1036

THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN.

November 15, 1918.

THE FREIGHT MARKET.

Business in the outward freight market this week has
been of the usual latter-day limited dimensions, and at
the time of writing is totally suspended by reason of
the peace, celebrations. On the north-east coast nearly all
the chartering done during the week has been for Swedish
ports at rates ranging from 50 kr. to 52^ kr. for Gothen-
burg and 65 kr. to Stockholm. For all other directions
exporters have held off in the insistence upon the great
reduction in carriage costs to which they regard them-
selves as entitled. At South Wales nothing has been
arranged save for French Atlantic destinations at
scheduled figures. The only other fixture worthy of note
is that of a 3,000 ton vessel from the Mersey to Gibraltar
at 100s.

In the homeward market, rates are unaltered at 225s.
from Buenos Ayres to the United Kingdom, and 250s.
to France. At the United States, on net form of charter-
ing, New York to the United Kingdom is quoted at 230s.,
with the usual increase for French and Italian delivery.
Shipments to South America are small, and at the Pacific
Coast tonnage is scarce, most steamers being booked up
for months ahead, principally on Government account.
Apart from requisitioned vessels, there is very little ton-
nage available at the Far East, and rates are firmly up-
held. At the Mediterranean and Bay ports chartering
under the auspices of the Ministry of Munitions is fairly
active, and the demand for ore justifies the belief that
that state of affairs will hold good for some considerable
time to come. Rates are well maintained. Time charter
tonnage is in keen request, but very small supply.

Tyne to Gothenburg, 2,000, 52| kr.; 2,100 and 1,750,
50 kr.; North French port, 550, 80s.,- pitch; Port Said,
5,000, 200s., fixed recently; and Stockholm, 1,400, 65 kr.

Cardiff to Bordeaux, 1,800 and 2,000, 69s., neutral;
Caen, 550 and 600, 48s., neutral; 1,200, 46s. 6d., neutral;
Cherbourg, 1,200-1,250, 72s. 3d., coke, neutral; Honfleur,
1,800, 18s., exclusive of war risks insurance, Allied;
Havre, 3,500, 15s., exclusive of war risks insurance,
Allied; Rouen, 900, 50s. 3d., neutral; 1,250-1300, 48s. 9d.,
neutral; St. Malo, 250, 45s., neutral; and St. Nazaire,
4,500, 61s. 6d., neutral; and 5,100, 20s. 6d., exclusive of
wrar risks insurance, Allied.

Swansea to Caen, 700 and 900, 48s., neutral; Dieppe,
660-700, 48s. 9d., neutral; Havre, 700, 50s. 3d., neutral;
and St. Brieux, 430-500, 49s. 6d., neutral.

Britonferry to St. Brieux, 300-320, 75s., sail.

Port Talbot to St. Malo, 470-500, 45s., neutral.

Mersey to Gibraltar, 3,000, 100s.

COAL, IRON AND ENGINEERING COMPANIES.
REPORTS AND DIVIDENDS.

Broomhill Collieries Limited.—The report states that
the profit for the year ended June 30, 1918, after pro-
viding for taxation, amounts to £43,359, to which has
to be added the balance brought forward, £54,044, giving
a. total of £97,403. Out of this sum the following amounts
have been apportioned : Interest on debenture stock for
the year, less tax, £3,831; sinking fund instalment,
£16,250; preference share dividend for the year, less tax,
paid January 1 and July 1, 1918, £7,743; interim dividend
at 5 per cent, on ordinary share capital, paid July 15,
1918, £6,453; to reserve fund, 10 per cent, on interim divi-
dend, as above, £645. Out of the balance of £62,479 it
is proposed that a final dividend of 10 per cent., less
income tax (making 15 per cent, for the year), on the
ordinary shares be declared, payable on December 5, 1918,
which will amount to £12,906; to reserve fund, 10 per cent,
final dividend, £1,290; to place to reserve fund (bringing
it up to £150,000), £2,078; leaving to be carried forward
£46,204.

Dorman, Long and Company Limited.—Dividend at the
rate of 8 per cent, per annum, less income tax, for the
four months ended September 30 on the preferred ordinary
shares, also a dividend of 4 per cent, on the ordinary
shares, making 8 per cent, for the year ended September
30, and in addition a bonus of 6 per cent., both free of
income tax.

Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen Colliery Company Limited.—Final
dividend at rate of 22^ per cent., less tax, making 15 per
cent, for the year.

Shotts Iron Company Limited.—Final dividend on the
ordinary shares of 5s. per share, making 7s. per share
(35 per cent.) for the past year. The ordinary shares
received 35 per cent, for 1916-17, and 30 per cent, for
1915-16, in addition to bonus scrip of 33^ per cent, by the
capitalisation of the reserve.

