US2447837A - Coking chamber with enlarged upper portion - Google Patents

Description

.ng. 24, 1948. J. BECKER I COKING CHAMBER WITH ENLARGED UPPER FORTION 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Nov. 8, 1944 x u z z errme/var:

Aug. 24, 1948. J. BECKER COKING CHAMBER WITH ENLARGED UPPER FORTION 2 Shets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 8, 1944 Patented Aug. 24, 1948 qiti Ci"? %Wii COKING CHAMBER WITH ENLARGED UPPER PORTION Joseph Becker, Plttsburgh, Pa., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Koppers Company, Inc., a corporaton of Delaware Application November 8, 1944, Serial No. &62,442

11 Claims.

The present invention relates to improvements in horizontal coke ovens and particularly to improvements in the conformation of their cokingchambers whereby known Operating difficulties and their effects on oven-Operations and operating results are made less considerable even in those instances where such problems are not entirely solved by the instant improvements.

In the art of coking coals and especially highvolatile coals at high temperatures and fast coking-times in horizontal coke ovens, one of the onerous Operating problems that can present itself is that of maintaining the roofs and the upper side-walls of the coking-chambers substantially free of so-called "roof-carbon," i. e., accreted hard carbcn that gradually accumulates on the masonry of the coking-chamber roofs and the upper side-walls and requires their frequent policing for its removal in order that the space of the gas-collecting space, provided in each coking-chamber between its roof and the top of the coal charge, does not become so charged with said roofcarbon" that its Capacity is importantly reduced and the layer of charged coal that is at the top of the oven-charge, and which normally forms the bottom of said gas-collecting space, does not become narrower than the ovencharge's lower part. In the event such circumstance arises, the upper part of the oven-charge will be completely coked long before the cokingreaction has penetrated through the remalnder because less than the normal amount of coal will be present there for carbonization by the heat radiated directly thereto through said gas-collecting space from the surrounding hot masonry. such condition occasions overheating of the tops of the oven-charges while trying to coke the remainder thereof and is conducive to production of the phenomenon known as "hot-tops," and this condition in the coking chambers causes in turn excessive cracking of the gases and vapors evolved from the coking coal, thus aggravating the ormation of "roof-carbon" and also reducing the potential yield of valuable liquid byproducts, such as phenols, and the like. If, therefore, the heating conditions, for any reason required of employment in vertically walled coking-chambers of coke ovens of the prior art, have a tendency because of the behavior of th employed coal to occasion deposition of root-carbon," its formation can become acceleratedly aggravated in a vicious cycle that can change the nature and amounts of recovered byproducts. Manifestly, the provision of simple means whereby development of the above-described phenomena in horizontal coke ovens can be importantly inhibited or substantially eliminated will be a distinct contribution to the available apparatus of the byproduct coking art.

An object of the present invention is therefore the provision for a horizontal coke oven of a substantially vertically-walled coking-chamber that is adapted automatically to inhibit the formation of roof-carbon" in the gas-collecting space of said oven and to avoid the deleterious Operating effects and results its presence therein engenders.

A further object of invention is the provision of novel features of design whereby coking-chambers of horizontal coke ovens that are equipped therewith are advantageously operative with lower temperatures in the gas-collecting spaces than are like coking-chambers unequipped With said novel features.

A further object of invention is the provision of novel substantially vertically-walled cokingchambers for horizontal coke ovens whereby penetration of the coking reaction completely through the upper parts of the coking-chamber charges of coal is automatically delayed until after the lower parts of said charges are coked and whereby the thickness of those horizontally extending seams of the fused coal that form in the top of said charges are automatically maintained of easier apparent penetrability, and consequently offer less resistance to escape of gases and vapor from the interier of said charges than do those fused-coal seams that simultaneously form therein adjacent to and extend in parallelism with the sides and bottoms of the cokingchambers, so that the pressure of the coking charges of coal against the heating-walls is made less than would otherwise obtain.

