CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COKE OVENS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM.
WILKINSON, of Jarrow, near Gateshead, in the County of Durham, Coke
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Sixteenth day of November, in the twelfth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Wilkinson, Her especial license, full power, sole privilege, and
authority, that I, the said William Wilkinson, my exors, adñiors, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said William Wilkinson, my exors, adñiors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, my
Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COKE OVENS, AND
IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE CONNECTED THEREWITH;" in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said William Wil-
kinson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same,
reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with. the said proviso, I, the said
William Wilkinson, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
bad to the Drawings-hereunto-annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in improvements in the construction of coke
ovens, whereby I am enabled to distribute the supply of air necessary for the
proper charring of the coal in a more equable manner than heretofore, over
and through the incandescent mass, and thus increase the yield obtained from
a given quantity of coal, and improve the quality of the coke produced.
My Invention consists, secondly, in the application of machinery to the
working of coke ovens, by which means I am enabled to curtail the expen-
diture of manual labor in carrying on the operation.
My Invention consists, thirdly, in the means of applying the heat dissipated
during the carbonization of the coal to the evaporation of saline solutions.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will proceed to
describe the means of carrying the same into effect.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents in back elevation two of
a series or range of my improved coke ovens, one of the ovens being partly
in section, the better to shew the construction thereof. I will first describe
my improved application of machinery to the working of coke ovens as it may
be used in connection with the coke ovens of other constructions than that
made according to my Invention.
A is a shaft running parallel to the range of the said ovens, and extending
from one end to the other of the series; B, B, are the bearings, by which the
shaft A is supported; C, C, are pinions mounted upon the shaft A, and capable
of sliding thereon when required. These pinions gear respectively into rack
teeth on the rods D, which rods are sustained in a horizontal position by the
guide frames and rollers E, e, and severally carry at their inner ends an oblong
cast-iron plate F. These plates being placed in a line with each other extend
nearly across the oven, as shewn at Figs. 1, 2, and 3, Fig. 2 being
view of the ovens, and Fig. 3 a plan view of the same, the right-hand oven
being in section. Openings G (Figs. 3 and 4) are made in the masonry to
allow of the rack rods D entering the oven. The plates F are attached to
their rods from the interior of the oven, and are made to traverse from one
end of the oven to the other by the pinion C (in gear with the teeth of the
rack rod D), being caused to rotate by a steam engine or other suitable power.
The object of this arrangement is to discharge the coke from the oven (when
a front

page_text: the operation of charring is completed) in a more expeditious way than here-
tofore, the plates F by the motive power communicated to them being
gradually forced forward towards the front of the oven, and driving before
them the coke on the floor of the oven, whereby the ordinary manual operation
of withdrawing the coke is dispensed with.
From the foregoing arrangements it will readily be understood that when
the shaft A is made to revolve by any suitable power, the pinions C, C, will
at once communicate a rectilinear motion through the rack rods D to the
plates F, F, which being forced forward will drive the coke out of the oven
at the front opening H (Fig. 2). As, however, it will never be required to
discharge all the ovens simultaneously, I mount the pinions C so that they
may be slidden on their shaft, and by a common lever movement be disengaged
from or brought into gear with the teeth of their respective rack rods D, as
desired.
My improvements in the construction of coke ovens consist in arranging a
set of flues, by means of which the air, introduced into the ovens to support
combustion during the carbonization of the coal, may be divided and diffused
over the surface of the ignited coke, and at the same time regulated in quantity
to suit the quality of coke required to be manufactured.
It is well known that a considerable loss is sustained in the ordinary way
of manufacturing coke by admitting the whole of the air necessary to keep
up combustion at the doorway or front of the oven, for a current of air is
thereby caused to pass over the front of the ignited coke, and by the said
current a large portion of carbon is oxidized, and carried off in the form of
carbonic acid gas, and consequently lost to the manufacturer; but by my
improved mode of diffusing the air uniformly over the ignited coke, I am
enabled to effect a considerable saving of the material under operation.
At Fig. 2 which represents a front elevation of two of my improved ovens,
I is the bottom or floor one foot above the level of the ground; J is the door-
way extending across the full width of the oven. It is closed by a door let
down in front thereof by the means shewn in the Drawing, or in any other
convenient way. K, K, are air flues running parallel with the arch of the
oven, as shewn in the sectional plan, Fig. 3, and communicating with the
interior of the oven by a series of lateral openings L, L, L, Figures 3 and 4,
through which the air in the flues K is admitted to the ignited coke. These
flues near the back of the oven are connected together by a cross flue K*
(shewn by dots in Fig. 3), which is also provided with lateral openings for
distributing the air over the coke.
The size of the oven I prefer using is fourteen feet long by eight feet wide,