South Durham Steel and Iron Company Limited.—The
report for the year ended September 30, 1917, states that
profit, after making provision for income tax depreciation
and special reserve, amounts to £335,533; £32,141 was
brought forward, making £367,674. Deducting debenture
interest and interim dividends, there is left £305,674. The
directors recommend a final dividend of 2s. per share on
the ordinary shares, making 20 per cent, for the year,
to place to special depreciation £75,000, to special reserve
£150,000, and to carry forward £41,174. The directors
announce that as the company’s liabilities under the
Finance Acts have not yet been ascertained, the accounts
for the year ended September 30 Iasi are not ready for
presentation. They are satisfied, however, that the profits
for the year will admit of a final dividend of 10 per cent.,
less income tax, in addition to the interim dividend
already paid, making 20 per cent, for the year.

Weardaie Steel and Coal Company Limited.—Profits for
the past year were £155,642. Dividends amounting to
19^ per cent, on the deferred shares, adding £40,000 to
reserve, and carrying forward £39,708, against £89,246
brought in.

NEW COMPANIES.

Bodman (W. L.) Limited.—Private company. Regis-
tered office: 41, Finsbury Pavement, London. Registered
November 1, to carry on the business of iron and other
metal founders, etc. Nominal capital, £12,500 in 10,000
preference shares of £1 each and 2,500 ordinary shares of
£1 each Directors to be appointed by subscribers.
Qualification of directors, 1 share. Remuneration of
directors to be voted by company.

Brayshaw and Booth Limited. — Private company.
Registered November 4, to acquire the business of iron-
founders and metal workers, now carried on at Millbridge
Foundry, Liversedge. Nominal capital, £1,000 in 1,000
shares of £1 each. Directors : G. B. Hartley, E. K.
Brayshaw and R. C. Hartley. Qualification of
directors, £2. Remuneration of directors to be voted by
company.

British Metal Corporation Limited. — Registered
November 1, to deal in ores, metals, minerals and mineral
substances of all kinds, and similar products. Nominal
capital, £5,000,000 in 500,000 shares of £10 each. Minimum

subscription, 7 shares. Directors: One to be appointed by
Treasury, to be called an ex officio director, other to be
appointed by subscribers. Qualification of directors
£5,000, ex officio none. Remuneration of directors, £500.
Subscribers : C. N. Rudd, C. M. Fielding, C. Hale,
O. T. Smith, A. J. H. Smith, A. W. Hart and H. A.
Kunant.

Composite Tool Company Limited.—Private company.
Registered November 4, to acquire and carry on the busi-
ness of high speed tool steel, tools, machinery, mechanical
engineers, iron masters, etc. Nominal capital, £25,000 in
25,000 shares of £1 each. Directors to be appointed by
subscribers. Qualification of directors, 1 share. Re-
muneration of directors to be voted by company. Sub-
scribers : W. A. Rampling and A. E. Bullard.

Hills Bros. Limited. — Private company. Registered
Office : Railway Approach, Sevenoaks. Registered
November 5, to acquire the business of coal, coke and
wood merchant, contractor, etc. Nominal capital, £10,000
in 10,000 shares of £1 each. Directors : J. W. Hills and
H. Hills. Qualification of directors, 100 shares. Re-
muneration of directors to be voted by company.

Schofield (James) and Sons (Mossley) Limited.—Private
company. Registered office : Bottoms Foundry, Mossley,
Chester. Registered November 2, to carry on the business
of ironfounders. Nominal capital, £4,000 in 4,000 ordinary
shares of £1 each. Directors: J. Schofield. Qualification
of directors, 600 shares. Remuneration of directors, £250.

Southern Minerals Company Limited.—Private com-
pany. Registered office : 85, Gracechurch-street, London.
Registered November 4, to acquire lands, mines, mining
property and rights, etc. Nominal capital, £6,250 in
125,000 ordinary shares of Is. each. Minimum subscrip-
tion, 7 shares. Directors : E. G. Phillips and F. H.
Ramsden. Qualification of directors, 1 share. Remunera-
tion of directors to be voted by company.

This list of new companies is taken from the Daily
Register, specially compiled by Messrs. Jordan and Sons
Limited, company registration agents, Chancery-lane, E.C.

CONTRACTS OPEN FOR COAL AND COKE.

For Contracts Advertised in this issue received too late
lor inclusion in this column, see Leader and Last
White pages.

Abstracts of Contracts Open.

Nottingham, November 18.—Coal (12 months) for the
Works and Ways Committee. Forms from the city
engineer, Guildhall.

The date given is the latest upon which tenders can
be received.

CONTRACTS OPEN FOR ENGINEERING, IRON
AND STEEL WORK, Ac.