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 improvement, horizontal coke ovens are provided with cokingchambers of which the heated side-walls are throughout substantially their entire height verticallsha'isposed but. in contrast to horizontal coke ovens of the prior art, the upper minor portion of each said side-wall, from a level adjacent the horizontal fiue of the heating-flue system, or its structural equivalent, is disposed in a vertical plane remoter from the longitudinal center of the coking-chamber than is the lower major portion of said heated side-wall thereby orming in combination with its opposite similarly formed side-wall a coking-chamber which is wider adjacent its top than throughout the greater part of its height. A vertical section taken crosswise of the coking-chamber of invention exhibits a contour similar to that of a capitaled pillar. The invention also preferably provides for use in combination with the above-described invention a pusher-side coke-oven door of which the lower edge of the leveller-door is above the horizontal level of the juncture between the upper wider and lower narrower parts of the associated cokingchamber so that the top of a levelled coal-charge will present to the gas-collecting space a surface of coal that is wider than would obtain were the top of the levelled coal-charge restricted to the narrower portion of the instant coking-chamber. although even in the latter instance some, but not all, of the utility of the present novel construction can be enjoyed because of the greater capacity of the wider gas-collecting space to accumulate roof-carbon" without restricting the expanse of coal that is directly exposed near the top of the oven-charge to coking-heat radiated thereon from the masonry of the coking-chamber roof and the upper side-walls. The many benefits that accrue from employment of the present innovation in horizontal coke-oven design will be more easily appreciated by reference to the accompanying drawings and the hereinafter-iven discussion thereof.

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

Fig. 1 is a view showing a vertical section taken longitudnally through a, coking chamber of the horizontal coke-oven battery of Fig. 2 embodying the present improvement and is taken along the line I-I of said figure; and

Fig. 2 is a view showing a vertical section taken longitudinally, along the line II-II, of the battery of Becker-type horizontal coke ovens of Fig. 1 provided with the present improvement in coking-chambers.

Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view taken crosswlse of the battery on the line III- III of Figura 2.

The same characters of reference designate the same parts in each of the views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings: the coke-oven battery shown in the views of the figures and embodying features of the present improvement is of the well-known Becker type of combination horizontal coke-oven wherein heating-flues of a heating-wall are communicably connected with a corresponding group of heating-flues in an adjacent heating-wall by means of crossover duct means that extend over the top of the intermediate coking-chamber. The coking-chambers o are for-med between spaced heating walls that extend transversely of the battery and comprise a multiplicity of vertically disposed heating-flues ll, the heating-flues of each heating-wall being operatively divided into fiue-groups of which each communicates by means of a crossover duct I2 with a .corresponding group of heating-fiues in an adjacent heating-wall, and the so-connected fiuegroups alternate periodically as fiame-fiues and combustion-products ues. Each heating-flue at its lower part communicates individually with a source of rich fuel-gas and with a pair of regenerators that is separated by and is adjacent opposite sides of a pillar-wall !3 which supports the fiued heating-wall thereabove. These regenerators, !4, !5, that extend transversely the entire width of the battery, at their upper parts are provided with conduts respectively 16, I?, whereby each heating-flue of the heating-wall above communicates individually with said regenerators, and said conduts merge a short distance below the bottom of each flue into a common duct 18 that operates as their heating-fine inlet. The effective opening of said duct is regulated by port-core I9 that is replaceably mounted atop that portion of the capital of pillar-wall 13 which serves to form the dividing wall between the inclined said ducts !6, l'l. Rich fuel-gas, at such times as the illustrated battery is heated by its combustion, is introduced into the outer end of a duct 20 that extends the full length of a pillar wall [3, w herein it is formed, and is apportioned to all the heating-flues of the above heating-Wall by means of upwardly-extending branch-conduits 2l and of calibrated nozzles 22, each said Conduit and nozzle being individual to a heating flue. During said rich-gas underfiring, the flameflues are supplied with air for combustion from both of 'the regenerators 14, !5 that are located directly therebeneath, and their combustionproducts are delivered to the battery-stack through another pair of adjacent regenerators !4, !5 that communicate with the same common crossover duct !2. During preheated lean-gas underfiring, upfiow regenerators M are adapted to receive, instead of air, lean fuel-gas from an outside reservoir therefor through their solechannels 23 and to preheat said gas prior to its delivery to their associated flame-fiues, whereas the adjacent upfiowing regenerators |5 still serve to preheat the air required for its combustion; at such times as their directly associated heatingfiues are Operating as downfiow heating-flues, all the regenerators !4, !5, serve to Carry combustion-products to the battery stack (not shown). During a regenerative heating-cycle in the illustrated battery, all the heating-flues in the same heating-wall function simultaneously either as flame-flues or combustion-products flues.

