IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE OVENS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Blow Collis and Edward John Collis, both
of Stourbridge, in the County of Worcester, Mining Engineers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE OVENS."
Sealed the 28th September 1866, and dated the 2nd April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Blow Collis and
Edward John Collis at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 2nd April 1866.
We, WILLIAM BLOW COLLIS and EDWARD JOHN COLLIS, both of Stour-
bridge, in the County of Worcester, Mining Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE OVENS," to be ns
follows:-
Our Invention has reference to an arrangement of coke ovens such as was
described in the Specifiation to certain Letters Patent granted to Henry
Hicklin and Charles Pardoe, and bearing date the 27th December 1864,
No. 8214, consisting of a group or series of coke ovens having a common system
of flues into which the whole of the ovens work.
Our Invention consists in dispensing with the series of top flues there
described, and in effecting the communication between the ovens and the
bottom flues by means of one or more side flues arranged either vertically,
"zig-zag," or diagonally in the side walls of each oven of such group or series,
and opening into the said ovens or coking chambers near the tops of the

page_text: The said side flues and openings into the ovens may or may not be
provided with valves or dampers so as to admit of being regulated or closed
as may be required, and the gases, after passing through the same and
through the system of bottom flues, pass off into a chimney in the usual
manuer.
By this Invention the said ovens are better adapted for being charged
through openings formed in the tops thereof, and it admits of the said ovens,
built upon the principle of a common system of flues into which the whole of
the ovens in a series or group work, being modified to suit the requirements
of the various coking districts.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Blow Collis and Edward John Collis in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 2nd October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BLOW COLLIS and EDWARD JOHN COLLIS, both of Stourbridge, in the County
of Worcester, Mining Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said William Blow Collis and Edward John Collis, Her special
licence that we, the said William Blow Collis and Edward John Collis, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William
Blow Collis and Edward John Collis, 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, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE OVENS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said William Blow Collis and Edward John Collis,
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our or
their hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us or them,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Blow Collis and Edward.
John Collis, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, referenco being had
to the accompanying Drawing, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
Our Invention has reference to an arrangement of coke ovens such as was
described in the Specification to certain Letters Patent granted to Henry
Hicklin and Charles Pardoe, and bearing date the 27th December 1864,
No. 8214, consisting of a group or series of coke ovens having a common
system of flues into which the whole of the ovens work.
Our Invention consists in dispensing with the series of top flues there
described, and in effecting the communication between the ovens and the
bottom flues by means of one or more side flues arranged either vertically,
"zig-zag," or diagonally in the side walls of each oven of such group or
series, and opening into the said ovens or coking chambers near the tops of
the samo. The said side flues and openings into the ovens may or may not
be provided with valves or dampers so as to admit of being regulated or
closed as may be required, and the gases, after passing through the same and
through the system of bottom flues, pass off into a chimney in the usual
manner..
By this Invention the said ovens are better adapted for being charged
through openings formed in the tops thereof, and it admits of the said ovens,
built upon the principle of a common system of flues into which the whole of
the ovens in a series or group work, being modified to suit the requirements
of the various coking districts.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we shall
now proceed particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose we shall
refer to the several Figures on the accompanying Drawing, the same letters of
referenco indicating corresponding parts throughout all the corresponding
Figures..
The accompanying Drawing represents a group or series of coke ovens
constructed in accordance with our improvements. Figure 1 of said Drawing
shows a front elevation, partly in section; Figure 2 is a sectional plan, one
side with the floors removed to show bottom flues, and the other side showing
a section through partition walls and side flues; Figure 3 is a plan, partly in
section at the level of openings from tops of ovens into side flues, and partly
a plan of the top of the group of the ovens; Figure 4 is a cross section
through the middle of one of the ovens.

page_text: A, A, are the ovens or coking chambers, closed at the fronts with suitable
doors B, B, lined with fire-bricks. The doors may be made so that the
whole height of the opening is closed at once, or divided so that the lower
portion of the doorway can be closed until an oven is partially filled, and then
the upper portion closed. C, C, are openings for filling the ovens, and are
provided with suitable covers; D, D, are the bottom flues common to alt
the ovens in the group, as described in the Specification of Henry Hicklin
and Charles Pardoe above referred to; E is the main flue communicating
with a chimney (not shown on Drawing), and provided with a damper or
regulator F.
Our present improvements consist in forming the communications between
the tops of the ovens or coking chambers and the system of bottom flues by
means of a set of side flues G, G, one or more to each oven, by preference in
accordance with the number of bottom flues, (the number shown is con-
sidered a maximum, four would be preferred in some cases,) constructed
within the partition walls, and having communication with said ovens by the
openings H, H. The side flues belonging to each oven are arranged so as to
have an equal number on each side of the oven, and to alternate in the
partitions with the side flues of the contiguous ovens, as shown on the
Drawing, so that the ignited gaseous currents may pass off equally or nearly
so on each side of every oven in the series. I, I, are damper bricks for
closing or controlling the flues G, G; and J, J, are openings giving access to
dampers; these openings are closed with suitable brick or iron covers, which
may or may not be fitted with air regulators.
In working the materials are charged through the openings in tops of
ovens (or to some extent, if necessary, through the doorways in frout), and
the ignited gases pass off through the openings H, H, and down the side flues
into the system of flues, traversing the bottoms of the whole group of ovens
in the directions shown by the arrows marked in the Drawing, and thence
pass direct to the chimney, or they may be utilized in getting steam, or in
calcining, or other purposes before being allowed to escape into the chimney.
By these means we can dispense with the top flues described in the Specifi-
cation of Henry Hicklin and Charles Pardoe to the Letters Patent before
referred to, and can construct blocks of ovens on the principle of a common
system of flues better adapted for filling through openings in tops of ovens,
which method, by admitting of tramways and hoppers over the tops of the
enables us to lessen the labour in charging the ovens, and also obviates
the necessity of entering or keeping open the fronts of tho ovens while hot for
the purpose of filling. By theso means likewise a moro equal distribution
ovens,

page_text: of beat over the surfaces of the coking chambers can be effected, especially so
in the case of deep and narrow ovens. The doorways in front are as wide as
the ovens, so that the charges when coked can be drawn in the mass.
Tho coking chambers, flues, and floors are constructed of fire-brick or other
refractory materials, and the masonry may be bound together with iron plates
and ties in the usual way.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed or carried into effect, we wish it to be
understood that we do not bind ourselves to the details shown on the accom-
panying Drawing, nor to the shape of the ovens, nor to the number or shape
of the flues, nor to the details of the arrangements for regulating or controlling
the said flues; but we claim as the Invention secured to us by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent the construction and employment of a
series or group of coke ovens having a common system of bottom flues with
which each of the ovens communicate at or near the top by means of side
flues in the partition walls, arranged and constructed substantially as herein-
before described with reference to the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Blow Collis and Edward John
Collis, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-ninth day
of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six.
WILLIAM BLOW COLLIS. (L.B.)
EDWARD JOHN COLLIS. (L.S.)