IM- PROVEMENTS IN COKING FUEL
Year: 1879

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edwin Thursfield at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 11th February 1879.
WILLIAM EDWIN THURSFIELD, Civil Engineer, of Madeley, in Shropshire. "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN COKING FUEL."
Instead of allowing the fuel to be converted into coke by the ordinary process of
combustion and distillation in ovens, I subject the mass of fuel to be coked during
a portion of, or throughout the whole duration of the process, to a blast, or current
of superheated steam, either intermittent or constant in continuity, and of varying
duration and strength, according to the nature and properties of the fuel to be
coked, without regard to any special form of oven or hearth, but adopting, for the
sake of illustration and elucidation of the method, the circular form of coke oven
substantially in the following manner:-I connect a steam boiler, heated either by
a separate furnace or by the products of combustion of the coking fuel, with a
superheating apparatus of suitable form and dimensions, conveniently placed for
this purpose in connexion with a separate heating furnace, or preferably in the
crown or neck of the coking oven, or in some other convenient part of the oven,
where it is exposed to the heat from the products of combustion of the coking fuel,
and I take the steam required for the process from the said boiler, and, after having
superheated the said steam in the said superheating apparatus, I lead it through
suitable pipes, passages or orifices, in such manner situated and arranged that
the said blast or current of superheated steam be forced into or through the
mass of fuel to be coked during its combustion and distillation either constantly
or intermittently, and with suitable duration and force according to the nature and
properties of the fuel to be coked; and I arrange the said pipes, passages, or orifices
for the inlet of the said blast or current of superheated steam and the outlets for
the escaping gases and products of combustion in such relative positions as may be
most convenient for the due penetration and effective operation of the superheated
steam on the fuel to be coked. If, for instance, in an oven of the above mentioned
form the pipes, passages, or orifices be placed above the fuel to be coked, I place
the outlets for the gases and the products of combustion either at the sides or
bottom, or at the sides and bottom of the oven; if the pipes, passages, or orifices be
placed below the fuel, I place the outlets either at the sides or top, or at the sides
and top of the oven; if the pipes, passages, or orifices be placed at the sides or in
the centre of the mass of fuel, I place the outlets either at the top or bottom, or at
the top and bottom of the oven; and if the pipes, passages, or orifices be placed

page_text: above and below the mass of fuel to be coked, I place the outlets at the sides of the
oven; but I prefer to place the pipes, passages, or orifices at the sides and bottom,
or at the sides and in the centre of the mass of fuel, and the outlet or outlets above
the fuel-in-the-crown, or-side walls, or some other convenient part of the coking
oven. I use steam-for the-above-purpose varying in pressure between three and
nine and a half atmospheres, according to the nature and properties of the fuel to
-be-coked adopting, by-preference, a pressure of seven and a half atmospheres.for
ordinary coal, and reducing or increasing the same in accordance with the quantities
and qualities of the constituent parts_of_the_fuel_which-these-said-improvements-
in coking fuel are intended to remove.