combustion-products, formed by the combustion of the employed heating-gas and air in the fiame-fiuer, flow upwardly therein and all the combustion-products from all the heating-flues comprising a heating-wall fiue-group commngle at their tops in a common horlzontally extending Conduit-like opening 3l` whence they pass into crossover duct 12 and over the top of an intermediate coking-chamber into a corresponding group of heating-flues in an adjacent heating wall on their way to the battery stack.

Coal that is to be carbonized in coking-chambers lfl is introduced thereinto at their tops through charging-holes 25 in the well-known manner after which it is levelled by reciprocation, through leveller-openng 26 of oven-door 27, of

a leveller-bar that is supported on a. pushermachine for the battery.

H'eat evolved in the flame-flue by said combustion of heating-gas and air therein is absorbed into their masonry and is transmitted into the coal, that is charged into the coking-chambers, by those portions of the heating-flue and the entire heating-system masonry that form side-walls 28, the' roofs 29, and the bottoms of said coking-chambers Sufiicient heating-gas is burned in the heating-flues to cause the cokingreaction to penetrate from coling-chamber sidewalls 28 into the oven-charges at the rate of about one-half inch per hour from each said side-wall.

The coal-coking reaction comprises a rather complex sequence of physical phenomena and includes, in a freshly charged coke oven, the initial fusion at a relatively low temperature of a narrow band or layer of coal that is either directly in contact with the hot coking-chamber surfaces or is subjected to direct radiation therefrom. This band or layer of fused coal is variously referred to in the coking art as the "plastic zone" or the tar-seam." Continued heating of the fused band or layer of coal brings about, as its temperature increases, decomposition of the fused constituents and an evolution therefrom of gases and vapors and this phenomenon is followed by a solidication and cementation of the non-volatilized residue of said fused zone into the substance known as coke." As the coking reaction progresses through an oven-charge over a period of many hours and before its complete conversion to coke, said oven-charge presents, an outer surface or rind of solidied coke that is increasing in thickness with continued heating, an inner core of unfused coal that is becoming narrower and narrower, and an intermediate band or zone of fused coal which grows gradually of lesser and lesser periphery as the center of the oven-charge is approached but remains always approximately of the same relatively minor thickness-less than about one inch. Inasmuch as most coking coals fuse below about 500 C. and the heated surfaces of the masonry of the coking-chamber walls are at incandescent heat, the zones of plastic coal progress toward the center of the oven-charge in fused bands that exist more or less in parallelism with the adjacent hot coking-chamber surfaces including the top and the bottom; in result, these fused zones together form a sort of continuous envelope that entirely surrounds the inner core of uncoked coal and is intermediate such core and the coked outer rind of the coal-charge until all parts of said zones merge at the center of the oven-charge. The degree of plasticity obtaining in the zone of plasticity during the period when its fused components are decomposing into gases and vapors is very important both for success -f coking operations and the integrity of the coke-oven structure. Some coals and mixtures thereof exhibit such rather high viscosity in their plastic seams, during the time when gases and vapors are bein evolved therefrom, that said gases and vapors can escape only after they have accumulated therein under relatively high pressure: this internal pressure in the oven-charges is transmitted to the coking-chamber walls and in the instances of some bituminous coals exhibits suficient pressure to cause permanent misalignment of the masonry of the heating walls. In the cases of coa-ls that show this tendency to exert more than a preferred amount of pressure against the ovenmasonry, it has been found expedient for alleviating this eventuality to coke them at somewhat slower than normal coking rates; that is, coking the charged coal throughout all parts of the oven-charges more slowly than at the usual faster coking rates makes it possible for the gases and vapors of carbonization to volatilize from said oven-charges at reduced and permissible pressures therein. Such expedient is a hardly to-be-observed practice in modern coking installations because it seriously limits the output of costly coke plants and prompts coke-oven managers to employ predominantly those coals, or coal mixtures, that exhibit a relatively high degree of fiuidity during their fusion-phases and are consequently coked without special precaution in their heating.

