The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

THE HANDLING OF HOT COKE IN GASWORKS 149 submerged. In this conveyor the cradles, whether constructed of flat or round bars, are not likely to be distorted by heat, even should the water supply run short, and any extension or contraction of the bars due to varying temperature cannot affect the pitch of the chain. The conveyor is driven in the usual manner by hexagonal terminals, and the coke is discharged as the cradles pass round the delivery terminal. One drawback to this conveyor is the accumulation of breeze in the trough, but the provision of means for removing this should not be a difficult matter. Bronder's Hot Coke Conveyor.—This conveyor, Fig. 201, designed by Mr G. A. Bronder, of New York, somewhat resembles the gravity bucket conveyor. It runs in a water-tight trough filled with water to a certain level, the water being slowly circulated by mechanism resembling a water wheel. The chain of buckets runs in the trough, the sides of which form the rails for the supporting rollers. The whole conveyor is covered in along its entire length, and the lower edge of the cover dips into the water in the trough, making an air-tight joint. The flue thus formed is connected at each bench with a number of shoots, through which the coke drops into the conveyor buckets; when not in use these shoots are covered. At the ends of the trough and flue, a large pipe leads to an exhauster, which draws away the steam and vapour created by the quenching process, and sends it to a Fig. 201. Bronder’s Hot Coke Conveyor, chimney which car- ries it off above the roof of the retort house. The conveyor buckets are connected by brackets of horse shoe- shape, which extend upwards beyond the sides of the buckets and are connected with the links of the driving chains. When the conveyor is at work, the covers of the mouthpieces are opened and the coke is discharged into the buckets ; at the same time the water valves are opened, thereby quenching the charges and spraying them as they pass beneath the water outlets. Scrapers are provided to collect and deliver into a collecting chamber at one end any “breeze” which may have escaped the buckets. The propeller wheel already referred to takes the water from this collecting chamber and forces it again to the other end of the trough. West’s Hot Coke Conveyor.—This conveyor consists of a substantial trough in which one wide chain travels, partly carrying and partly dragging the coke. The original of this type of conveyor was introduced many years ago, and it was probably the first conveyor for this purpose. The illustration (Fig. 202) shows the present form, which consists of an outer iron steel trough with hard cast-iron internal trough lining and renewable side pieces. The bottom plates are' loosely fixed and kept in position by