252

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

July 31, 1914.

Mechanical Charging Cars for Coke Ovens.

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

(Concluded from page 210.)

All arrangements described so far, have this in
common, that they can only be applied on new batteries
where the collecting main is placed to clear the particular
car adopted. None of the arrangements can be made
to suit ordinary existing conditions with regard to the
position of the collecting main. The mentioned
machines are further of such a broad gauge that they
cannot be shunted on to different lines, and thus
require the coal bunker outlets to be in a straight line
with the charge holes of the batteries. Messrs.
Coulson and Company Limited, Spennymoor, have put
a car on the market which overcomes these difficulties.
It can be made on almost any existing plant,
irrespective of the position of the collecting main, and
easily overcomes curves if the coal bunker cannot be
arranged to be in line with the ovens. The car is
shown in fig. 17, and there are three in use on ovens

Fig. 17.

end of this lever reaches vertically downwards and just
clears the rail. This arrangement is a special feature
of these cars as, by placing a specially shaped iron on
a desired spot on the rail, it will, as soon as the lever of
the car runs against this iron, cause the lever to turn
backwards, and thereby pull the switch out and stop the
car immediately. The three ears in use are thus worked
by one man only; he places the three stop-irons on a
certain spot near the oven which is to be charged, fills
the cars under the coal bunker, starts the motor by
means of the controller, and allows them to travel on
their own. As soon as they arrive on the oven to be
charged, the stop on the rail cuts out the switch and
stops the car automatically. With the last car the man
in charge rides to the oven himself, and empties the
three cars by opening the bottom slides. The switch
is then put in again, and by turning the controller, the



The controller is also differently arranged and actuated
by a lever. Special fixtures are arranged on the sleepers
between every oven to receive the stops for cutting out
the switch, and are visible in the fig. 18. A set of cars
of this description is being supplied to the Talk-o’-th’-
Hill Colliery’s coke ovens. These latter cars have
recently been further improved in two ways. First, in
the case of a coal, which does not leave the hoppers
easily, the stirring by hand with bars has become
unnecessary, and the ear, although still divided in two
hoppers, has only one bottom outlet, so that it is not
necessary to move the car along after one hopper has
been emptied to bring the second one over the charge
hole. The bottom slide for closing the hopper outlet has
also become obsolete and has been dispensed with.
The car is shown in fig. 19, and its general arrangement
is identical with the one in the previous figure, a is the
hopper which, by a partition in the middle, is divided into
two halves. The hoppers are open on the bottom practi-
cally to their full length, and under these openings a spout
is fixed with an opening d in the centre for the discharge
of the coal. In the spout under each hopper two worm
conveyors b and c are placed and are driven by a gear
from the motor in such a way that they run in opposite
directions to each other and deliver the coal to the
opening d, out of which it falls into the charge holes of
the oven. So as to prevent any coal from falling through
the opening d while the machine is being filled or travel-
ling and the worms are at rest, the lowest end of the
partition between the two hoppers forms a little roof
e which reaches over the end of each worm and no coal
can thus fall directly into the opening d. The working
of the machine will be easily understood from the above
description. After the ear has arrived on the oven,
the motor is disconnected from the travelling gear and,
by inserting the switch, the motor now actuates the
two worms or spirals which quickly and evenly discharge
the two hoppers without any manual labour whatsoever.

Other means have Mueller and Droste adopted
to enable a mechanical charging on existing ovens with
ascension pipes in the middle of the ovens. The car is
shown in fig. 20 and consists of three hoppers, two m of
them are arranged in the same way as shown on the
cars of the Copp^e Company in fig. 16, while the third
hopper n is oblong and placed to the other two hoppers
as an oblong compartment in line to the ovens. The two
hoppers m do not differ from those of other cars while the
third oblong one n has in its trough-shaped bottom, a

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b



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______________________

with three charge holes. The car consists of two com-
paratively small hoppers; their capacity may be small, as
every charge is divided over six hoppers. The hoppers
are riveted together on top in line with the rails, and
rest on their lower part in a girder frame. The girder
frame takes, between the hoppers, the motor and gears
for travelling, the connection from the gear to the one
travelling shaft being made by a Renold chain-drive.
Underneath the motor and gear a plate is fastened under
the girder frame, and the sides between the hoppers are
closed by tightly fitting doors so that heat and coal dust
cannot affect the motor. Above the motor a controller
is arranged horizontally, the handle of which projects
through the casing, and is accessible from the outside.
On top of the hoppers trolley collectors are arranged;
the length of their arms depends upon the available
height for the suspension of the trolley wires. On each
end is fixed, underneath the girder frame, a cut out
switch, which engages with an angle-shaped lever. One

Fig. 18.

cars are sent back on their own and are automatically
stopped by similar stops on the rails or sleepers under
the coal storage bunker. With the last car the man
in charge rides back and fills the ears again. Where
the coal does not leave the hoppers easily, they are
provided with pockets on two sides to allow a stirring
with bars. Cars of this description offer the further
advantage that, as they can easily be shunted, only one
car need be provided as a stand-by.

Cars of practically identical design have recently been
introduced in this country by the Power Gas Economy
Limited, of 37, Cole Park-road, Twickenham, and are
shown in fig. 18 on top of a battery just after leaving
the coal bunker. The possibility of shunting the cars
is plainly indicated by the rail switches in front of the
fig. 18. The cars differ from those made by Messrs.
Coulson by the fact that the weight of the car rests
on the shaft, which is not driven by the motor, on two
wagon springs, and thus ensures a smooth running.

spiral or worm conveyor I which, by a chain drive and
clutch, can be put in gear with the motor q. On the end
towards the ascension pipes the trough bottom part of
the oblong compartment has an opening pointing to one
side and continuous as an open spout t which extends to
the charging holes in front of the ascension pipes. The
shoot t is hinged to the ear and while travelling is put in
vertical position and thus clears the ascension pipes.
As soon as the car is in position for charging the two
hoppers are discharged as usual, while to empty the
third compartment the shoot is put in horizontal position
and by coupling the motor to the conveyor gear the
spiral conveyor brings the coal out of the compartment
and pushes it through the shoot into the charging hole
in front of the ascension pipes.

Although this concludes the number of the most promi-
nent types of these machines, there are three other
machines, which, although not actually introduced into
practice, yet are interesting in many respects.