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June, 1905 COAL AND TIMBER 9
the quantity of coal charged or put into
the ovens varies according to size of the
ovens, the size of the larries vary accordingly.
In the larger ovens, A]/ 2 tons of
coal is the usual charge for 48-hour coke,
and six tons for 72-hour coke. This yields
67 per cent, of coke after being burned
and drawn.
It is during the burning process that the
judgment of the coke maker comes into
requisition, and good judgment is an absolute
necessity in the manufacture of the
best coke. Beside the opening in the top
of the oven, referred to as the "trunnel
head," there is a large opening in the front,
about 26x30 inches, called the door, through
which the coke is drawn out; but which is
kept closed during the process of burning.
After having charged the oven the next
step in the process is to level the charge.
This is done through the door by means of
a long iron rod with a scraper affixed to
the end. The door is then walled up with
fire brick and plastered over with a luting
made of fine sharp sand or good loam. In
about 30 minutes a pale blue smoke arises
out of the trunnel head, from which the
damper has been previously removed. The
smoke gradually grows darker in color and
stronger in volume, until about 30 minutes
later it goes off with a puff similar to the
explosion of a small charge of powder. This
signifies that the charge of coal has ignited
and that the burning has begun.
The charge of coal burns from the top
downward, and the process of burning, or
"airing" as the workmen call it, is regulated
through the door by means of little
holes made around the arch. Through these
openings the air is admitted while the smoke
and impurities are expelled from the oven
and the coking mass of coal through the
trunnel head.
In about 72 hours after the oven has been
charged, if properly handled, the oven will
be "around," or coked, and good foundrj'
coke should be the result. When the oven
is "around" it looks like a mass of red hot
coals. The process of "drawing" the oven
then begins This was done formerly by
means of the same instrument as that used
for the leveling of the oven after first being
charged. Now machinery has been devised
and the work of drawng the oven
much simplified and expedited. The drawing
must await the cooling of the superheated
mass. The coke drawers knock the
doors down and by means of a hose to
which a long piece of gas pipe is attached,
spray the mass with water until sufficiently
cooled to admit of its being handled. When
the coke is thoroughly cooled it is drawn
from the oven and is ready for loading upon
railway cars unless it is desired that it
be first crushed to any required size.
When the ovens are first fired,or started,
the coal is ignited by means of wood or red
hot coals, the same as the starting of any
other coal fire. After repeated chargings
the ovens become hot and the coal is ig.-
nited by the mere heat which the ovens
retain in their walls from the former
charges. For cooling the coked coal, pure
water is an absolute essential to insure
the best and most perfect coke. If the
water contains sulphur and any other impurities,
the coke will absorb them and this
in turn will become injurious to metals
manufactured with them. The coke from
the Pocahontas and Connellsville fields s
of silvery lustre, cellular, with a metallic
ring, tenacious and very free from inherent
impurities. It is so tough that it is capable
of bearing an extremely heavy burden
in the blast furnace. Its porosity and ability
to stand up in a furnace, and the extremely
low percentage of sulphur is what has
given it such a reputation as blast furnace
fuel, and has created the demand that exists
for it in all parts of this country.
All bituminous coals do not make good
coke. Even Pennsylvania coals are defici-
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ent in this respect—except those in the Connellsville
region. By no means do all the
coal areas in West Virginia supply a quality
of coal sufficiently free from sulphur to
produce marketable coke, but it is a fact
that West Virginia possesses more coking
coal than any other of her sister states, and
in the Tygarts Valley, and near Philipi, the
county seat of Barbour county, is found a
vast supply in the lower and upper Freeport
seams which produces a quality of
coke the equal to the famous Connellsville
article. This coke is especially free from
deleterious substances which must be absent
from coke in the process of Bessemer
steel making.
Of the 28 coal states but 12 produce coke
to any extent, and but five lay claim to figures
that makes the state's supply an industry
of importance. Illinois, second to
Pennsylvania in soft coal production, is
away down in the list of coke producing
states, while Alabama, as yet low in tonnage,
is high in coke production. In fact it almost
equals West Virginia in the number of
tons produced in 1903. With Pennsylvania
not considered, the contest for coking supremacy
lies between West Virginia, Alabama
and Ohio.
Ohio produces an amount
of coke but slightly smaller than West Virginia's
record—2,707,818 tons, and of very
fair quality. Alabama has but one fifththe
coal area of West Virginia, and her geographical
position, precludes any possibility
of her sending coke or coal to northern
markets as cheaply as her rivals.
THE COAL PRODUCTION.
Edward W. Parker, a statistician, from
reports of the United States geological survey,
computes the coal production of the
United States for last year as 351,196,953
short tons, having a total value at the mines
of $445,643,528. Compared with 1903 this
shows a falling off of 6,159,463 short tons
in quantity and of $58,080,853 in value. This
decrease was simply a natural reaction from
the abnormal activity which has been maintained
throughout the coal mining regions
in 1903, due to the exhaustion of all coal
stocks on hand by the great anthracite
strike of 1902. The renewal of the coal
stocks when the long and bitter wage war
had been adjusted through the intervention
of President Theodore Roosevelt caused all
of the anthracite mines to be pushed to their
full capacity. The railroads were taxed to
their utmost to handle the tremendous production
and set a limit, really, to the output
of the hard coal mines. As a result, the
enormous production of 357,356,416 short
tons were recorded. The production in 1904,
while less than that of 1903 by 6,159,463
short tons, exhibits in reality a normal increase
when compared with the normal rate
of increase for the 10 years preceding.
The statistics of bituminous coal production
comprise all varieties except Pennsylvania
anthracite, and include semi-anthracites,
semi-bituminous, cannel, splint and
block coals, and brown and black lignites.
The small production of anthracite in Colorado
and New Mexico is also included in
the bituminous output. In 1904 the aggregate
production of all of these varieties
amounted to 278,040,244 short tons, valued
at $306,669,508 against 282,749,348 short tons,
worth $351,687,933 in 1903, comprising a decrease
of 4,709,104 tons in amount and $45,-
018,425 in value. The average price per
ton for all coal mined and sold, including
colliery consumption, fell from $1.24 in 1903
to $1.10 in 1904.
Of 31 States there were only 10 in which
there was an increase of production in 1904.
These 10 include the State of Nevada, which
is credited with 150 tons in 1904, having no
production the year previous. Of the more
important producing States, West Virginia,
Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, Kansas and Wyoming
were the only ones which
an increase in production in 1904.
showed
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