Aberdeen, November 21.—Stores.—Castings, fire clay,
signal wire, bar iron, belting, tubes, springs, tyres, etc.,
for the Great North of Scotland Railway Company. Forms
(Is. each) from the stores superintendent 80, Guild-street,
Aberdeen.

Bradford, November 23.—Stores.—Insulated bolts, iron
and steel bars, steel sheets, etc. (12 months) for the Tram-
ways Committee. Forms from the general manager, 7,
Hall Ings, Bradford.

Dublin, November 18.—Stores.—Castings, iron, oils,
wagon covers, etc. (12 months) for the Dublin and South
Eastern Railway. Forms from the secretary, Westland-
row, Dublin.

Enniskillen, December 1.—Stores.—Wire, tools, gal-
vanised sheets, iron, springs, telegraph material, etc. (12
months) for the Sligo, Leitrim, and Northern Counties
Railway Company. Forms from the secretary, Ennis-
killen.

Johannesburg, November 25.—Wire Ropes.—Ninety-
eight coils (various lengths and sizes) of extra flexible
plough steel wire rope (galvanised), and 76 coils (various
lengths and sizes) of extra flexible plough steel wire rope
(black). Tenders to the secretary, Tender Board, South
African Railways Headquarters Office, Johannesburg.

London, November 19.—Coal Cauldrons.—Coal cauld-
rons, etc., for H.M. Office of Works. Forms from the
Controller of Supplies, H.M. Office of Works, King
Charles-street, Westminster.

Nottingham, November 28.-^SWes.—Castings, picks,
shovels, refined tar, pitch, creosote, oil, etc. (12 months)
for the Works and Ways Committee. Forms from the
city engineer, Town Hall.

Warrington, November 19.— Mechanical Stokers.—
Underfeed mechanical stokers for Electricity and Tram-
ways Committee. Forms from the borough electrical
engineer, Howley-street, Warrington.

PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.

The Year Book, 1919, containing the 11th Annual
Report of the Council and Transactions of the Year 1919
of. the Swedish Chamber of Commerce for the United
Kingdom (Inc.); Social and Industrial Reform—Some
International Aspects—Addenda to Fourth Edition, by
Sir Charles W. Macara, Bart. (Manchester : Sherratt and
Hughes, 34, Cross-street), price Is.; Cheap Steam—With
which is incorporated Cheap Transport (Vol. 2, No. 6),
November 1918 (published by Edward Bennis and Com-
pany Limited, 28, Victoria-street, S.W. 1), price 6d.
net; The Geological Magazine or Monthly Journal of
Geology (Decade 6, Vol. 5, No. 11), November 1918
(London : Published by Dulatt and Company Limited,
37, Soho-square, W. 1), price 2s. net; The Journal of
State Medicine (Vol. 26, No. 11), November 1918 (The
Royal Institute of Public Health, 37, Russell-square,
W.C. 2), price 2s. net.

The Power Plant Company Limited, West Drayton,
Middlesex, has issued a denial of reports that persons
of enemy alien origin exercise influence in the manage-
ment of the company. The managing staff (all British)
is made up as follows: R. J. McLeod, managing director;
Robt. C. Salt, secretary; W. E. Sykes, assistant general
manager; H. H. Thorne, technical manager; R. E.
Hughes, works manager. The company further states
that no capital is now held either directly or indirectly
by any person of enemy alien origin, and that no person
of alien enemy origin holds any salaried position or
receives any benefit from the activities of this company.

ABSTRACTS OF PATENT SPECIFICATIONS
RECENTLY ACCEPTED.