Those hot gases and vapors of the coal distillation which create the internal pressure in the oven-charges are primarily those that have a tendency to evolve at the cooler coal-side of the plastic seams and to travel upwardly through the internal cores of uncarbonized coal that is contained within the aforesaid plastic envelope, and to force their way into the gas-collecting space 32, provided between the top of the coalcharges and the masonry 29 of the cokingchamber roofs, by penetration of those portions of the plastic envelopes that exist in the upper parts of the oven-charges. The apparent penetrability of the plastic envelope at the upper levels of the oven-charges depends, amongst other factors, on the relative amounts of coal thereadjacent to absorb the available heat from the masonry; that is, the wider the layers of coal forming the tops of the oven-charges the more coal there Will be there present to absorb the heat delivered thereto from the adjacent masonry and consequently the more easy is the apparent penetrability of the plastic zone maintained at that oven level; and, in result, the gases and vapors fiowing upwardly through the aforesaid uncoked core of the oven-charges escape from the plastic envelope with less pressure-development and therefore impose less pressure on the coking-chamber walls.

One of the salient advantages of the present improvement in the conformation of cokingchambers of horizontal coke ovens results from the fact that in the practice the plastic envelope of fused coal is thereby automatically maintained selectively more apparently penetrable in the top relatively minor portions of the coal-charges, and the gases and vapors of the distillation process can pass therefrom into the gas-collecting spaces at internal pressures less than obtains in those coking chambers where the tops of the coal-charges are substantially the same width as their lower parts; this feature is especially advantageous for the coking of those coals, or mixtures thereof, exhibiting a relatively low degree of flu'dity during their plastic phases because a relatively easily penetrable escape route for the evolution of gases and vapors is continuously maintained at the tops of the coalcharges and the preponderance of their content of coal can be coked at coking times as fast as preferred because of this novel pressure-controlling safety-valve in the tops of the coal-charges.

According to the present invention, side-walls 28 of coking-chambers o, in the illustrated battery, are vertically disposed throughout substantially their entire height, but in contrast to prior practice, at a coking-chamber level 33, that is adjacent those conduits 3! where combustion of 7 the heating-gas in the heating flues is substantially complete, said side-walls 28 flare abruptly outwardand then vertically upward, thereby providing in the upper parts of the coking-chambers greater coal-containing capacity per unit of coking-chamber height than obtains in those parts of the coking-chambers that are directly adjacent the primary combustion-zones of heating flues l I so that the charged and levelled coking-chambers contain at their tops more coal per unit of height than obtains in the lower parts thereof, and complete penetration of coking-heat through the wider upper parts of the coal-charges is delayed beyond that in the remainder thereof a period of time that is in direct relationsh'p to the amount of provided top-flare; for example, if the coking-chambers are two inches wider at the top than the bottom, complete coking of the coal adjacent as-collecting spaces 32 is delayed about two hours after the remainder of the ovencharge is coked. In consequence of the fact that the gas-collecting space 32 is formed of a greater width of coal than the lower major part of an oven-charge, the heat radiated to such coal from the oven-roof and the upper coking-chamber side-walls is absorbed by a relatively larger proportion of coal than is provided at such levels -in the prior art and, in result, the tops of the coking-chambers are automatically maintained relatively cooler than heretofore and the plastic seams that are developed therein are automatically maintained relatively more penetrable, thereby facilitating the evolution therefrom of the volatile products of carbonization.

