US2310924A - Coke oven apparatus - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 16, 1943. 1 BECKER 2,310,924

COKE OVEN APPARATUS 76u, ATTORNEY.

Feb. 16, 1943. .1. BECKER COKE OVEN APPARA'ILUS 6 Sheets;Sheet 2 Filed NOV. lO, 1939 INVENTOR l Josep# 55m/R y;

Feb. 16, 1943. J. BECKER COKE OVEN APPARATUS 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed NOV. 10, 1939 INVENTOR Josep# Ecru MW?%4 ,a ATroRNEY.

Feb.' 16, 1943. J. BECKER COKE OVEN APPARATUS Filed Nov. lO, 1939 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 'Il' l f m! l ef Qllm @AME w wl l (INN r\ INVENOR. JoJfp/f Bec/VER 49., ATTORNEY.

Feb- 16, 1943-v Y J. BECKER 2,310,924

" COKE, OVEN APPARATUS Filed-Nov. 10, 1939 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 y l 15g/ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 16, 1943 COKE OVEN APPARATUS Joseph Becker, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Koppers Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application November 10, 1939, Serial No. 303,722

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to horizontal coke ovens more especially of the regenerative type and particularly contemplates improvements in the disposition of their coke-side equipment for manipulating the oven doors, the coke guide, and the like, that provide enhanced protection to the structural integrity of a battery of such ovens and will at the same time be very economical of that space along the battery-face which is required to accommodate such equipment.

In prior practice in coke ovens of the stated class, the door machine, the coke guide and other heavy equipment commonly employed in operative attendance at the coke-side of a battery have been propelled along that battery-face on trackage that is mounted on a bench supported by the battery buckstays at a level adjacent to and just beneath the oven-soles. Such operatingbench of a battery is necessarily of great weight for it must be of a construction sufficiently rugged to support not only the door-handling machine, the coke guide, and frequently other equipment as well, but it must at periodic intervals be also adapted to support the massive cokeoven doors themselves as they are moved along the bench during their removal from and return to operating position in the coking-chamber mouths. All this accumulation of load has had to be borne by the buckstays that supported the operating bench.

The primary function of the buckstays in a coke-oven battery is however to assist in the support and retention, in their designed arrangement, of the rickwork comprising its masonry. To effect this end, the buckstays are placed at both ends of the oven heating-walls in pressure contact with the masonry comprising their jamb-ends, the upper ends of buckstays at opposite ends of a heating wall being joined together by tie-rods that extend over the top of the battery. At the juncture between said tie-rods and buckstays there is commonly provided resilient means adapted to permit a certain amount of elastic play between the latter and the heating walls so as to permit minor uctuations in the proportions of the heating wall inside its confining buckstays without greatly altering the pressure of their contacts.

In those prior designs wherein the great load both of the operating bench and of the thereonsupported operating machinery has been carried by the battery buckstays, the latter have been seriously hampered in the performance of the above-described primary function because slight distortions as well as the vibrations of the bench, resulting from the propelling therealong of the above-stated heavy operating equipment, are all transmitted directly to said buckstays to subject them to slight but substantially continuous movement against the masonry of the heating-wall jambs or the intermediate faceplates. Eventually, there unavoidably results a permanent distortion from which the said resilient means are unable to return the buckstays to their original continuity of pressure-contact against the heating-wall jamb faces. Small interstices are thus created between the jamb-ends of the heating-wall masonry and the face-plates that cover them, into which gases, vapors and carbon from the coking chamber can penetrate leaving deposits which, unless preventive measures are taken, can make any buyckstay-distortion permanent and even increase it to proportions such that drastic corrective steps must be taken. Ultimately the brickwork of an oven wall follows the bowing of its associated buckstays thereby causing serious damage to its costly masonry and nally requiring its removal from operation for extensive repairs.

These circumstances and eventualites are conrmed by the fact that buckstays on the cokeside of a battery, in which location they normally support the heavy door-machine and the like, require straightening or replacement about three times as frequently as those at the machine-side (i. e., the pusher-machine side), of the battery where such operating equipment is usually supported on the pusher machine with the result that neither it nor the oven doors are ever carried by the machine-side bench or buckstays.

