IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COXE OVENS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Robert Breckon, of Darlington, in the County
of Durham, Accountant and Colliery Manager, and Robert Dixon, of
Crook, in the said County of Durham, Mechanical Engineer, for the
Sealed the 10th September 1858, and dated the 29th March 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Robert Breckon
and Robert Dixon at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 29th March 1858. .
We, JOHN ROBERT BRECKON, of Darlington, in the County of Durham,
Accountant and Colliery Manager, and ROBERT DIXON, of Crook, in the said
County of Durham, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COXE OVENS," to
be as follows:-—.
Our said Invention consists in constructing coke ovens with a flue, pipe, or
tube, or with flues, pipes, or tubes, through which the atmospheric air is
conveyed into the chamber of the oven. In passing through the said flue,
pipe, or tube, or through the said flues, pipes, or tubes, the atmospheric air
is partially heated and rarefied; it is then allowed to mix and combine in the
chamber of the oven with the aqueous and inflammable gases evolved by
the coals. Combustion is thus carried on until the process of coking is

page_text: completed. By this Invention the atmospheric air is prevented from acting
on the surface of the coke, whereby a large produce of superior coke is
obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Robert Breckon and Robert Dixon in the Great Seal 5
Patent Office on the 27th September 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
ROBERT BRECKON, of Darlington, in the County of Durham, Accountant and
Colliery Manager, and ROBERT DIXON, of Crook, in the said County of
Durham, Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said John Robert Breckon and Robert Dixon, Her special licence
that we, the said John Robert Breckon and Robert Dixon, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Robert
Breckon and Robert Dixon, our 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 "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF COKE OVENS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said John Robert Breckon and Robert Dixon, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their,
or one of our or their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the sanie 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 we, the said John Robert Breckon and Robert
Dixon, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say):-
.
In manufacturing coke in the usual manner the coal is placed in the coke
oven, the door of the oven is then walled up nearly to the top, and all the

page_text: interstices are carefully closed to exclude the atmospheric air, which is only
The
allowed to enter the oven through holes placed near the top of the door.
combustion of the coal then goes on until the process of coking is completed.
It has been proved in practice that considerable waste is occasioned in
manufacturing coke in ovens of the ordinary construction, and this waste
results from the following causes :-When the atmospheric air enters through
the holes near the top of the door it rapidly expands and comes in contact
with the partially carbonised coal, whereby the oxygen and the carbon unite
and consume each other; it is likewise found from experience that the
atmospheric air is consumed before it can traverso the gases that arise from
the whole surface of the incandescent coal, and hence the calorific effect of a
large portion of the carburetted hydrogen is lost.
The nature of our Invention consists in constructing coke ovens with one
or more flues, pipes, or tubes, through which the atmospheric air is conveyed
into the chamber of the oven, whereby it is partially heated and rarefied before
it mixes and combines with the aqueous and inflammable gases evolved by the
coals.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued by us,
reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a coke oven to which our improvements are
applied; Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation; Fig. 3 is a plan partly in section ;
Fig. 4 is another sectional elevation; and Fig. 5 a side elevation of the same;
Figs. 6, 7, and 8 are detached views, on an enlarged scale, of the air dis-
tributors; and Figs. 9 and 10 represent the valve through which the
atmospheric air enters into the flues, pipes, or tubes.
a is the door of the oven, and 6 the orifice at the top, both of which are
common to coke ovens of the present construction; c, c, are the flues, pipes,
or tubes which convey the atmospheric air into the interior of the coke oven;
these pipes are furnished at the lower ends with the regulating valves d, seen
best in Figs. 9 and 10; and the air after ascending these pipes passes through
the distributors e, e, seen best in Figs. 3, 6, 7, and 8. We prefer to make
these distributors of fire clay, and to make the passages through them in a
5 diagonal direction, in order that the air may be better distributed in the coke
In Fig. 1, f is the tap for the water, by which the coke is cooled.
The mode of operation is as follows:-The coke oven is charged with coal in
the ordinary manner, and when the oven is charged, the doorway a is closed
and sealed up to prevent the admission of air. The requisite quantity of air
oven.

page_text: for supporting combustion is admitted into the interior of the oven through
the valves d, the pipes c, and distributors e, the quantity so admitted being
regulated by partially closing the valves d as may be required, at the various
stages of the coking process. The air in passing through the pipes c and
distributors e becomes heated and rarefied, and on entering the oven it mixes
with the gases evolved by the heated mass of coal, thereby keeping up the
combustion until the process of coking is completed. By this improved mode
of admitting the air into coke ovens the maximum calorific effect is obtained
from the gases evolved by the coal during the process of coking, and the action
of the oxygen on the coke is diminished, thereby preventing to a great
extent the waste which results from the ordinary mode of operation. These
improvements in the construction of coke ovens are applicable to every
description of coke ovens.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, we declare that we claim the application of the flues,
pipes, or tubes to coke ovens for the purposes described, whether the same
be furnished with regulating valves and air distributors, as described, or
otherwise.
.In witness whereof, we, the said John Robert Breckon and Robert
Dixon, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-first day
of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-eight.