The present improvement in coking-chambers for horizontal coke ovens is of extensive utility in the coking art and provides advantages in operation and in Operating results when employing coking coals, or mixtures of coals, chosen from the whole range of volatile-matter contents and plasticity characteristics identifying them. The top of the coal-charge that is formed by normally charging and levelling the coking-chambers of nvention yields oven-charges having substantially vertical sides that are of the same width from the oven-soles up to a region adjacent the termini of the heating flues where they are capped by a layer of coal that is wider than the remainder of the charge, thereby providing for the lower wall of the gas-collecting space a wider than normal expanse of coal and consequently a greater than normal amount of coal for absorbing heat, from the adjacent masonry and from the hot distillation gases flowing therethrough to the standpipe 34 whereby they leave the coking-chamber and all of which promotes maintenance of cooler tops for the coal-charges. The resultant wider than normal gas-collecting spaces makes the roof-carbon" problem less important of attention in the coking of high-volatile coals because there is less inclination for such carbon to restrict the Width of the coal surface forming the lower wall of the gas-collecting space to less than that of the lower part of the oven-charge and thus reduces the tendency such condition has to promote the condition known as hot tops" and inhibits the cracking of desirable liquid products before they have even left the coking-chamber. In the case of coals having a tendency to develop during their high-temperature coking, higher than preferred internal pressures that are transmitted to the coking-chamber walls, the present development is of important advantage since it provides means whereby of those highly viscous plastic seams that always develop in the ovencharges along zones that are adjacent to and substantially parallel the different heating surfaces of the coking-chambers, one such seam can be maintained of greater apparent penetrability to gases and vapors than the others, thereby providing an outlet of lower resistance to penetration for volatile products evolving from the center of the coal-charge and thereby reducng the tendency to build up internal pressure in the coal charge and making faster coking-times practical for such coals because the degree of fiuidity existing in the plastic zones in the other portions of the coal-charges become relatively unimportant. The novel effects made possible by the instant improvements for all types of coking coals can be further enhanced, for example, by forming the wider capping layer of coal of a. higher bulk density than obtains in the remainder of the ovencharge, or by forming it of wet coal having preferably more than about ten percent of free molsture, and thereby still further increasing the additional time that is required for complete coking of the capping layer of said. coal-charges which can be formed with their novel configuration either by flowing coal into the improved coking-chambers or by forming said charges as stamped cakes outside the battery structure and thereafter introducing said cakes into and coking them in coking chambers having substantially the same contour.

Those features of invention exemplified in the foregoing description which relate to horizontal coke oven method, are made the subject matter of my copending application for Letters Patent of the United States, filed August 30, 1947, Serial No. '771,469.

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

I claim:

1. In a horizontal coke-oven battery, in combination: a series of alternate heating-walls and horizontal coking-chambers arranged laterally of each other in a row, each of said heating-walls having vertical combustion-flues therein that terminate at their upper parts below the tops of said coking-chambers; side-walls ior each of said coking-chambers formed by the opposite surfaces of two adjacent heating-walls, said side walls being continuously vertically disposed throughout substantially that portion of their full height acUacent their heating flues, to provide therebetween a coking chamber space of substantially the same effective transverse width for uniform coking, and above the upper termini of said vertical heating-flues, the said opposite surfaces of said adjacent heating-walls being oset further apart from the longitudinal central vertical planes of their associated coking-chambers than are the lower said surface-portions thereby providing oVer-hanging upper coking-chamber gas-offtake free space portions that are of substantially greater efiective transverse width than the narrower coking-chamber portions therebeneath, the chamber space of said upper coking-chamber portions being substantially unobstructed between said adjacent side-walls and the effective freecross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the gas-ofi-take free-space of said portions at the top level for levelled coal charges being substantially greater, transversely of the coking chambers, than that of the coal-charge space of the coking chamber portions beneath the topmost parts of said combustion flues; and gas oil-take 9, means from the gas off-take free-space of the coking-chamber tops.