In U. S. Patent No. 1,411,262 which issued April 4, 1922, the present inventor disclosed an improved design of machine for handling that apparatus which is moved along the battery face in the course of oven operations. structurally, the body member of the therein disclosed machine was formed in the shape of an inverted letter L whose free ends were provided with wheels or rollers whereby it could be propelled along the battery front. The longer, verticallydisposed leg of said body member was supported by Wheels whereby it was propellable along a single track located at yard level out of Contact with the battery structure, and the shorter, horizontally-disposed leg was arranged by means of a roller to engage a track aiiixed to the upper ends of the buckstays. By means of such apparatus, the actual door-handling mechanism,v

the coke guide, and the like, were all supported on the said L-shaped body member out of contact with the battery bench and, in consequence, of its contribution to the coking art, it became possible for designers to reduce the direct load on the buckstays and in addition to substitute a light foot-bench for the previously employed heavy, expensive one. Even through the irnproved design of said patent greatly decreased the load necessarily supported by the buckstays of a coke-oven battery such load was however not entirely eliminated because this said newer apparatus was propped upright against the face of the battery in such manner that the buckstays were still subjected to much of the vibrations and jarring that resulted from the travel of the apparatus along the battery face.

One of the principal objects of the present invention is therefore the provision more especially for the coke-side of a coke-oven battery of a machine that is adapted to support the doorhandling mechanism, the coke guide, and the like, closely adjacent the mouths of the coking chambers and independently of all fea-tures of the battery-structure so that its masonry and buckstays need no longer be subjected to the jarring and stresses and strains created by propelling such equipment on means either entirely or in part supported by the buckstays.

Another object of invention is the provision of a device that will fulfil the above-stated requirements and will require only a relatively narrow space along the battery face for its successful utilization.

A further object of invention is to provide apparatus for the stated purpose that will permit retention of the quencher-car in its usual position adjacent the front of the battery, or its trackage to be moved even closer to the buckstays thereby to decrease the distance the incondescent coke-cake must be pushed before it falls into the ouencher-car.

A further object of improvement is to provide a propellable support, more especially for the oven-operating mechanisms employed at the coke-side of a battery, that is of a design making feasible a complete elimination of the operatingbenches, thereby relieving the buckstays of such additional weight.

The invention has for further objects such other improvements and such other operative advantages or results as may be found to obtain'in the processes or apparatus hereinafter described or claimed.

According to the present invention the various mechanical features employed for handling coke-oven doors, for directing hot coke into the quencher-car and for general attendance to the required oven-operations at the face of an oven battery are mounted on a gantry that is propellable along the battery-front on trackage located substantially at yard level and out of contact with the structural mass of the battery, the legs of said gantry being disposed on opposite sides of the quencher-car trackage with the bridge section thereof at sufficient height above the top of said car to permit its free passage therebeneath. The gantry of the invention is adapted for employment in combination with a battery having the commonly-used operatingbench but it is especially advantageous when used in association with a benchless battery because with such structure it becomes possible to station closer to the mouths of the coking chambers, that leg of the gantry which more directly supports the said battery-operating mechanisms, thereby correspondingly to reduce the necessary span of the gantry. A small platform supported at a convenient level on the: gantry of invention can of course serve as adequate substitution for the extended operating bench of the prior art.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification and showing for purposes of exemplication a preferred apparatus in which the invention may be embodied and practised but without limiting the claimed invention specifically to such illustrative instance or instances:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view taken crosswise of a regenerative coke-oven battery through a coking chamber thereof and showing such accessory equipment as the larry-car, the pusher machine, and lthe like customarily employed in the operation of such ovens and also an embodiment of the gantry coke-oven bench of the present invention positioned at the coke-side of the illustrated battery, said gantry having mounted thereon a door-handling mechanism, a cokeguide, and a leveler-bar for leveling the oven charges from the coke-side;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1 with the larrycar omitted;

Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially along the line A-A of Fig. 6;

Fig. 4 is a section taken substantially along the line B-B of Fig. 6;

Figl 5 is a section taken substantially along the line C-C of Fig. 6;

Fig. 6 is a view taken substantially along the line VI-VI of Fig. 1; and

Fig. '7 shows, on a scale somewhat altered from that used in the other drawings, the gantry of the invention in operating position at the cokeside of an oven in an underjet battery that is furnished with weather protection over the usual alley-way in which such devices as the reversing mechanisms are located.

