Metallurgy Of Cast Iron

THE MANUFACTURE AJN1) PROPERTIES OF COKE. 5
body of the mounds, and also piled so as to have as little of it touch the ground as possible. The mounds or piles are generally built around a brick chimney laid 'with loose bricks, left as full of holes in every other course of bricks as is practical, so as to provide openings for draft from the outside of the mounds at various heights. These piles range from fifteen to thirty feet in diameter, and from four to seven feet in height. They are set on fire by means of openings left in their bodies where wood and light brush can be inserted. Some piles are built in an oblong form, often running two hundred feet or more in length, with a base of twelve to fifteen feet in width. The plan of building such long piles is to lay a body of coal about sixteen inches high, then commence the formation of flues as seen in C, Fig. 2, page 10. These flues are filled with wood, brush, or any light kindling, and then set on fire at every opening, the aim being that no one part of the pile burn faster than another. If the fire should be too strong at any one point, the outside surface is banked with wet coke dust or earth, and applied to the whole surface of the structure as soon as the volatile matter has stopped burning so as to smother the fire and complete the coking of the coal. The last operation in this method of coking is to pour a little water down the vertical flues so as to diffuse steam throughout the entire body of the coke, which it is claimed is beneficial, resulting in the least moisture in the coke. It takes from five to eight days, according to the state of the weather, to perfect coking by this plan. The coke produced is said to be of very good quality, but as a general thing there is a considerable loss in the yield where coal is coked in mounds ory from the practical founder about matters seldom found in print, because practical foun- I dry men of Mr. West's attainments are, as yet, a rarity/" v<»undrymen*:. Association's Test:"., . . ... 539