Improvements in the Manufacture of Coke.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Nov., 1899-Accepted, 14th Apr., 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
.
(Communicated from abroad by UNIVERSAL FUEL COMPANY, a corporation
organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the State of New
Jersey, United States of America, and having its principal offices or place
of business at 81, South Clark Street, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois,
United States of America.)
Improvements in the Manufacture of Coke.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:---
The object of the invention is more particularly to devise a method of treat-
ing sulphurous coals and coals that have heretofore been regarded as non-
cokable for commercial purposes, so that they can be coked in quantity and
at a reasonable expense, and so that the coke secured will be of a superior
quality and applicable for all the uses to which good qualities of coke are now
applied, and the invention also has for its object improving and expediting the
coking of coals now coked by the ordinary processes; and the process consists
in the operations, and modes of procedure hereinafter described and claimed.
In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a plan view of a convenient form of
coking plant to carry out the process with the coking ovens shown in section,
taken on line 1-1 of Fig. 2: Fig. 2 is a side elevation; Fig. 3 a longitudinal
sectional elevation of. the blast heating furnace; taken on the line 3–3
Figure 1, and Fig. 4 a vertical section of a coking oven, showing the movement
and circulation of the gases.
In describing the process or mode of procedure that has been found, from
months of actual work in coking sulphurous coals and coals that are generally
regarded as non-cokable for commercial purposes and coals that are coked
according to the present methods, to be the best and the most successful, it is
desirable to say at the start that it is not intended in this application to attach
special importance to the peculiarities of construction of the coking plant which
The oven A-
is used so long as it is adapted for carrying out the process.
and when speaking of the oven it is the intention to include as well a plurality
of ovens is one in which the coal is inclosed or confined and may be and pre-
ferably is, as to its interior, of the ordinary beehive construction. It should,
however, whatever the form of its construction--be built of materials capable
of standing great intensities of heat. The most refractory or durable quality
of fire brick should therefore be employed for the interior lining of the coking
oven. This necessity grows out of the fact that in the process or mode of pro-
cedure the temperature in the coking oven is raised to a point two or three
thousand degrees above what is ordinarily employed in the coking operation as
generally practised at the present time. This temperature reaches in many
cases a point exceeding 4000° Fahrhenheit. Under the high temperature employed,
not only rapid generation and evolution of the gases contained in the coal is secured,

page_text: but a breaking up and disintegration of their elements and a conversion of the
volatile carbons into a fixed form, so that they are deposited upon the coke in
large quantities and form constituents of and substantial additions to the coke
product. This increase in the quantity of fixed carbon is not secured by the
methods of coking in general use, where the temperature is insufficient to effect
the separation of the constituents of the gases and the conversion of the volatile
carbons into fixed form.
To secure the increased temperature employed, it has been found necessary
to provide a blast heated outside of the coking oven itself--an extraneously
heated blast. As a convenient means of heating this blast, a furnace B may be
employed having an auxiliary arrangement of open brick-work C, preferably
inclosed in the same wall that incloses the furnace. The open brick work may
be constructed of fire brick and in the usual way. It operates to preserve
equality in the temperature of the blast, and is intended to be heated and
maintained at as high a temperature as the blast driven through and in con-
tact with the mass of burning fuel. In the heating furnace a bed of coal is
represented, which may of course be as large and deep as the requirements of
the case may seem to render expedient or desirable. The blast is furnished by
any convenient fan or force blower D, driven by any suitable motor. E, operated
by electricity, steam, or other preferred means. The air furnished by the
blower is, preferably, primarily conveyed into a reservoir or accumulator D¹,
and from thence through a pipe to the furnace. After the air has passed
through the burning fuel, it is of course, to a great extent at least, deprived
of its free oxygen, and may therefore not inappropriately and for convenience
of designation, be referred to as de-oxygenized. From the open laid brick
work the de-oxygenized blast is carried through a suitable pipe into, preferably,
a reservoir or accumulator F, from which it may be carried in suitable pipes a
desired distance, and introduced into the oven above the mass of coal confined
or inclosed and being coked therein. As shown in the drawings, the blast is
carried from the reservoir through pipes f to the sides of the coking ovens and
carried through branch pipes f into the first of the ovens, where a plurality of
ovens is employed. The pipe f may pass on to the next set of ovens and the
blast be introduced into them through other branch pipes operating in the same
way as the branch pipes f¹ operate.