Referring now to the drawings:

For the purpose of demonstrating the improvement of the present invention and the constructional and operative advantages resulting from its employment in combination with a cokeoven battery, there is shown in the accompanying drawings a diagrammatically representedcoke-oven battery of the cross-regenerative type comprising many of the characteristic features of I such a battery and some of the accessory eouip.

ment commonly used in its operation. The illustrated coke-oven battery comprises essentially a plurality of coking chambers IE) that extend crosswise of the battery and are disposed length.

wise thereof in alternation with ued heating walls Il. The flued heating walls are formed of brickwork whose masonry terminates at either battery-face in jambs against which there abuts in pressure-contact the vertically-extending buckstays I2 which function to maintain the alignment of the heating walls as well as the brickwork thereof and the regenerator walls I3 in their designed positions in the heated battery. To effect this end the buckstays are each secured at their lower ends to the battery-supporting mat and at their upper ends are joined to a similarly-positioned buckstay at the opposite battery-face by tie-rod means l5 that extend across the top of the battery. Resilient means, such as coil-spring I6, are provided at each end of the said tie-rods at their juncture With theouckstays thereby to provide for a certain amount of movement, at that point, whereby a limited expansion and contraction of the included heating wall can occur without seriously altering the extent of the pressure-contact eX- isting between it and said buckstays.

Beneath the heating walls and extending crosswise of the battery in substantial parallelism therewith are cross-regenerators lIl vfor preheating combustion media before introducing the same into the lower parts oi' the heating nues individually through ducts I8. Cokin-g chambers l are closed at each end by removable 'doors I3, each such door comprising an external metal framework 2 and a thereby supported heavy refractory plug 2| that operates to prevent 'overheating of the metallic framework. The doors for the coking chambers are provided at both the coke-side and the machine-side of the battery with chock-doors 22 so that coal charged into t-he ovens from larry-car Z3 through charging-holes 24 can be levelled from both sides of the battery.

At the end of the carbonizati-cn period, the residue of coke in the coking chamber is pushed therefrom by the usual pusher machine which is moved along the machine-side of the battery from oven to oven on trackage 25, as shown in Fig. 1. The said pusher machine comprises heavy framework E8 that supports the diagrammatically illustrated pusher-ram 26 and levelerbar 21 and the both of which are provided with individual reciprocatory movement lengthwise or the coking chamber by means not shown, the former serving to remove the residual coke-cakes from the coking chambers whereas the latter operates to provide the top of coal freshly charged into an oven with a level surface such that the nished coke-cake will have no irregularities protruding above the upper edge yo1" 4the cokirig-chamber mouth. Although for purposes of convenience it is not illustrated in the drawings, apparatus for operating the door-latches and manipulating the machine-side doors are also normally supported on the pusher machine.

According to the present invention, that heavy equipment customarily employed at the coke-- side of a battery during routine oven operations is assembled on a gantry to form a unitary machine that is propellable from oven to oven on trackage located substantially at yard level, said machine and its supported equipment beinrr entirely out of contact with any of the kbatterys structural features. The unitary machine of the invention also supports a short bench or deck, provided for the attendants convenience during the cleaning of the oven doors and for such other duties as require a station adjacent the mouths of the coking chambers, thereby advantageously relieving the buckstays of the weight of such feature and reducing the material requirements therefor to a fraction of that previously required where it was stationary at the battery-face and was used to support divers oven-operating mechanisms.

As is clearly evident in the drawings the improved coke-side machine 3i! of invention comprises as its principal structural element a framework in the Vform of a gantry having` legs 3l and a bridge-section 32. The legs of said gantry are mounted on several ilanged wheels 33 that are adapted to engage tracks 3d, and at least one `wheel on either side of the gantry has attached thereto a gear 35 whereby the improved unitary machine is propelled by means of an electrical motor 35 that is preferably individual to .each such driven wheel. Power is delivered from said motors to the gears 35 through an assembly of gears comprising pinion 31, idler gear 38, and intermediate gear 35i-a, the motors being arranged by suitable wiring for individual control by the operator from cab 39.