Zfn a horizontal coke oven battery, in combination: a series of alternate heating walls and horizontal coking-chambers arranged laterally of each other in a row, each of said heating walls having therein combustion-fiues of which the topmost parts are below the tops of said cokingchambers; side-walls for each of said cokingchambers formed by the opposite surfaces of two adjacent heating walls, said side walls being continuously vertically disposed throughout substantially their full height adjacent their heating fiues, to provide therebetween a coking chamber space of substantially the same eective transverse width for uniform coking, and above the topmost parts of said heating ues, the said opposite surfaces of said adjacent heating-walls being oflset further apart from the longitudinal central Vertical planes of their associated cokingchambers than are the lower said surface-portions thereby providing overhanging upper coking-chamber gas-ofl-take free-spaceportions that are of substantially greater eective transverse width than the narrower coking-chamber portions therebeneath, the chamber space of said upper coking-chamber portions being substantially unobstructed between said adjacent side-walls and the eective free-cross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the gas-off-take free-space of said portions at the top level for levelled coal charges, being substantally greater, transversely of the coking chambers, than that of the coal-charge space of the coking chamber portions beneath the topmost parts of said combustion fiues: and gas o-take means from the gas off-take free space of the coking-chamber tops.

3. In a horizontal coke-oven battery, in combination: a series of alternate heating-walls and horizontal coking-chambers arranged laterally of each other in a row, each of said heating-walls having therein combustion-fiues of which the topmost parts are below the tops of said cokingchambers; side-walls for each of said cokingchambers formed by the opposite surfaces of two adjacent heating walls, at least one of the heating-walls of each coking-chamber being offset, at a level above the level of the topmost part of its combustion flues forming an overhanging ofiset upper-chamber gas off-take free-space portion that is of substantially greater effective transverse width above its said heating flues than obtains in the coking-chamber portion beneath said ofiset, the chamber space of said upper cokingchamber portion being substantially unobstructed between opposite surfaces of its adjacent heatingwalls and the effective free-cross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the gas off-take free-space of said portions at the top level for levelled coal charges being substantially greater, transversely of the coking chambers, than that of the coalcharge space of the coking chamber portions beneath the topmost parts of said combustion flues; and gas off-take means from the gas off-take free-space of the coking-chamber tops.

4. In a horizontal coking retort oven-battery. a plurality of alternate horizontal coking chambers and intermediate heating walls therefor arranged laterally of each other in a row, each of said horizontal coking chambers having a top level for levelled coal charges, leaving a gas offtake free-space horizontally above said top level, along the crown of the coking chamber for offfiow of distillate gas horizontally along the crown over the top of a levelled underlying coking charge, each of said heating walls having vertical heating flues that terminate below the tops of said coking chambers at a level below said top level for levelled coal charges, and said heating walls having horizontal gas-flow Conduit means at the tops of the vertical heating flues but at a spacecl distance below the tops of the adjacent coking chambers and communicably connected to the vertical heating fiues, for flow of combustion products from the tops of said vertical heating flues, side walls that alongside said heating flues are continuously vertically disposed providing coking chambers of uniform width from the oven soles up to the tops of the heating fiues for uniform coking, but at said top level above said horizontal gas-flow conduit means that constitute the region for the top level for levelled coal charges, said walls being located further apart than at levels alongside the heating fiues, and the eective freecross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the coking chambers being wider at their upper parts where the tops of levelled coal charges are con tiguous to the gas oil-flow crown space, than at their lower parts alongside the heating flues; and means for flowing volatile products of coal carbonization out of said coking chambers crownspaces from divers zones in the coal charges charged into said coking chambers.