113435. Apparatus for Charging Vertical Retorts.
J. Pieters, 10, Rue de Rome, Paris.—In existing vertical
ovens used for the manufacture of lighting gas, the descent
of the coal in the distilling apparatus is produced exclu-
sively by the simple action of gravity. This has, how-
ever, several serious disadvantages. In the first place,
owing to the adhesion of the coal to the apparatus at the
beginning of its descent, the latter is not uniform, and
arches are produced in the coal which are liable to stop the
descent altogether, whilst addition labour is required to
regulate it. In the second place the coke subsequently
produced by distillation of the coal is also liable in certain
cases to adhere very firmly to the wall of the oven to such
an extent that the whole weight of coke and coal above
the level of the place where it stops is no longer sufficient
to detach the adhering portion and to force the coke and
coal to descend. This is a fairly serious disadvantage,
as the removal requires a temporary stopping of the oven,
so that when coke is manufactured in a continuous vertical
oven these two disadvantages make it impossible to obtain
a suitable result from the metallurgical point of veiw.
Finally, this irregularity in the simple descent under the
action of gravity, and the empty places necessarily exist-
ing then in the material, make it imperative to use a
device for maintaining a sufficiently tight joint at the
upper part of the oven, and for preventing at the same
time either the escape of the gases or the admission of
air through the same inlet as that for the coal, owing to
an increase or diminution of the pressure existing in the
oven according to the working of the gas extractor for
recovering the by-products. This invention comprises an
apparatus for distributing the coal thoroughly uniformly
over the whole extent of the oven, or of all the ovens
arranged in a battery, then for producing a certain pres-
sure thereon at any desired moment, when it is desired,
or at regular intervals of time, according to the regulation
adopted. This uniform distribution of coal (or of fine
particles of any material to be distilled) throughout the
whole extent of the oven, and the subsequent pressure,
prevent any empty spaces from being formed, and by
bringing all the particles very close together produce a
very compact material through which, owing to its com-
paratively great height, no gases can pass either in one
or in the other direction, even at higher pressures than
those that normally exist in coke ovens. The considerable
pressure exercised by the charging apparatus at the top
of the furnace, added to the simple action of gravity on
the whole of the material to be distilled, is sufficient to
cause the said material to descend absolutely uniformly,
even if adhesions are produced along the inner walls of
the oven, along which the materials have to slide. Owing
to this pressure and to the regular descent of the material
throughout, the coke obtained has also a regular, constant
and properly homogeneous texture, its hardness will be
increased, and consequently its metallurgical value will
be greater. It will be even possible to obtain good metal-
lurgical coke from comparatively thin and very slightly
caking coal which in ordinary ovens does not give any
product that can be advantageously used in metallurgy.
(Six claims.)

113436. Apparatus for Discharging Coke. J. Pieters,
10, Rue de Rome, Paris.—This invention relates to an
apparatus for automatically discharging coke produced in
vertical continuous ovens used for the distillation of coal
or of any other desired material. The object of the
invention is not only to bring about the expulsion of the
coke from the oven, but more particularly to prevent any
crushing of the coke, or any breaking of the pieces which
will be able to retain their natural size, and, moreover,
to ensure a perfect tight joint at the base of the oven.
To attain the object in question, it is essential that the
weight of the whole of the coal or coke contained in
the oven does not rest on the discharging device itself
during its operation. This results in crushing the coke,
owing to the great friction that exists under the great
pressure at the point of contact of the coke and of the
parts intended to expel it. The apparatus supports the
whole weight of the coke on an intermediate support, so
that any pressure on the discharging mechanism proper
during the time required for the removal of the coke
contained in the chamber of the apparatus is thus done
away with. Moreover, a single apparatus can be used for
an oven of much greater height, and even for two or more
ovens at a time, whilst the known systems are suitable
only for ovens of a very small height, differing little
from their width. The characteristic features of the dis-
charging apparatus by means of which these results can
be obtained are as follows : First, the support for the
total weight of coal and coke contained in the oven is
constituted by a movable grate arranged at the base of
the latter. This gate opens, for a few moments only, at
regular intervals, the duration of which depends on the
height of coke to be removed at the end of a given
period. During this opening of the grate the coke and
coal descend to a given extent, determined by the capacity
of a reservoir or of a second support arranged below the
first. As soon as the descent is finished, the grate resumes
its original position, and thus separates the volume of
coke comprised between the two supports. In this way
a coke outlet chamber is therefore produced. In the in-
terior of the said chamber is arranged a mechanism which
subsequently produces the final removal of the coke, with-
out crushing the latter. The pieces of coke retain their
natural size obtained in the distilling apparatus. Secondly,
this mechanism conveys the distilled material in a hori-
zontal direction, whilst the existing mechanisms convey
it only in a vertical direction. In this way ovens are
discharged having a much greater height, and one and
the same apparatus is utilised for two or more ovens at
a time, the axes of which are in line with each other.
Moreover, the discharging apparatus only takes up little
space under the oven or ovens. Finally, the joint of the
oven at its lower portion is made tight by a rotary drum
with blades or other tight device, without the intervention
of a hydraulic joint. It has already been proposed to
arrange at the lower part of a continuous coke oven a
flap supporting, according to its position, a greater or
smaller weight of the coke or coal. However, that device
did not enable a complete separation of the charge con-
tained in the oven from a part corresponding to the quan-
tity of material to be discharged at given intervals, nor
did it eliminate entirely the weight of the charge con-
tained in the oven from the conveying apparatus arranged
at the base of the oven. Consequently the said device
did not prevent the crushing of the coke, nor the breaking
of the pieces, which is the main object of the present
invention. (Six claims.)

119700. Distillation of Carbonisable Materials. A. L.
Pearse, Worcester House, 7 and 8, Walbrook, London,
E.C. 4., and 52, Broadway, New York.—This invention