page_text: the floor being one foot above the level of the ground, with an inclination to
the front of six inches in the length of the bottom, and the perpendicular
height of the side walls up to the springer being three feet while the radius
of the arch is four-feet..
I would here remark that flues, similar to those just described, may with
advantage be used in conjunction with the ordinary forms of coke ovens, for
the purpose of distributing the air equally over the ignited mass.
I will now describe the last part of my Invention, which refers, as before
stated, to the economic application of the heat given off during the operation
of manufacturing coke.
Fig. 5 represents in plan view a range of twelve coke ovens, with an
evaporating and crystallizing pan (which I use for the manufacture of
common salt) applied thereto, and Fig. 6 is an elevation of the same range.
A, A, are the flues leading from the ovens B, B, and connected with the
flue C (shewn by dots in Fig. 5), which runs underneath the evaporating
pan D; E, E, are two auxiliary furnaces, which I use for the purpose of
keeping up the temperature of the flue C, and burning the combustible gases
which are given off from the coke ovens; F is a crystallizing pan, and G, a
receptacle or well into which the salt is collected; H, H, H, H, are furnaces
attached to the crystallizing pan, and intended to regulate the concentration
of the liquor, as circumstances may require. Fig. 7 represents in end
elevation the range of ovens and pans shewn at Figures 5 and 6; and Fig. 8
is a longitudinal section of one of these ovens.
The mode of operation pursued by me in the manufacture of chloride of
sodium is as follows:-The evaporating pan D, I keep supplied with salt
water from a reservoir or other convenient source, and in order to apply the
heat equally to the pan D, I charge each alternate oven at proper intervals of
time, dividing the range into three sections of four ovens each, and charging
one section per day. By this means the combustible gases liberated from
each newly charged oven are brought into contact with the heated flue of the
next oven, which is in a more advanced stage of the process, and by intro-
ducing a proper quantity of air to support combustion in the circulating flue,
the whole of the combustible gases, or nearly so, are ignited; Q, Q, are
apertures by which I introduce air to support combustion at any point I
find necessary in the circulating flue. Each of the ovens I provide with a
damper R, by which I intercept the communication with the circulating
flue C at pleasure. The two auxiliary furnaces E, E, I use for the purpose
of keeping up the temperature of the circulating flue, and at the same time to
give me control over the evaporating pan.

page_text: When I find the liquor or brine sufficiently concentrated in the evaporating
pan, I discharge a portion of it into the crystallizing pan by means of the
connecting pipe S, Figures 5 and 7, and by well-known means I purify
the liquor, before precipitating or crystallizing the salt, by a further concen-
tration of the said liquor by means of the furnaces H, H.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood, that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent, I claim, as of my improvements in the construction of coke
ovens, the forming in the walls thereof flues with lateral openings, for the
purpose of supplying air to the interior of the oven, and equally diffusing it
over the surface of the ignited mass, as above described.
And with respect to the machinery 'and apparatus connected with coke
ovens, I claim the mechanical means above described and shewn in the
Drawing, or any analogous arrangement, for discharging the coke from the
ovens.
And, further, I claim the mode, herein-before described, of economizing
the heat given off from coke ovens during the manufacture of coke, and
applying it to the evaporation of saline solutions.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wilkinson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.