Each bridge-section 32 is of sufficient span and height to .permit free passage of coke quenchercar "49 therebeneath along its tracks 4|. The bridge-sections of the gantry and the mechanisms that they support are protected against radiation from the incandescent coke contained in the quencher-car by means of an appropriate layer of insulation d2. Discharge gate 43 of the quencher-car permits loading of quenched coke on the coke-wharf 44.

Disposed on the gantry coke-side machine 30 and transportable thereby from coking chamber to coking chamber are a door-handling mechanism, a coke-side leveler-b-ar, and also a coke-guide that is arranged to direct and transport the hot coke-cake, as it emerges from its ccking chamber under pressure exerted by the above-mentioned pusher-ram on the machine side, into the quencher-car therefor whence it is taken to a quenching station and cooled before being unloaded onto the coke-wharf. Looking along the coke-side of the battery of Fig. l, there is observed in succession the door-handling mechanism 45, the leveler-bar 45, and the coke guide t? all supported at the top of the gantry. Each of these oven-operating devices is arranged with individual actuating means controllable from cab 33.

The door-lifting mechanism, shown in enlarged view in Figs. 3 and 6, comprises a ram i3 that is reciprocable longitudinally of the coking chambers between four pairs of flanged wheels de, each such pair being mounted for rotation on shafts 5) that are themselves carried by the vertically-disposed supports 5l. At the forward end of the ram t3 is the ram-head 52 that is provided with reciprocal motion at right angles to the body of the ram along a line controlled guide-ways 53. The said ram-head directly supports the divers mechanisms employed for manipulating the doors and for'operating their latches, said mechanisms comprisin,rr respectively the door-hook 54, that is susceptible of actuation in a vertical plane so as to engage and release hook-plate 55 whereby the oven-doors are supported as they are moved by the reciprocal movement of the ram 4B between the positions indicated by the solid and dotted lines of Fig. 3, and the upper and lower latchoperating devices 55 that are constructed according to that design for such mechanism set forth in the ceo-pending application S. N. 140,95) oi Berg and Crist, filed May 5, 193'? now Patent No. 2.179.668.

As shown in Fig. 4, the gantry of the invention is furnished with a leveler-bar 46 so that coal freshly charged into the cokiner chambers can be optionally levelled either solely from the chine-side or the coke-side or from both said sides of the battery either simultaneously or .at spaced intervals. It is supported on the gantry by means similar to that previously described for the supp-ort of the door-ram; that is, the leveler-bar is held between spaced and paired pairs of flanged wheels til that are rotatable on upper and lower surfaces of said bar, substantially as iilustrated, the said pairs of wheels being each supported on a shaft 6| therefor that is carried by an upright 62. The leveler-bar'is provided with reciprocating motion longitudinally of the coking chambers so that by opening chock-hole 51 of the coke-side doors it can be moved along a path extending into the gas-collecting space 5S of the coking chambers, said reciprocating motion being imparted thereto by motor 63 that operates through speed-reducing gearing 64 to rotate drum S5 around which cables 66, S1, are wound in opposite directions, the said cables being attached to the leveler-b'ar adjacent respectively its inner and outer ends after passing respectively over sheaves 68, 69. Rotation oi drum 65 in opposite directions will thus cause similar travel of the leveler-bar between the flanged wheels 60.

The coke-guide 41 is disposed on the gantry of the invention on the opposite side of the leveler-bar from that at which the door-handling mechanism is located. It is made up in the present instance. as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, of two rows of vertically-spaced, horizontally-extending metallic slats that are supported on the inner side of a framework formed by the vertical H- beams 1| the horizontal channel- bars 12, 13, and the angle-irons 14 that are arranged substantially as shown in said gures. Attached to the bottom of the framework are the heavy plates 15, 16, that are formed of a metal suitable for resisting the abrasive effect of the hot coke as it is pushed over their surfaces. The said framework of the coke-guide is also mounted on the gantry for reciprocating movement longitudinally of the coking chambers. To facilitate such movement its lower part rests on pairs of wheels 11 and between the flanges thereof, each such pair being supported on a rotatable shaft 18 that extends through the bushing-block 19 carried by 1-beams 90, and the top of said framework is arranged to move between and be supported by spaced rollers 8l that depend from channel-bars 82. Actuation of the coke-guide is effected by motor 83 operating through the speed-reducing gearing 84 and the pinion gear 85 that is disposed for engagement with rack 85 located on the bottom of the framework of the coke-guide. Pinion gear 85 is also supported on bushing-block 19. The actuating mechanism for the coke-guide is preferablysoarranged that, at its limit of travel toward the battery, there remains a small clearance between the slats of said guide and the jamb-plates surrounding the oven-mouth. so that vibrations of the former created by the passage of pushed coke therethrough are not directly transmitted to thev battery structure. To this end, the divers features of the coke-guide are formed of structural materials that are sufficiently rugged independently to support the pushed coke without their distortion.

