The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

BLAST FURNACE DEPARTMENT: COKE OVENS AND BOILERS. 29 duction of steam during the night does not decrease materially, while the day production is slightly higher. A large proportion of the steam generated in this department is utilised, as will be explained later, by other departments of the works. As a certain number of the engines belonging to these other departments, only work during the day, and, exceptionally, up till 8 P.M., it is not at all necessary to have so high a production of steam in the night as during the day service. Messrs. Schneider and Co. are therefore considering the advisability of discontinuing the night shifts at the coke ovens ; this will save labour as well as the cost of lighting and carbonisation takes place, at least as regularly as in the okl ovens. Besides the important saving which bas been effected by the utilising of the waste gases from the coke ovens, the sanitary condition of the town has gained greatly, as the dust and thick smoke which used to spread over it from the chimney, 230 ft. high, are now evils of the past. This is an ad vantage which lias been greatly appreciated by the inhabitants, as the coke ovens are near the centre of the town, and the houses close to this part of the works were, previous to the change, hardly habitable when the wind blew from certain quarters. Fig. 70, Plate XV., Fig. 76. Coke Ovens and Blast-Furnace Loading Platform. up this section of the works. Fig. 76 gives a general view of a portion of these ovens, as described. Recently a battery of fifty-four new ovens has been built on precisely the same lines as those described, in order to make the whole system uniform. As the chimney of the coke-oven boilers also serves for a set of Boilers fîred by the waste gases from the blast-furnaces, there might have been cause to fear, considering its energetie action—équivalent to 1T^- in. of water—that the working of the coke ovens would be difficult of Control. O wing, liowever, to the dampers placed at the top of the vertical conduits of the ovens, and which establish communication with the top receiver, the régulation of the draught is easily effected. shows very clearly a battery of coke ovens ; the view taken illustrâtes the metliod of emptying them. Coke-Oven Boilers.—The first experiments in genera- ting steam from the waste gases of the coke ovens, were made on two tubular boilers that were lieated by the waste gases from the blast-furnaces, which were adapted for the purpose. During the trials, numerous analyses of the flames having shown that there was little or no combustible gas available, and that, consequently, it was useless to introduce air, the standard type of installation for mount- ing the coke boilers was arrivée! at ; the details are shown in Fio-s. 71 to 74, Plate XVI. In these boilers, which are mounted in pairs, the internai firebox being quite un-