July 24, 1914.

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

209

Mechanical Charging Cars for Coke Ovens.

By A. THAU, Coke Oven Manager, Llwynypia, Glam.

(Continued from page 141.)

Most charging cars are provided with a sheet iron angle
on the top of each hopper, reaching across the top of each
hopper parallel with the rails. This arrangement has
been omitted in the previous figures, but is shown in
the plan of fig 12. The angles serve the purpose of
breaking the stream of coal running out of the coal
bunker while filling the car hoppers; it breaks the fall
of the coal to ascertain extent by conducting it to the
sides of each hopper, and by this arrangement the coal
will not compress itself so tightly as if falling straight
into the hoppers.

In order to be able to use one charging lorry for ovens
of different size, say for an old battery with small and
a new one with large capacity retorts, the Society
Anonyme des Ateliers de Construction, et de Chaudron-
nerie d’Avans in Awans, Liege, Belgium, have designed
and patented a car for this special purpose, shown in
fig. 13. If a car is made to take a complete charge for
a large size retort, and at the same time used to fill
ovens of less capacity the hoppers must not be filled to

so that the weight of the coal pressing against them
cannot alter their position. By releasing these catches
the plates a are brought back again to the hopper sides
as soon as full charges have to be taken in again.

Some coke oven engineers and several coke oven
builders consider it detrimental to the output of by-
products to place the gas collecting main on one side of
the ovens. By this arrangement the gas given off by the
coal on the side of the oven furthest from the ascension
pipe has to travel through the whole length of the oven
arch to enter the ascension pipe. It is, of course, the
aim of every by-product coke oven to remove the gas as
soon as possible from the oven to prevent a decomposing
of by-products in the oven arches, and for this reason the
free space on top of the charge is kept as small as
possible, or in other words the retorts are filled up as
high as possible to give the gas given off a great velocity.
Some trials made by analysis to determine whether the
gas travelling through the whole length of the oven
arch to the ascension pipe has lost a certain amount of

the machine so that the hopper mouthpieces are over
the charging holes and discharges the coal. The machine
in fig. 14 is also connected with a door lifting arrange-
ment. Two girders of the frame extend on each end
of the oven door, and are strengthened by supports.
The girders carry on the end guide pulleys which receive
a wire rope, which, near the gear box of the machine,
are coiled on a small rope drum. By a clutch the
travelling drive is disconnected, and the motor is put into
gear with the door lifting drum, which lifts both doors
at the same time. Seen in plan, the arrangement is
such that while the doors are held up and the oven is
pushed, the driver can lift the charging hole covers and
suspend them. After the oven is charged, the covers
are replaced, and the car returns to the coal bunker.
The machine runs on eight wheels, the two outer hoppers
being carried by two shafts and four wheels each. One
travelling shaft on each hopper holds a spur wheel,
which is driven by a Renold chain from a shaft under-
neath the platform, which is in gear with the motor.
The middle hopper is carried and suspended from the
girder frame. The advantages of such a machine are
obvious; there is, besides a valve man, only one man
required on top of the ovens. The machine driver need
not leave his platform, although he does not only charge
the ovens but also lifts the doors on both sides, and
opens and closes the charge hole covers. A further
advantage of the machine is the fact that it runs on the

Fig. 12.

■■■

. IM

LWHIIIIMHHllUHI

Ej
d

8'



Fig. 12.

Fig. 13.

Hili

■Ml

the same extent as in the former case. The quantity
which has to be taken in every hopper is difficult to
judge, and often it is not possible to close the slides of
the coal bunker outlets quick enough, and the car runs
full to the top. Now if the car is too full a lot of coal
will be wasted on top of the small ovens, and it will be
difficult to clear the charging holes, and a lot of coal may
be left on the top of the ovens, while if the charge was
taken too small the ovens would not be properly filled,
a matter which is equally fatal to the by-products as well
as to the ovens themselves. The arrangement as shown
in fig. 13 overcomes these difficulties by a movable
partition a, reaching about half-way down every hopper of
the car, and, on its lower end, is hinged to one side of
the hoppers. When the car is used to its full capacity (i.e.,
for the larger ovens) the partition rests right up close
to the side to which it is hinged. When using the car for
smaller charges, the tops of the partitions are pulled
towards the middle of each hopper to such an extent as
has been found to give a sufficiently large reduction in
the capacity to hold a smaller charge, by the reduced
hoppers filled to the top. The plates a, which are of
exactly the same width as the hoppers, are connected
together on top by means of a rod b. To the end of this
rod is fastened a chain c, which is conducted over a pulley
d, and holds on its end a counterweight e. The plates
a or the rod b are provided with catches which hold the
plates a in the desired position once they are pulled over,

by-products by decomposition, have shown that the
arrangement mentioned has no detrimental effect on the
yield of by-products. Reliable trials, on a large scale,
of course could only be made by comparison, and, as
already mentioned, a number of engineers and builders
are rather sceptical of the arrangement. To place the
gas main as usual in the centre of the ovens, of course,
does not permit the employment of the type of car so
far described in this paper.

Messrs. Franz Brunck, of Dortmund, have overcome
the difficulty by a special type of charging car, which
is shown in fig. 14. The car consists of three hoppers,
which are held together by a girder frame. This
frame is arranged at such a height that it clears the
collecting main in the middle of the ovens. The hoppers
taper towards each other so that the two hoppers on
the coke bench side leave sufficient clearance between
them for the collecting main, while between the next
two hoppers the motor and gears are suspended from the
girder frame. There is only one platform on top of the
frame, which makes the hoppers accessible and also the
clutch handles. From the* railing of the bridge three
rods with hooks on the bottom are suspended corres-
ponding with the charging holes. Self sealing lids are
used to cover the charging holes. When the machine
is ready for charging, it stops just before the oven to
be charged, and the driver lifts the charge hole covers
and suspends them by the three rods. Then he moves

same rails which are used for the small hand charging
tubs, so that in case of repairs or the electric current
failing, the machine can be pushed on one end of the
battery, and the small tubs and door lifting cranes for
hand work can be used immediately.

A door lifting arrangement in connection with charg-
ing machines has always been considered an advantage,
but, in the same way as arranged in fig. 14, can only
be used if the machine clears the collecting main and
ascension pipes. The machine in fig. 14 requires also
a coal storage bunker with a comparatively very broad
clearance for the two projecting door lifting arms.

Fig. 15 shows a machine as designed by Messrs.
Hinselmann, of Essen Ruhr, Germany, which is
provided with a door lifting arrangement, but in spite
of this does not require a greater clearance under the
coal bunker, and can be used on batteries with a high
collecting main on one side. The charging car b is of
the usual design, and has on one side of the hoppers a
double frame holding on one end—the end opposite to
the collecting main—a swing arm c, with pulley on the
end, similar to a jib crane with the only difference that
the arm' has a fixed angle, and can be turned in two
swivels to one side against the end hopper. On the
opposite end of the car such an arrangement could not
easily be used, as the ascension pipes would stop the
jib from swinging. The door lifting arm c is thus
arranged on a little four-wheeled bogie which, guided