5. In a horizontal coking retort oven-battery, a plurality of alternate horizontal coking chambers and intermediate heating walls therefor arranged laterally of each other in a row, each of said horizontal coking chambers having a top level for levelled coal charges, leaving a gas offtake free-space horizontally above said top level, along the crown of the coking chambers for offfiow of distillate gas horizontally along the crown over the top of a levelled underlying coking charge, each of said heating walls having heating flues that terminate below the tops of said coking chambers at a level below said top level for levelled coal charges; side walls that alongside said heating fiues are continuously vertically disposed, but at their upper parts at said top level that constitute the region for said top level for levelled coal charges, said walls being located further apart than at levels alongside the heating flues, and the effective free-cross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the coking chambers being wider at their upper parts where the tops of levelled coal charges are contiguous to the gas off-flow crown space, than at their lower parts alongside the heating fiues; and means for flowing volatile products of coal carbonization out of said coking chambers crown spaces non-selectively from divers zones in the coal charges charged into said coking chambers.

6. In an intermittent coking retort oven-battery, a plurality of alternate intermittent coking chambers and intermediate heating walls therefor arranged laterally of each other in a row: each of said intermittent coking chambers having a top level for levelled coal-charges, leaving a gas offtake free-space horizontally above said top level, along the crown of the coking chambers, for off-flow of distillate gas horizontally along the crown over the top of a levelled underlying coking charge; each of said heating walls having vertical heating flues that terminate below the tops of said coking chambers at a level below said top level for levelled coal charges, and said heating walls having horizontal gas-flow Conduit means at the tops of the vertical heating flues but at a spaced distance below the tops of the adjacent coking chambers and communicably connected to the vertical heating flues, for flow of combustion products from the tops of said vertical heating fiues, side walls that alongside said heating flues are continuously vertically disposed but at said top level above said horizontal gas-flow Conduit means that constitute the region for the top level for levelled coal charges, said walls being located further apart than at levels alongside the heating flues, and the effective free-cross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the coking chambers being wider at their upper parts where the tops of levelled coal charges are contiguous to the gas off-flow crown space, than at their lower parts alongside the heating ues; and means for flowing volatile products of coal carbonization out of said coking -chambers crown spaces non-selectively from divers zones in the coal charges charged into said coking chambers.

7. In an intermittent coking retort oven-battery, a plurality of alternate intermittent coking chambers and intermediate heating walls therefor arranged laterally of each other in a row; each of said intermittent coking chambers having a top level for levelled coal-charges, leaving a gas offtake free-space horizontally above said top level, along the crown of the'coking chamber, for off-flow of distillate gas horizontally along the crown over the top of a levelled underlying coking charge; each of said heating walls having heating fiues that terminate below the tops of said coking chambers at a level below said top level for levelled coal charges; side walls that alongside said heating fiues are continuously vertically disposed providing coking chambers of uniform width from the oven soles up to the tops of the heating flues, for uniform coking, but at their upper parts at said top level that constitute the region for the top level for levelled coal charges, said walls being located further apart than at levels alongside the heating flues, and the effective free-cross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the coking chambers being wider at their upper parts where the tops of levelled coal charges are contiguous to the gas off-flow crown space. than at their lower parts alongside the heating flues, and means for fiowing volatile products of coal carbonization out of said coking chambers crown spaces from divers zones in the coal charges charged into said coking chambers.

