IMPROVE- MENTS IN COKE OVENS, AND IN COOLING AND EXTINGUISHING COKE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Stephen Joseph, of Rhostyllan, near Wrexham,
in the County of Denbigh, North Wales, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN COKE OVENS, AND IN COOLING AND EXTINGUISHING COKE."
Sealed the 5th August 1859, and dated the 9th February 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Stephen Joseph at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th February 1859.
I, JOHN STEPHEN JOSEPH, of Rhostyllan, near Wrexham, in the County of
Denbigh, North Wales, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COKE OVENS, AND IN COOLING AND EXTINGUISHING COKE," to be
as follows:-
I construct an oven with an arched top or roof, or a top or roof of other
suitable form, with an aperture or apertures in the arch or roof; over this
ȧrch or roof I place another arch or roof; or I construct a chamber or
chambers from which flues are carried down the sides or in any other way,
either by a division between the brickwork or by flues' and under the bottom
of the oven, and away to a chimney or chimneys, and I admit a regulated
quantity of air into the oven and flues to effect the combustion of the gases.

page_text: By this means the oven is strongly heated at the top, sides, and bottom by the
combustion of the gases, and it is not necessary to admit air into the oven
itself when it is once hot. In some cases, however, I admit air at openings
with suitable regulators under the inner arch. The oven may be made round
or of other suitable form, or it may be made with parallel or slightly diverging
sides, and with iron doors lined with fire-brick at each end, and the coke when
finished is pushed out by a plate and a rack and pinion. I construct the floor
which receives the coke with a shallow recess, horizontal or nearly so at the
bottom, and into which water is introduced, and the steam rising from this
water and pervading the coke extinguishes and cools it, and also carries off
the sulphur. When the coke is sufficiently cooled the remaining water is
drawn off. The space between the two arches or the chamber above the oven
may be used as a furnace for heating crucibles, or for roasting ores, or for
other purposes. When two or more ovens are required each oven may be
complete in itself, or two or more may be connected, so that the gases may
unite and divide again in the flues or passages round and under the ovens, or
so that the gases from one oven may heat another oven. The ovens may be
charged through openings in the arches or roofs, or at one or both ends.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Stephen Joseph in the. Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th August 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
STEPHEN JOSEPH, of Rhostyllan, near Wrexham, in the County of Denbigh,
North Wales, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of February, in the year of our. Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Stephen Joseph, Her special licence that I, the said John Stephen
Joseph, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Stephen Joseph, my 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." In-
PROVEMENTS IN COKE OVENS, AND IN COOLING AND EXTINGUISHING COKE," upon the

page_text: condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Stephen Joseph, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Stephen Joseph, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawing,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
I construct an oven with an arched top or roof, or a top or roof of other
suitable form, with an aperture or apertures in the arch or roof; over this arch
or roof I place another arch or roof; or I construct a chamber or chambers;
from which flues are carried down the sides or in any other way, either by a
division between the brickwork or by flues and under the bottom of the oven,
and away to a chimney or chimneys, and I admit a regulated quantity of air
into the oven and flues to effect the combustion of the gases. By this means
the oven is strongly heated at the top, sides, and bottom, by the combustion of
the gases, and it is not necessary to admit air into the oven itself when it is
once hot. In some cases, however, I admit air at openings with suitable
regulators under the inner arch. The oven may be made round or of other
suitable form, or it may be made with parallel or slightly diverging sides, and
with iron doors lined with fire-brick at each end, and the coke when finished
is pushed out by a plate and a rack and pinion. I construct the floor which
receives the coke with a shallow recess, horizontal or nearly so at the bottom,
and into which water is introduced, and the steam rising from this water and
pervading the coke extinguishes and cools it, and also carries off the sulphur:
When the coke is sufficiently cooled the remaining water is drawn off. Tho
space between the two arches or the chamber above the oven may be used as
a furnace for heating crucibles or for roasting ores, or for other purposes.
When two or more ovens are required each oven may be complete in itself, or
two or more may be constructed so that the gases may unite and divide again
in the flues or passages round and under the ovens, or so that the gases from
one oven may beat another oven. The ovens may be charged through openings
in the arches or roofs, or at one or both ends.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a transverse section of a coke
ovcu constructed according to my Invention; Figure 2 is an elevation of the

page_text: same; and Figure 8 is a horizontal section through the flues under the oven.
The same letters refer to similar parts in each Figure. A is the main chamber
or body of the oven, which receives the coal to be coked; B, B, are the side
walls; C is the arched top of the oven; D is the floor; E is another arch
placed above the arch C, and inclosing a space or chamber F; G, G, are flues
passing down from the chamber F to other horizontal transverse flues H, H,
which pass under the bottom of the oven, and into one or more horizontal
longitudinal flues I, leading to a flue K and chimney L. A series of apertures
M are made through the arch or roof C, and other apertures N are made in
the upper arch E, and closed or partially closed by tiles or by brickwork. The
coking chamber A is open at both ends, and provided with doors made of
fire-bricks fitted into or supported by iron frames; these doors are kept shut
during the operation of coking, and are afterwards opened to admit of the
whole mass of coke being pushed out at once; or one end of the oven may be
permanently closed, and the other end provided with a smaller door, if the
oven is to be charged and discharged with shovels and long rakes in the
ordinary manner. P, P, are two air flues, from which short branch flues
communicate with the body of the oven A; or air may be admitted into the
chamber F through apertures at the ends, or through a flue or flues carried
over the top of the arch C. If desired, air may be admitted at both these
places. The oven is charged with coal through the doors at one end or at
both ends, if preferred, or it may be charged through the top, if more con-
venient, for which purpose one or more of the apertures N is or are opened,
and an iron funnel with a cylindrical neck is dropped through the aperture N
into the aperture M, and the coal is thrown down this funnel, which is after-
wards withdrawn and the aperture N closed. Some lighted coals are thrown
on the top of the charge, and air is admitted at the door or doors, or through
the passages P, until the mass of coal is properly ignited.
up into, the chamber F, and thence through the flues G,
chimney L. The two arches C, E, and the sides and bottom of the oven are
thus heated by the flames, and transmit the heat in a very uniform and equal
manner to the mass of coal in the oven or chamber A, thereby causing all the
gases contained in the coal to be evolved. These gases passing into the
chamber F are ignited, thereby causing a constant current of flame around
the inner oven or coking chamber A, thus producing a very equable heat.
The admission of air into the chamber A may now be adjusted by stoppers or
dampers in the flues P, P, according to the quantity of gas evolved. The gases
are thus burned in the chamber F and flues G, H, I, and the oven or chamber
A is thus heated and kept hot, and the air for the purpose of igniting the. gases
The flammes pass
H, I, K, to the