The blast of extraneously heated de-oxygenized air is introduced above the
mass of coal inclosed in the oven while the trunnel hole in the top of the oven.
is left open. The blast supplying a volume of incoming extraneous air and
gas, in addition to the gases evolved from the coal, creates a movement or
circulation in the oven above the coal which facilitates the discharge or escape
of the gases. This discharge naturally takes place in the direction of least
resistance the open trunnel hole. But as atmospheric air is heavier than
heated air, and always moves toward an area or spot of heated or rarefied air,
the atmospheric air containing free oxygen forces its way down and into the
oven through the open trunnel hole. Movement or circulation, therefore, in
the dome of the oven while the trunnel hole is open conduces to two important
contributory results-the egress upward and out through the trunnel hole of
the consumed or non-combustible or non-convertible gases, and the ingress
downward into the oven of a sufficient quantity of atmospheric air containing
free oxygen to promote and support the necessary combustion to secure
accelerated coking. A great increase of temperature is thus secured, of which
the advantages have been already pointed out, and a movement or circulation
in the gases conducive to their speedy combustion and discharge, and, conse-
quently, the expedition of the coking operation.
As already suggested, one of the applications of the process is to the coking
of sulphurous coals. In the case of such coals, the extraneously heated blast
is specially treated before its introduction into the oven so as to impart to it in
the act of heating an additional property or capacity adapting it to effect, to

page_text: a greater or less extent, the de-sulphurizing of the coal being treated. In cider
to give the blast this de-sulphurizing property in a convenient and efficient
manner, it is driven through a layer of, preferably, lime G spread or arranged
on the bed of coal or fuel through which the air is driven to heat it.
In passing
through the layer of lime, or similar material, the blast is changed or has
imparted to it the property or capacity of removing sulphur from the coal under
heat. In this way sulphurous coals have been successfully coked, and coke
produced which is adapted to be used for metallurgical purposes, which coals
have heretofore been regarded as practically non-cokable for such purposes.
By thus specially preparing the blast and imparting to it a de-sulphurizing
property, there is avoided that physical application to or intermixture with the
coal of de-sulphurizing agents that may remain as impurities or objectionable
ingredients in the coke product.
In the various figures of the drawings the course taken by the blast is indi-
cated by arrows without tails. that taken by the atmospheric air by arrows
shown with two parallel transverse strokes across their tails; that taken by the
volatile gases by arrows shown with arrow-heads at their tails as well as at
their heads, and that taken by the results of combustion by arrows shown with
small circles at their tails.
It has also been found that after creating a condition of temperature in the
coking oven favorable to the rapid generation of the volatile gases in the coal-
a condition, as already pointed out, of intense heat-great acceleration of the
coking operation may be obtained by shutting off the extraneously heated de-
oxygenized blast and following it up with a supply of live air containing free
Oxygen. A convenient arrangement of pipes for supplying this live air is also
shown in the drawings. As illustrated, pipes H are employed, which run
from the reservoir or accumulator D to a desired proximity to the sides of the
coking ovens and connect with the branch pipes f by branch pipes / entering
them. It will of course be understood that all these pipes are provided with
suitable valves or shut-offs, so that the air may be carried through such of
them as may be desired and shut off from the others. This arrangement of
pipes and valves will be readily understood from an inspection of Fig. 1 with
out further detailed description. It is enough to say that when it is desired
to shut off the de-oxygenized blast and to admit a supply or volume of live air
containing free oxygen, the proper valves are operated to shut off the one and
admit the other. This supply of live air coming into the oven after the neces-
sary and desired conditions of heat have been secured causes a rapid combustion
of the combustible gases thrown off or evolved from the coal, so that the coking
operation is greatly accelerated. The rapid evolution and rapid consumption
of gases enables in many cases the coking of a charge to be completed in one
half or even one-third the time ordinarily required as the art of coking is now
practised. The supply or volume of live air should, however, be shut off as
soon as the combustible gases cease to be evolved from the coal, as otherwise
the oxygen would attack and cause a combustion to take place in the fixed
carbon of the coal, thus consuming and reducing its quantity, which should
of course be avoided.
In carrying out the process, it will appear from an inspection of the drawings
-which illustrate a convenient arrangement of plant, and from the description
of such plant that provision is made for introducing into the coking oven a
supply of live air along with the heated de-oxygenized blast as well as for the
admission of either separately. The advantage of admitting both together
grows out of the fact that there is thereby induced in the oven at one and the
same time the two conditions conducive to the rapid prosecution of the coking
operation the great intensity of heat required for the rapid evolution of the
volatile constituents of the coal and the immediate presence of the requisite
supply of free oxygen for the consumption of such of them as are combustible.
Moreover, when thus admitted, either together or alternately at the will of the

page_text: .
operator, the two kinds of blast may readily be graduated or regulated with
reference to their respective effects, so that the rapidity of consumption will
bear the desired relation to the quantity of generation of the gases evolved and
the coking operation properly governed and controlled. Provision of some kind
for the separate and alternate as well as simultaneous admission of a supply of
live air and of a de-oxygenized blast will also be found advantageous in many
cases where, owing to existing conditions, it may be desirable to employ the
one or the other at different stages of the operation. For example, if the coking
oven be cold, or practically so, and it be necessary to begin the coking operation,
in effect ab initio, or where the extraneously heated de-oxygenized blast has
not yet been brought to the requisite temperature to rapidly heat the coking
oven, a supply of live air may be introduced immediately upon firing the coal
to promote and support combustion in the oven during the initial stages of the
operation. The de-oxygenized blast can then be employed to contribute its heat
to the production of the high temperature desired in the oven, after which the
operation may be conducted as already described.