Projecting outward from the face of the battery at a level just beneath each of the oven-soles isv a small shield-plate 81 that serves to carry the small amount of such detritus as breeze and the like, loosened from the coke-cake during its pushing, across the gasand the air-ow reversing mechanisms, respectively 88, 89, into a receptacle 90 therefor on the gantry whence it can be intermittently removed to the quencher-car. The said shield-plates thus serve to protect the combustion-media flow-reversing mechanisms from becoming fouled with fine coke and to maintain the pavement of alley 9| along the battery-front in orderly condition.

According to the present improvement those benches usually supplied at the face of the battery for the convenience of the operators during the oven-pushing operations, are located on the gantry of the invention. In the present instance there are two such members, a lower one 92 that is located a short distance below the oven-soles and an upper one 93 that has projecting therefrom small stages which give easy access to the tops of the doors for cleaning their sealing edges. A stairway 94 connects said lower and upper benches.

At the end of the battery and supported adiacent the outer surface of a pinion wall thereof is a bench 95 having a stairway 96 that reaches to yard level. The said bench 95 is preferably at a level adjacent that of the operating platform 92 of the gantry thereby serving as a convenient means of access to the latter.

In Fig. '1, the gantry of the invention is shown in combination with a coke-oven battery of the underjet type having, adjacent the lower part of the battery-face, a weather protection formed by the verticallyand horizontally-disposed members, respectively 91, 98, which are arranged to form substantially continuous surfaces along the face of the battery and are adapted to serve, more especially in those latitudes having uncommonly heavy falls of rain or snow, as means of protection for the battery-basement and from operating interruptions of those devices usually employed for regulating the ow of combustion media into and out of the battery. The said members 91, 98, are preferably formed of light construction such, for example, as metallic sheets or thin concrete slabs. The horizontal surface 93 can, of course, be employed as a sort of catwalk but, being of relatively light construction and having no trackage therealong nor heavy operating equipment to cause vibrations thereof, its load on the buckstays is not of any considerable consequence.

From the foregoing it will be manifest that by means of the gantry of the invention the heavy mechanisms normally required more especially at the coke-side of a battery of horizontal coke ovens, can be stably supported in their required positions closely adjacent to the battery-face yet entirely out of contact with structural elements thereof` while still retaining the quencher-car in its normal position in respect of the battery. By means of the gantry it becomes also feasible to dispense with the extended battery-supported operating bench of the prior art and the large requirements of material for its construction. In consequence of its great stability, the gantry construction makes it feasible to employ a leveler-bar of effective length at the coke-side of the battery.

It has heretofore been general practice to level the coal-charges of a battery of horizontal coke ovens entirely from the one battery-face; that is, from the pusher machine-side. In consequence of the relatively considerable length of modern coke ovens and of their large quantities of to-belevelled coal and also of the high temperatures in the adjacent oven brickwork, this practice has severely taxed the leveler-bar for which the provision of a material that is able successfully to cope with the said operating conditions and to pass through a charged oven along a strictly horizontal course, without bending at its far end, is more a wish than a reality. The affects of any sagging or bending of the leveler-bar as well as its whipping action during movement are all most pronounced in those parts of the coal charge remotest from the leveler-bar support. In coke ovens having considerable length of coking chamber, the levelled coal-charge has thus tended to exhibit a locally higher bulk density adjacent the coke-side thanobtained at the machine-side of the battery, thereby still further increasing that normal discrepancy of heat requirements between a coke-side and a pusher machine-side heating` wall area resulting from the tapering of the coking chambers. In so far as there is concerned only the simple supplying of the added coking heat required by these Zones of coal having a higher bulk density, the situation can of course be simply accommodated by increasing the amount of fuel gas burned in those heating ues thereadjacent and, in those cases Where the employed coals exhibit only contraction throughout the cokingV process. these circumstances oder no insurmountable disadvantages.

