THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN

AND

JOURNAL OF THE COAL AND IRON TRADES.

Vol. CX.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1915.

No. 2859.

EXTENSIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS AT THE

A Large Installation of Koppers’ Regenerative Coke Ovens, with Complete

SHOTTON COLLIERY.

By=Product Recovery Plant,

One of the oldest collieries now being worked in the,
northern coal field is that at Shotton, county Durham.
This colliery was opened in December 1842, and was
operated for many years by the now defunct
Haswell, Shotton, and Easington Coal and Coke
Company Limited, but it was eventually closed
in November 1877. The Shotton Colliery continued
inactive until it was re-opened in May 1900 by
the Horden Collieries Limited, which was formed
by a number of influential northern coal owners, and
incorporated in January 1900. The board of directorate
of the Horden Collieries Limited is composed of Sir
Hugh Bell, Bart, (chairman), Mr. E. R. Whitwell (vice-
chairman and managing director), Sir James B. Dale,
Bart., and Messrs. A. J. Dorman, W. R. Innes Hopkins,
Arthur F. Pease, H. G. Stobart, and John Temple.
The company’s registered offices are at Darlington,
with Mr. Thomas W. Marley as secretary, and
Mr. William Byers as assistant secretary. In
addition to this colliery, it will be remembered
that the Horden Collieries Limited have very
successfully developed new sinkings at Horden and at
Blackhall, also situated in the eastern portion of the
Durham coal field and distant about ten miles north-
ward of the Hartlepools. At the Horden Colliery the
output just previous to the outbreak of war had been
brought up to a total of 842,000 tons annually, whilst at
Blackball, then in course of development, the output had

By FREDERICK C. COLEMAN.

1,000-ton Coal Storage Hopper, Coal-charging
Lorry and Incline for Coal Cars.

I

and ground to a size suitable for coking purposes.
It is then conveyed by a bucket elevator to a
ferro-concrete bunker, of 1,000 tons capacity. This
bunker is divided into 12 hoppers, three in a row, corre-
sponding to three hoppers under a charging machine.
Shotton coal contains about 30 per cent, of volatile
matter, and it is not compressed, but charged into the
ovens from the top by means of an electrically-operated
charging machine travelling along the top of the ovens
on rails. The machine is provided with three hoppers,
and each oven is charged at three different points.
When the coal has been discharged into the ovens it is
levelled by a beam carried on a machine travelling along
the front of the ovens. This machine also carries a ram
for discharging the coke. A somewhat unusual arrange-
ment is adopted for dealing with the coke. As the coke
is discharged from the ovens, it passes through a Darby
type of quencher, and it is then guided by an anti-
breaker into a coke car, where it is quenched and subse-
quently conveyed to the coke screening and loading
station. The coke car is in two sections, each capable
of taking the charge of one oven. The car travels in
front of the battery, and it is taken by means of an
endless rope and motor-driven haulage gear to the
screening and loading station. By the operation of a
wheel, the gates are lifted, and the coke slides from the
car on to the inclined coke screen. The dust and breeze
pass through the bars, and the coke remains at the

Li®

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General View of Coke Ovens and By-Product Plant.





reached 27,000 tons annually. Since its re-opening in
May 1900, the Shotton Colliery had undergone very con-
siderable alteration, the plant and machinery has been
greatly extended and improved, and the annual output
has attained to one of 452,000 tons. Included in this
development work is a battery of 60 regenerative coke
ovens, designed upon Koppers’ latest principles, and

having complete apparatus for the recovery of tar,
ammonia, and benzol. This installation has recently
been put into successful operation, and is illustrated in
the accompanying drawings and photographs. It will
be gathered by reference to the general arrangement
drawing that the coal from the Shotton Colliery
is conveyed to the washery, and there washed

bottom of the screen, from whence it is discharged on
to a belt arranged for loading direct into railway
wagons. Accommodation is provided for the storage of
about 2,000 tons of coke.

The ovens are each approximately 32 ft. 10 in. long,
8 ft. high, and 20 in. mean width. Each oven is heated
by vertical flues at about 60 points, so as to secure even