604 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. September 29, 1916. away in a single train load, and during the recent drought the water proved a boon to the people in this district. The magnitude of this deposit of clean coal is hardly realised even by those familiar with the immense mineral deposits of Queensland. Taking this great section of 72 ft. in thickness, and assuming that only one-half will be extracted, it is pointed out that the yield per acre exceeds 60,000 tons. Considering that a big mine, with an output of 1,000 tons per day, and working 270 days, will take out little more than 4 J acres per year, some idea can be formed of the immense store of mineral wealth laid by for future generations in this coal field; and it is also seen that the Newcastle Colliery, holding an area of nearly 1,000 acres, should have a long and bright future before it. BY-PRODUCT COKE PLANT AT • TERRE HAUTE.* By S. Meacham. Coal tar products have been given so much publicity during these war times that one might easily be led to believe that in the newer coal by-product distillation plants coke has become one of the minor by-products. This is far from true at the plant of the Indiana Coke and Gas Company, which is nearing completion at Terre Haute, Ind. When designing this plant the owners did 'not forget that coke is one of the major products derived from the distillation of coal, but kept in mind constantly the four essentials of its satisfactory preparation as a reliable fuel : analysis, structure, uniformity of product, and continuity of production. They realised that the last three depend almost entirely on equipment and feeding the storage bins above the ovens. Thejse bins, also, are double, so that the two mixtures may be held in storage and are of sufficient capacity to ensure con- tinued operation, should an interruption occur at the mixer, crusher, or intervening conveyors. The pulverised coal is then loaded by gravity into the “ charging larry,” an electrically operated hopper car of special design which runs on tracks along the top of the ovens, supplying them with coal. While the development of by-product coke ovens has brought about a fairly well defined standardisation of design, the Indiana Coke and Gas Company selected the ovens built by the Gas Machinery Company after inves- tigating carefully many types. The distinctions between the several recognised types of ovens lie in the arrangement of flues in a vertical or horizontal position, and the manner of heating the gas, air, or both. The ovens at the Terre Haute plant are of the vertical flue, cross, regenerative type. They are especially distinctive, in that the gas burns in two adjacent flues in a continuous direction, and upon reversal, burns in the opposite direction, in contrast with that arrangement of gas flow, which provides for the burning of gas in groups of five to fifteen adjacent flues, the products of combustion passing out of a like number. A continuous flame is maintained in this oven in all of the gas heating flues, irrespective of the direction of the flow, affording an exceptionally even distribution of heat. This feature of heat control is unique, and ensures uniform coking. After the coal has been distilled in these ovens the proper length of time (about fifteen hours), it is pushed out by an electrically operated ram, called the pusher, into the quenching car. The body of this car is V shaped, the V being inclined at an angle so that the coke rolls down the sides to the bottom and does not the present labour shortage, they are of interest to the consumer desirous of securing regular shipments. After the foundry size has been selected the furnace size is removed by a bar grizzly. The balance of the coke is carried to the crusher, where it is crushed and .screened for domestic uses and stored in bins of shallow construction so that the coke will not fall far enough to break up should the bins be empty. Realising that, in spite of the many precautions taken at the various points in operation to ensure uninterrupted service, any break in the transmission of power would make these precautions of little value, all the pipes leading from the power plant are laid in dupli- cate, so that should a break occur in one series, the other could immediately be put into use." The equipment at the Terre Haute plant for the recovery of the other coal products has been constructed with equal care, the gases, which are given off early during the coke process, being richer in by-products than those which come off later. The gas handling equipment is duplicated throughout, the rich and lean gases being treated separately. After the tar, ammonia and benzol have been removed in that order, the rich gas is sold to the local company for domestic purposes, while the lean gas is used to heat the ovens. THE AMERICAN COAL TRADE. Recessions from the abnormally high levels touched during the threatened strike of the railroad employees were inevitable, but prices of bituminous have in no instances fallen off to what may be considered the normal basis for this time of the year. Demand from large steam consumers, already urgent, is becoming more and more insistent as the season advances, while Fig. 1.—Coal-handling Plant. 4 . 1 ... ' H K'- w.' ' Fig. 3.—Coke Quenching Wham. Fig. 2.