Improvements in Coke Ovens.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Mar., 1892-Accepted, 2nd Apr., 1892
COMPLETE ST MULTICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by HUGH KENNEDY, of Sharpsburgh, Pennsylvania,
United States of America, Blast Furnace Engineer.]
Improvements in Coke Ovens.
1 JAMES JOHNSON of 4 Clayton Square Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
Fig. 1 shows in front elevation two of my improved coke ovens, Fig. 2 is a plan
view thereof, Fig. 3 is a side elevation thereof. Fig. 4 is an enlarged vertical
section of one of the ovens, the section plane being on the line IV-IV of Fig. 6.
Fig. 5 is a partial section on the line V-V of Fig. + showing the oven door.
Fig. 6 is an enlarged plan view of the oven; and Fig. 7 is a sectional detail view.
Like symbols of reference indicate like parts in each.
Heretofore the common practice in making coke has been to charge the coal into
an ordinary beehive-oven built as a permanent and fixed structure, and after
igniting and coking the charge to cool it by watering and then to withdraw it for
use. The disadvantages attending the use of such ovens are numerous. The work
of drawing the charge is very laborious to the workman and costly to the proprietors
of the oven, and the sudden chilling of the oven which results from watering the coke,
is not only destructive to the structure, but by requiring the coke oven at each charge
to be reheated from a cold state to a temperature sufficient to ensure the coking of
the coal, materially retards the coking operation and makes it necessary to consume
a greater amount of coal uselessly as fuel. These disadvantages and others which
will be recognized by the skilled coke maker have led to attempts to provide ovens
in which the coke could be withdrawn without watering in the oven, but hitherto
such attempts generally; in the line of moving the bottom of the oven with the
coke thereon; have not been sufficiently successful to warrant their general
adoption in the art.
The object of my invention is to obviate these objections incident to the beehive-
ovens, and to provide means whereby coal can be coked economically and rapidly
and the coked charge withdrawn without need of watering in the oven and without
the usual manual labor which has been not only laborious in itself, but also injurious
to the coke and to the oven walls. To this end I use a coke-oven-dome normally
set over a coking floor or hearth, on which the charge within the oven is coked in
the usual way, which oven is movable laterally so that at the conclusion of the
operation, it may be moved from the hearth dragging the charge with it over an
opening at which the charge drops from within the oven. The oven is adopted
then to be moved back over the hearth and to receive a new charge of coal, and as
no watering in the oven or on the hearth is necessary, both these parts remain hot,
so that the newly introduced charge is coked very much more rapidly than has been
possible heretofore, and as the oven is saved from the sudden chilling and contrac-
tion caused by the watering operation, its duration is very much prolonged.
Referring now to Figures 3 and 4 of the drawing, 2 represents the permanent
coke-oven hearth or floor which is preferably faced on top with brick, banded or
otherwise firmly secured together, and made as smooth as possible so as to prevent
injury when the oven is moved with the coke, 3 is the oven, consisting of a dome
shaped or beehive structure preferably circular in cross-section open at the bottom
and having a charging hole at the top. This oven is provided with wheels 5
mounted on a.
track 6, the rails of which are arranged on said hearth and extend
beyond the same on an open frame or trestle 7 beneath which may be a track on

page_text: .
which cars may be placed to receive the coke discharged from the oven ; The
body of the oven is between the tracks, and is so situate relatively to the hearth
that its lower edge shall be almost in contact with the latter.
The operation of the oven is as follows:-
When it is situate over the hearth 2 as shown in Figure 3, it is charged with
coal which may be introduced through the hole + from a car 8 on an overhead
track 9 which is supported by posts 9. The crevice between the lower edge of the
oven and the hearth then may be luted with clay, and the charge having been fired
the coking operation proceeds in the usual way. At the end of the operation,
suitable traction mechanism, such as a claim operated, by a drum, it is attached to
the oven at 10 and the oven is drawn on its wheels from the hearth over the trestle 7,
dragging the coked charge with it on the hearth. When the oven passes the
hearth, the coke falls from within it into a car or other receptacle 11, situate below
the trestle, on the bottom of which may be some water, the steam from which will
cool the coke, or the coke may be cooled in the car by discharging water on it.
This operation of discharging the coke occupies but a short time, and at its conclu-
sion the oven is drawn back over the hearth by a traction chain 12 and may be at
once recharged with coal and luted at the base, after which the coking proceeds as
before. At the begining of the second coking operation, both the walls of the oven
and the hearth are red-hot, the hearth being so thick and substantial that its heat
is not easily lost by radiation, so that the coking of the coal begins very rapidly
and is much more thorough and produces a better quality of coke that where the oven
is cold at the begining of the work. In moving the oven to and from the hearth, its
weight is supported by the wheels, the fricition of motion of which is so small that
but little mechanical power is required for the operation of the apparatus. This
fact constitutes an item of practical economy which enhances greatly the merits of
the invention.
In Figures 1 and 2, I show a plant consisting of two such ovens set side by side,
and it is obvious that I may make the hearth 2 as long as may be wished and may
use any number of the ovens. It is desirable in practice to have in a plant one or
more extra oven domes, so that if any of the ovens need repair, it may be drawn off
the hearth and the extra oven substituted, in which case the work of coking need
not be interrupted and the hearth need not be allowed to cool.
In Figures 4, 5 and 6 1 show the details of construction of the oven-dome as I
prefer to make it but I wish it to be understood that my invention is not limited
strictly thereto, since changes may be made in the form and relative arrangement
of the parts. The coke oven dome is built of brick work in the manner illustrated.
The lower part which after the manner of the ordinary beehive oven is cylindrical
in form is built in a cast iron frame or jacket 13, having at its lower end an inwardly
extending supporting flange 14. For convenience in manufacture, this jacket is
preferably made in sections bolted or riveted together as shown, and at four
opposite places on the jacket are cast sockets 15 in which I fix axles 16 on which
the wheels 5 are journalled (Fig. 7). One of the sections is also cast with an
opening for the reception of a door frame 17 (Figs. 4 and 5). For the purpose of
preventing loss of heat by radiation from the dome, 1 prefer to employ a cylindrical
metal shell 13 which extends upwardly from the frame 13 to about the level of the
top of the dome, and to fill in the space within the slicll with a non-heat conducting
material such as clay mineral wool or other suitable substance, which contributes
materially to the efficiency of the oven.
Many changes in the shape of the oven and the means for imparting lateral
motion to it and for guiding it in such motion will suggest themselves. Such changes
I intend to cover by the broad claims of this application.
I am aware that coke ovens have been devised in which the hearth carrying the
coked charge is moved from the oven. My oven is superior in operation to such
ovens, in which the hearth, in order that it may be movable with proper facility
must be made so light that it will easily lose its hoat when removed from
the oven.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
First. In apparatus for coking coal, the combination of a stationary hearth, on
which the charge to be coked rests, au oven open at the bottom and set over said
hearth with its sides extending to about the level thereof, and means for moving
the oven laterally on the hearth whereby the coked charge is dragged by the oven
and removed from the hearth, said apparatus having a dumping place or drop
in the path of motion of the oven; substantially as and for the purposes
described.
Second. In apparatus for coking coal the combination of a stationary hearth, on
which the charge to be cooked rests, an oven open at the bottom and set on wheels
over said hearth with its sides extending to about the level thereof, means for
moving the oven laterally on the hearth, and a dumping place or drop in the path
of motion of the oven, whereby the coke charge is dragged by the oven and removed
from the hearth; substantially as described.
2011
T
J. JOHNSON.