8. In a horizontal coking retort oven-battery, a plurality of alternate horizontal coking chambers and intermediate flued heating walls therefor arranged laterall y of each other in a row, each of said horizontal coking chambers having a top level for levelled coal charges, leaving a gas ofitake free-space horizontally above said top level, along the crown of the coking chambers, for offflow of distillate gas horizontally along the crown over the top of a levelled underlying coking charge; side walls that are vertically disposed at their lower parts alongside the heating fiues for the major portion of the heights of said heating walls and at the upper minor portions of the heights of the heating walls, that constitute the region of said top level for levelled coal charges, said walls being located farther apart than at levels alongside said major portion of the heights of said heating flues at their said lower parts, and the effective free cross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the coking chambers being wider at their upper minor portions where the tops of levelled coal charges are contiguous to the gas off-flow crown space, than at their lower parts alongside the lower major portion of the heights of their heating walls; and means for fiowing the volatile products of coal carbonization out of the crown-spaces of said coking chambers.

9. A horizontal coking retort oven-battery as claimed in claim 8, and in which the upper part of the gas-ofitake crown-space, in the respective coking chambers, is substantially narrower, transversely of the coking chamber, than at the subadjacent region thereof at said top level for levelled coal charges in the respective coking chambers.

10. In a horizontal coking retort oven-battery, a plurality of alternate horizontal coking chambers and intermediate flued heating walls therefor arranged laterally of each other in a row, each of said horizontal coking chambers having a top level for levelled coal charges, leaving a gas offtake free-space horizontally above said top level, along the crown of the coking chamber, for offflow of distillate gas horizontally along the crown over the top of a levelled underlying coking charge; side walls that are vertically disposed at their lower parts alongside the heating-flues for the major portion of the heights of said heating walls and at the upper minor portions of the heights of the heating walls that constitute the region of said top level for levelled coal charges, said walls being located farther apart than at levels alongsidesaid major portion of the heights of the heating fiues at their said lower parts, and the efiective free-cross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the coking chambers being wider at their upper minor portions where the tops of levelled coal charges are contiguous to the gas off-flow crown spaces than at their lower parts alongside said lower major portion of the heights of their heating walls; means for fiowing the volatile products of coal carbonization out of the crown-spaces of said coking chambers, and cokeoven doors for scaling the horizontal pusher-side ends of said horizontal coking-chambers, said doors having sealable leveller-bar openings through which to level the top surface of coal charged into said coking chambers, the bottoms of said leveller-bar openings being at coking chamber levels above the lower extremity of that portion of the side-walls of the coking chambers that are further apart than at levels alongside said lower major portion of the heights of said heating walls.

11. A coking retort oven battery comprising horizontal coking chambers alternating in position side-by-side With heating walls therefor, wherein said coking chambers have a top level for levelled coal charges, leaving a gas ofitake free space horizontally above said top level, along the crown of the coking chambers, for ofl-fiow of distillate gas horizontally along the crown over the top of a levelled underlying charge, and wherein said heating walls are provided with cross-over fiue interconnected combustion flues that terminate at their upper parts below said top level for levelled coal charges, and in which said horizontal coking chambers are wider at said top level for levelled coal charges than at lower levels alongside said combustion flues, but are of substantially uniform width from their oven soles up to the level of the topmost parts of the combustion flues, and in which the effective freecross-sectional area in a horizontal plane of the coking chambers is wider, and substantially unobstructed from side to side, at their upper parts where the tops of the levelled coal charges are contiguous to the gas off-flow crown-spaces, than 13 at their lower parts aongside the combustion Number flue ,a72,532 JOSEPH BECKER. 1,935,067 2.100,758 REFERENCES CITED 5 2,2o9,255 The following references are of record in the 2347976 me of ths patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 10 Number 659.046 Atwater Oct. 2, 1900 97302 1,o25,49 Mess May 7, 1912 671340 1,707,427 Becker Apr. 2, 1929 Name Date Van Ackeren Aug. 16. 1932 Vobach et al. Nov. 14, 1933 Van Ackeren Nov. 30. 1937 Anderson et al. July 23, 1940 Boynton et al. Apr. 18, 1944 Otto May 22. 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Austria Sept. 25. 1924 Germany Feb. 17. 1939

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