When, however, the charged coals are somewhat expanding' or belong` to those borderline groups exhibiting neither considerable expansion nor contraction during their coking, the presence or absence of such localized zones (if higher bulk density in the levelled charge can be the' difference between a damaged or undamaged wall or between a relatively dicultly or easily pushed charge, and a. brief consideration, at this point, of the situations created by their presence, more especially at the coke-side of an oven, may not be amiss in clarification of the diliiculties they engender.

Due to the tapering of the the heating fiues at the coke-side of an oven are of lesser cross-section than those at the machineside and since the quantity of to-be-coked coal adjacent the former is always the larger, there is naturally required, for the bringing of the whole of an oven-charge simultaneously to the same degree of coking, higher temperatures in the colse-side flues so that coking heat can be iiowed faster into the adjacent coal. If, in addition, the coal the coke-side has a higher bulk density than at the opposite oven-end, the difference in temperatures between the coke-side and the machine-side fiues must therefore be still further increased in compensation. Now, one of the interesting characteristics cf expanding coals is that many of them can be coked at lower temperatures and at slower rates of coking without their exhibitingl a serious degree of expansion but, if their critical temperatures and rates-ofheating are exceeded, they expand with the exertion of considerable force. In modern coke ovens that are especially designed for operating at laster coking times there can thus be observed the phenomenon of a coke-oven charge that has expanded at the coke-side sufficiently to cause stickers or even to damage the heating wall whereas at the machine-side it has produced no untoward situation.

From the above given, it becomes apparent that the increase of bulk density of the coke-side portion of a coke-oven charge, caused by its compression in that region through a sagging levelerbar, can be the added inuence causing damage to heating walls that would otherwise retain their integrity, and it is further apparent that, if compression of the levelled charge is unavoidable, it is advantageous that such condition should rather exist at the ovens machine-side and also that means for reducing the extremes to which bulk density is altered in any portion of the charge during the levelling operation will supply a needed contribution to the coking art.

The advantage of having the region of higher bulk density at the machine-side of an ovencharge does not reside exclusively in the increased coking chambers,

lil

protection provided to the walls but also in the advantage it furnishes in the pushing of' the ccked charge; For example', if the freshly charged` coal has been levelledj exclusively from the machine-side and its region of greatest bulk ldensity is adjacent thecoke-sideV of the oven there can exist' inthe finished' coke-calze a Zone ofA coke that is in pressure-contact with4 the' oven walls at that side of the battery. This means that the pushing-pressure of they ram must be transmitted through a large part of the cokecake whichis substantially free of the oven walls, and that, inA consequence, a major portionA of the entire cake can be collapsed upon itself insidethe oven without starting the plugged portion, and the entire will have to' be dug out. When such circumstance arises, the pressure'of the ram is transmittedV to the oven wails and they are'not adapted to resist such force; They' should act only as a sort of coke-guide during the pushing operations. 1f, however, the densest part of the coal-'charge is shifted from the coke-side to the machine-side of' the oven by levelling exclusively from the former side of the battery, that portion of the-resulting coke-cake with the greater tendency to wedge between the oven Walls is located adjacent heating flues having lower temperatures and also more closely adjacent the pusher-ram itself4 so4 that the pressure exerted by the latter more nearly directly bears on the'possbly wedged portion and, in the event, there results a' collapse of any intermediate coke in attempting the starting of the coke-cake, it will be restricted to a relatively minor portion thereof and leave the more substantial part of the oven-charge intact for normal pushing.

The gantry of the instant improvement now makes it feasible to employ a full-length levelerbar at both the machine-side and the coke-side of a battery of horizontal cokev ovens thereby providing means whereby those portions of greatest compression ofthe coal'echarge; caused by the tendency of the' leveler-barto sag during theY levelling operation, can be optionally disposed lengthwise of an oven in accordance with the coking characteristics exhibited by a coalor its mixture at the employed flue-temperatures and rates ofy coking. Other factors being equal, the zones of greatest bulk density of ovencharge can be placed at the one side of the battery by levelling exclusively from its opposite side and if preferred such Zones will tend to be positioned in the middle of the oven when each oven-half is levelled solely b-y the bar adjacent thereto. The last-mentioned method of course tends to effect the least change of bulk density in any portion of the charge and is of special advantage in use with coals having a tendency to expand during the coking process because the average 'sagging of the both leveler-bars will be the least.