In explaining, as above, the great acceleration secured in the coking pro-
cess, it is desirable to call attention to an important contribution to this result
referable to the employment of an extraneously and highly heated de-oxygenized
blast. After a charge of coal has been coked and wetted down so as to cool it
and the interior of the oven sufficiently to permit the charge of coke to be
drawn from the oven and a new charge, comprising several tons, introduced,
the oven, as is well known, will have become cooled or chilled, relatively speak-
ing, though its walls-particularly in the dome are expected to still retain
sufficient latent heat to fire the new charge through the reflection or rever-
beration of the heat from the converging walls of the dome. This result, how-
ever, requires considerable time, so that often two or three hours may clapse
before the reduced heat effects the generation and ignition of combustible gases
from the coal. But by the use of the extraneously highly heated blast pro-
jected into the oven above the coal, a temperature is secured sufficient to cause
the evolution and flaming of the gases often within five minutes from the time
of the introduction of the blast. This, of course, is an important factor in the
acceleration of the coking operation.
It will of course be understood that all or only a part of the various steps or
operations above described may be employed, according to the requirements of
.circumstances. For example, where the coking of coal that is free from sulphur
is being carried on, it will be unnecessary to use a specially prepared de-sul-
phurizing blast. Nor, as already intimated, is it necessary to attach special
importance to the constructional features of the plant, so long as it is capable
of embodying or carrying out the process or method of operation. It is not,
therefore; desirable to be understood as limiting the invention further or more
closely than as pointed out in the claims.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed. as communicated
to me by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:-
1. The process of coking coal, which consists in confining the coal in an oven,
firing the coal, and then subjecting the coal to a temperature sufficiently high
to cause not only the generation of gases but also the disintegration of their
elements and the conversion of volatile carbons into fixed form and, their dis-
position as constituent appreciable integral additions to the coke product, sub-
stantially as described.
2. The process of coking coal, which consists in confining the coal in an
oven, firing the coal, and then introducing into the oven above the coal an
extraneously heated de-oxygenized blast to accelerate the generation of and
induce circulation or movement in the volatile gases in the oven while the
trunnel hole in the top of the oven is open, thus causing the ingress into the

page_text: oven of atmospheric air to support combustion and the egress through the same
hole of non-combustible or consumed gases, substantially as described.
3. The process of coking coal, which consists in confining the coal in an oven,
firing the coal, and then introducing into the oven above the coal an extrane-
ously specially prepared highly heated blast, having imparted to it during the
act of heating it as an additional quality the property of de-sulphurizing coal
under heat, substantially as described.
4. The process of coking coal, which consists in confining the coal in an oven,
firing the coal, then introducing into the oven above the coal an extraneously
heated de-oxygenized blast of a temperature, before its introduction, greater
than that usually employed in the coking operation to increase the heat in the
oven above the temperature produced by the combustion therein of the gases
generated from the coal and to accelerate the generation of such gases, and then
permitting the de-oxygenized blast and that portion of the evolved gases not
converted into fixed carbon to escape through an opening at the top of the oven,
substantially as described.
5. The process of coking coal, which consists in confining the coal in an oven,
firing the coal then introduced into the oven above the coal, an extraneously
heated de-oxygenized blast of a temperature, before its introduction, greater
than that usually employed in the coking operation to increase the heat in the
oven above the temperature produced by the combustion therein of the gases
generated from the coal and to induce a condition favorable to the rapid
generation of such gases, then introducing a sufficient volume of live air into
the oven to cause the combustion of the combustible gases being evolved,
and then shutting off the supply of live air with the cessation of the generation
of combustible gases to prevent the combustion of fixed carbon, substantially as
described.
6. The process of coking coal, which consists in confining the coal in an oven,
firing the coal, then introducing into the oven above the coal a blast comprising
extraneously heated de-oxygenized air, of high temperature, and live air con-
taining free oxygen to induce in the oven a temperature and quality of heat
favorable to the simultaneous generation and combustion of volatile com-
bustible gases and thus accelerate the coking operation, substantially as
described.
7. The process of coking coal, which consists in confining the coal in an oven,
firing the coal, and then introducing into the oven above the coal, alternately
and in the order preferred, extraneously highly heated de-oxygenized blasts and
supplies of live air to regulate and control the coking operation by adjusting
and balancing the temperature and quality of the heat in the oven at the will
of the operator to secure the proper relative rates of the generation and com-
bustion of the volatile gases, substantially as described.
Dated this 21st day of November 1899.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.