similar manner to that. described in
No. 1
.
No. 3;shews an arrangement of a centre plate h, convex towards the.centre
of the oven, and resting on two troughs or channels i, i, (one at each, side.of
the oven,)-which are covered by plates jj. The fixing, expansion, and.con-
traction are provided for in a similar manner as described in No. 1.
..K is the oven or space occupied by, the coke, and is fitted with doors, flues,
and chimney shaft in the ordinaryimanner.
IIaving thus described the nature of, my Invention, and the manner of per
forming the same, I would have it understood that what I claim as my Inven
:

page_text: tion is, the use of a non-absorbent bottom or floor to a coke oven, whether
such bottom or floor be constructed of fire-brick or of any other suitable
substance, covered with a coating capable of being glazed, vitrified, or semi-
vitrified subsequently to its being made or built, in the manner herein described,
or covered with metallic plates, in whatever way the same may be applied.
And I would remark, that I do not claim the use of moveable iron or other
metallic bottoms or floors when such bottoms or floors are used as trays to be
drawn out of the oven with the coke, that having been before used as a part
of a drawing apparatus, though not for the purpose and in the manner herein
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Cox, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
AMH H. RENTON,
3, Hanover Chambers,
Buckingham Street, Adelphi.
JOHN COX. (L.S.)