Those features of invention exemplied in the foregoing description which relate to Coke-oven method, are made the subject-matter of my co-pending divisional application for Letters Patent of the United States, led January '7, 1943, Serial No. 471,630.

rhe invention as hereinabove set forth is ernbodied in particular form and manner but may be variously embodied within the scope of the claims hereinafter made.

I claim:

l. The arrangement of the coke-side equipment for a battery of regenerative horizontal coke ovens which comprises: a battery ci horizontal coke ovens arranged side-by-side in a row; quencher car tracks extending alongside the coke-side battery iront; a gantry propellable alongside the coke-side battery-front on groundrails out of contact with the battery with the legs of the gantry disposed on tracks on opposite sides of the quencher car tracks and its bridge section at a height to permit free passage of a quencher car therebeneath; the coke-side battery-operating mechanisms for handling the oven doors and guiding hot coke to the quencher car being mounted on the gantry for overhanging movement away from the leg of the gantry next to the battery to the mouths of the oven chambers and back again; said battery-operating mechanism being more directly supported on the gantry over its leg closet to the coke-side battery front and said coke-side battery front being benchless, that is, not having the-conventional bench fixed to the coke-side battery front at an elevation for travel therealong from oven to oven, the aforesaid coke-said battery operating mechanisms for handling the oven doors and guiding hot coke to a quenching car on the quencher car tracks; and said gantry having its leg which more directly supports the aforesaid battery-operating mechanisms stationed closer to the mouths of the coking chambers inside that line to which the outer extremity of such a bench would project, to reduce the distance of the aforesaid overhang and thus reduce the span of the gantry to that for mere clearance of the opposite sides of the quencher car on its tracks.

2. The arrangement of the coke-side equipment for a battery of regenerative horizontal coke ovens which comprises: a battery of horizontal coke ovens arranged side-by-side in a row; quencher car tracks extending alongside the coke-side battery-front; a gantry propellable alongside the coke-side battery-front on groundrails out of contact with the battery with the legs of the gantry disposed on tracks on opposite sides of the quencher car tracks and its bridge section at a height to permit free passage of a quencher car therebeneath; the coke-side battery-operating mechanisms for handling the oven doors and guiding hot coke to the quencher car being mounted on the gantry for overhanging movement away from the leg of the gantry next to the battery to the mouths of the oven chambers and back again; said battery-operating mechanism being more directly supported on the gantry over its leg closet to the coke-side battery front and said coke-side battery front being benchless, that is, not having the conventional bench xed to the coke-side battery front at an elevation for travel therealong from oven to oven, the aforesaid coke-side battery operating mechanisms for handling the oven doors and guiding hot coke to a quenching car on the quencher car tracks; and said gantry having its leg which more directly supports the aforesaid battery-operating mechanisms stationed closer to the mouths of the coking chambers inside thatl line to which the outer extremity of such a bench would project, to reduce the distance of the aforesaid overhang and thus reduce the span of the gantry to that for mere clearance of the opposite sides of the quencher car on its tracks; and an oven coal-charge leveler-bar carried by the gantry for movement therewith from oven to oven, and mounted on the gantry for reciprocal movement over its bridge section, transversely of the line of movement of the gantry, into and out of the oven chambers through their coke-side doors at the tops thereof.

3. The arrangement of the coke-side equipment for a battery of regenerative horizontal tapered coke ovens which comprises: a gantry propellable alongside the coke-side battery front on ground-rails with the legs of the gantry disposed on tracks on opposite sides of quencher car tracks and its bridge section at a height to permit free passage of a quencher car therebeneath; an oven coal-charge leveler-bar carried by the gantry for movement therewith from oven to oven, means mounted on the gantry for causing reciprocal movement of said leveler-bar over its bridge section, transversely of the line of movement of the gantry, into and out of the oven chambers through their coke-side doors at the tops thereof and guide means mounted on the gantry, supporting the leveler-bar for free suspended movement into and out of the oven chambers.

JOSEPH BECKER.

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