—-Sections through Coke Ovens. oven practice. They spared no expense in making this plant complete in every detail. In following the coal through the various operations, it is interesting to note the thought and care exercised in the endeavour to pro- duce a perfect coke. Upon its arrival from the mines the coal is dumped upon a conveyor belt and carried to the top of the crusher tower, where it is broken to pass a in. screen in a Bradford breaker. At this point, iron pyrites and other foreign matter of this nature, which might cause trouble in later operations, is auto- matically removed, the coal passing into bins. As it is sometimes advantageous to mix two grades of coal to produce the proper quality of coke, two bins are provided here, so that it is possible to store the grades separately. The bin,s are of ample capacity, so that in case of an accident to the conveyor or breaker, sufficient coal will be available to continue operations until the damage is repaired. Under the bins is located the mixer, so arranged that if two grades of coal are being used, the proper propor- tions of each will automatically be taken. As the struc- ture of coke depends largely upon the preparation of the coal, it is interesting to note that at this plant the coke is thoroughly mixed before entering the Pennsyl- vania crusher, where it is ground until 90 per cent, will pass through a | in. screen. This ensures an intimate mixture obtainable in no other way. Passing through the crusher, the coal drops into a concrete hopper, from which it is conveyed up into the “ change tower,” where it is transferred to the belt * Black Diamond. fall. In fact, from the time the coke leaves the oven,s until it is safely loaded on to freight cars for shipment, it is never thrown or dropped, but is always carried or rolled. This is done to minimise breakage. From the ovens the hot coke is taken to that very important department, the quenching station, where rapid cooling is accomplished by means of water sprayed the width of the ear through a stationary fish-tail nozzle. This arrangement makes it possible to quench coke uni- formly, for, should the car be unevenly loaded, as is often the case, the man controlling the operation could speed up the car when the water plays on the lightly loaded portion, and retard it when the heavier load passes. This is the most approved method, and allows quenching without drenching. Adjoining the quenching station is the coke wharf. Here the coke is allowed to roll upon an inclined wall of a sunken pit, the wall being set at the same angle as the bottom side of the quenching car, eliminating any fall. The wharf affords a second opportunity to quench the coke. This does away with the necessity of throwing on excessive water at the quenching station to make sure that all of the coke is cooled. At the proper moment the finger gates, which hold the coke on the inclined wall of the wharf, are raised and the coke is allowed to roll on to a conveyor which carries it up to the screening platform. Here it is carefully inspected, hand picked, and run through a rotary grizzly, which removes the foundry size, dropping it into storage bins. Before being shipped, the coke is again screened, and is loaded into box cars by a Manierre loader, and into open top cars by a belt type loading boom. These mechanical loaders reduce breakage to a minimum, and, in view of the output is disappointing, and delays in the move- ment are more frequent. Stocks at Tidewater are at a minimum, with the result that loading for both coast- wise and offshore shipments is delayed. Consumers are generally willing to place orders anywhe: e that they can obtain prompt shipment (says the Coal Age). New England is feeling many of the effects of a coal scarcity. For coastwise shipment, spot Pocahontas and New River are held for 4 dols. and up, f.o.b. Norfolk, and the demand from consumers for deliveries on con- tract gets more and more insistent. Slow loading is the rule, and delays are sure to multiply. Practically every Hampton Roads shipper is declining business. Output is disappointing. Georges Creek shipments for the Boston market are in a far worse way than New River and Pocahontas. Receipts here are practically nil. No sign of improve- ment is observed, and unless mining operations are resumed on a normal scale, there will be an absolute dearth of this grade all winter. Baltimore quotations to the trade on mine basis are about as follow :—Georges Creek Tyson, 2 to 2’25 dols.; South Fork, 2 dols.; Somerset, 1-80 dols.; Clearfield, 1'80 dols.; Latrobe, 1'75 dols.; Quemahoning, 2 dols.; Freeport, 1'65 dols.; Fairmont gas three-quarter, 1'60 dols.; same, run-mine, 1'40 dols.; same, slack, 1-30 dols. The anthracite market is somewhat less active, but on the whole, more satisfactory than when urgent orders of all descriptions were being received. Steam coals are active all along the line, and are likely to become more so a-s the season advances. The shortage is becoming so pronounced at Down East points that cargoes are going forward with any sizes that happen to be avail- able for loading. Prices per gross ton f.o.b. Port Rich- mond for tide are as follow :—Broken, 4’75 dols.; egg, 5'25 dols.; stove, 5'60 dols.; nut, 5 55 dols.; pea, 3-70 dols.; buck, 2-55 dols.; rice, 1-90 dols.; boiler, 1’80 dols.; barley, 1'65dols. There seems to be no falling off in the demand for coal of all descriptions at Hampton Roads. Full allowances are being taken under contract, and new business is offering freely. All shippers are hard put to meet their requirements, as consignments from the mines are coming forward in most unsatisfactory volume. There is heavy congestion of shipping, delayed on account of slow loading, but this condition will be rapidly over- come if receipts improve. Foreign freights, particularly to the Plate and Brazil, show a slight falling off. Prices are firm, as follow :•—Pocahontas and New River, for cargo, 3’50 to 4 dols. per gross ton; for bunker delivery, 3’75 to 4 dols. per gross ton, plus 10c. trim- ming. Anthracite, 7’50 dols. per net ton delivered.