page_text: being admitted above the coal in the oven A, and not reaching the coal, but
commingling with the gases, passes into the chamber F, and there effects their
combustion. When the operation is complete the coke is removed from the
oven, and a fresh charge of coal is introduced into the hot oven, and the door
or doors are closed. The upper arch E reverberates the heat down upon the
lower arch C, which is thus kept at a high temperature. The space or
chamber F between the two arches may be used as a furnace for heating
crucibles, or for roasting ores, or for other purposes. The lower arch may be
covered with brickwork to make a flat or hollow floor, as may be required.
Two or more of these ovens may be built side by side, and the descending
flues G, G, may receive the flames and gases from the coking chambers on
each side of them. The chambers F of one or more ovens. may communicate,
if desired, so as to mingle the gases together. By charging the ovens at
different times the combustion may be rendered more regular and uniform.
By causing the horizontal transverse flues to unite in one or more longitudinal
flues I under the bottom of the oven, a strong heat is obtained under the
middle of the mass of coal, which is the part which receives least heat from
the sides, and the heat is thus equalized. The flues under the bottom of this
oven may, however, be differently arranged if desired, although I believe the
arrangement shown in the Drawing to be the best. The transverse flues
nearest the chimney may be made rather narrower than those at the other end
to equalize the draught.
.
Some of the advantages of my Invention may be obtained at a somewhat
less cost by dispensing with the upper arch, while still retaining the arrange=
ment of the vertical flues G, horizontal transverse flues H, and longitudinal
flue or flues I. Figure 4 is a transverse section of an oven constructed in this
manner; it is similar to that shown in the preceding Figures, except that the
top arch E is removed, and the holes M are closed by tiles or stoppers,' and
the gases are conveyed by small passages m, m, into the vertical flues G. The
air is admitted at the ends of the coking chamber A, or through 'flues or
passages, as shown in Figure 1, and the combustion of the gases is thus
effected in the upper part of the chamber A, and in the flues G, G. The flames.
descend through the side flues G, G, and pass through the horizontal transverse
flues H, H, and unite in one or more longitudinal flues I, I, which conduct:
them to the chimney.
.
As already mentioned, the coke may be discharged from the oven in the
ordinary manner, or it may be discharged by pushing out the whole mass when
the oven has doors of the full width at each end. When it is to be pushed
out in this manner I construct the oven with diverging sides, so that one end

page_text: is somewhat wider than the other. I open the doors at both ends, and apply
a strong ribbed iron plate to the vertical surface of the coke at the small end
of the oven, and I force this plate through the oven by means of a rack and
pinion, and wheels and pinions for increasing the power, if necessary. The
whole mass of coke is thus pushed out at the wide end of the oven. The rack
and plate are then drawn back again, or the rack may be drawn back, and the
plate removed from the wide end of the oven, and carried round to the back,
if more convenient. The rack and pinion are mounted on a carriage, which
can be placed behind either one of a range of coke ovens, and attached to it by
hooks, which enter eyes in the iron posts or binders, which are employed to
bind the brickwork together in the ordinary manner.
A toothed wheel may
be placed on the axis of the pinion which drives the rack, and this toothed
wheel may be driven by another pinion on whose axis is a crank or winch,
which is turned by hand. The coke is pushed out upon a stone or brick or
iron floor, which is recessed or sunk an inch or two, or more or less, and made
water-tight, or sufficiently so to retain water while the coke is being
extinguished; water is introduced into this recess, and is converted into steam
by the hot coke. The steam rises from the water, and pervading the mass or
heap of coke, extinguishes and cools it, and also carries off some of the sulphur
contained in it. When the coke is sufficiently cooled the water is drawn off
if it has not all evaporated, and the heat remaining in the coke evaporates
any remaining water, and dries the coke. The coke is thus easily and properly
extinguished with very little or no waste or injury, and much more uniformly
and advantageously than by the ordinary plan of throwing water upon it.
.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that what I
claim is,―
First, constructing a coke oven with a chamber or chambers formed above
the ordinary arch or top of the oven by a second or upper arch or otherwise,
from which chamber or chambers vertical flues descend down the sides of the
oven and pass under its bottom or floor, and thence to a chimney, such coke
oven being provided with passages or apertures for the admission of air, either
into the body of the oven or into the aforesaid chamber or chambers, or both,
as herein-before described.
Second, constructing coke ovens with the combination of vertical flues at
the sides and transverse horizontal flues and a longitudinal flue or flues under
the bottom of the oven, as herein-before described in reference to the accom
panying Drawing.
Third, the mode herein-before. described of extinguishing and cooling coke

page_text: by discharging it on to a floor having a shallow recess, into which water is
introduced, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Stephen Joseph, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine..
JOHN STEPHEN JOSEPH. (L.S.)
Witness,
CHARLES COWPER,
20, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane: