IMPROVE- MENTS IN COKE OVENS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Hunter, of Hedley Hope Colliery, near Towlaw,
in the County of Durham, Colliery Manager, for an Invention of " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COKE OVENS,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Hunter at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th April 1881.
JAMES HUNTER, of Hedley Oak Colliery, near Towlaw, in the County of
Durham, Colliery Manager. "IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE OVENS." :
Its object is to increase the weight of coke yielded by a given charge of coal,
and to facilitate the removal of the coke when the operation of coking is com-
pleted, and it consists in a combination of the following features in the construction
of the oven:-
There is an opening at the top of the oven through which the coal is loaded, the
sides and ends of the oven are straight, or nearly so. It has a door at the front
practically the full width of the oven. The top of the oven is arched. There are
flues on the top clear of the opening, and under the bottom of the oven, through
these flues, the heated gases pass into a flue at the back, and thence into a
chimney.
I prefer to make the door a sliding one.
I prefer that the oven should taper slightly from back to front.
I prefer that the back flue should be part of a main flue common to a series of
ovens, and communicating with the main chimney.
"
It is possible and convenient but not essential to the Invention to make these
ovens of such dimensions that two of them may occupy the space ordinarily
occupied by one of the beehive ovens commonly used in the North of England.
The oven constructed according to my Invention admits of the easy removal of
the coke in the usual manner by rakes or "grips," but it is peculiarly favorable to
the use of a drag" to be laid at the bottom of the oven before loading, which
drag is withdrawn with the superincumbent coke after the operation of coking is
completed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Hunter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th October 1881.
JAMES HUNTER, of Hedley Hope Colliery, near Towlaw, in the County of
Durham, Colliery Manager.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE OVENS."
The said Invention relates to coke ovens, and it has for its object increasing the
weight of coke yielded by a given quantity of coal, and facilitating the removal
of the coke after the operation of coking is completed. The Invention consists in
certain improvements in the arrangement of the flues and in the general construction
of the ovens, as hereinafter described.
The improved coke oven is provided with an aperture at or near the roof for
the escape of the gases, which are caused to circulate about the oven in flues
arranged in a peculiar manner hereinafter described in the roof and under the floor,
and also at the back of the oven, before escaping into the chimney.
The charge of coal is introduced through a suitable aperture in the roof, and
the coke is withdrawn through a doorway of the same width as the oven, which
may be bricked up in the usual manner when the oven is working, or may be closed
by a sliding door or other suitable means.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose shall refer to
the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a vertical section of a coke
oven constructed in accordance with this Invention, the section being taken along
the line 1-2, Figure 4, and Figure 2 is similar view representing a section taken
along the line 3-4, Figure 4%; Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section corre-
sponding to Figure 1; Figures 4 and 5 are horizontal sections taken respectively
along the lines 5-6 and 7-8, Figure 1; Figure 6 is a vertical section, and
Figure 7 a front elevation illustrating a mode of arranging or combining a series of
the improved ovens.
The improved coke oven is constructed with a coking chamber A having an arched
roof and straight sides, and provided with an orifice B in the roof for the intro-
duction of the coal, and a doorway C for the removal of the coke. The doorway C
is practically of the same width as the oven, which is preferably somewhat con-
tracted or narrower at the back than at the front, whereby the withdrawal of the
charge is considerably facilitated. The oven or coking chamber A cominunicates
through an orifice D with a vertical downcast flue E leading to a horizontal flue F
under the floor of the oven. This flue F extends to the front, where it branches
off into two return flues G leading to two vertical upcast flues H at the back
communicating with horizontal flues I in the arched roof of the oven. The flues I
extend from the back to the front, passing on either side of the charging hole B,
and communicate at the front with return flues K leading to a common main
flue L at the back of the oven, through which the gases escape to the chimney, or
the said return flues may lead direct to a chimney appropriated for the particular
oven.
The doorway C is closed by bricking it up in the usual manner, or by a sliding
door or other convenient means, and the charge being introduced through the
charging hole B the heated gases evolved during the process of distillation escape
through the orifice D into the flues E and F, whence they are distributed between
the two flues G, and continue to circulate about the oven in the flues H, I, and K
before being finally allowed to escape into the chimney through the common flue L
or to the separate chimney, as above mentioned.

page_text: By means of this arrangement the heat of the gases is utilised with great economy
and advantage for the purpose of maintaining the necessary elevated temperature
of the oven, and the coal is coked under peculiarly favorable conditions. Air may
be introduced into the bottom flues for the purpose of promoting combustion of any
carbonic oxide which may be present if found desirable.
The charge is introduced with great facility through the hole B in the roof,
whilst the wide doorway C.enables the coke to be readily removed in the usual
manner by means of rakes or grips. The shape of the oven and doorway affords
special facilities for the use of a drag which is laid on the bottom of the oven
before charging, and withdrawn with the superincumbent coke after the operation
of coking is completed.
The improved ovens may be made of such dimensions that two of such ovens
may occupy the same space as one of the "bee hive" ovens ordinarily employed in
the North of England, and may be combined together in a series of any desired
number communicating with a common chimney, and capable of being charged in
rotation; Figures 6 and 7 of the Drawings shew a series of ovens A so arranged,
the same communicating with a chimney N common to the series.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into
effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel and original,
and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part
recited Letters Patent is,―
The combination in a coke oven having straight sides of an opening in the top
for charging the oven with coal, of flues for the circulation of the heated gases,
and of means for facilitating the withdrawal of the charge, the several parts
being arranged and combined together, substantially in the manner hereinbefore
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hunter, have to this my Specification
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.
JAMES HUNTER. (L.S.)