The Mechanical Handling and Storing of Material

384 THE MECHANICAL HANDLING OF MATERIAL suffer to any great extent from the hot coke. So far this system has only been used in gasworks, but it is also to be adopted for coke ovens. Lastly, we have to deal with those appliances for which there is no hearth necessary at all, and in which quenching, sifting, and loading are performed as a con- tinuous process. An installation of this type is that of “Méguin” (Fig. 544); the machine is mounted on wheels and runs along the front of the ovens on rails. The coke is pushed past a long quencher a (consisting - of a network of spraying pipes), and over a sloping chute into a hopper b, through the adjustable chute off which the coke falls on to a travelling band c, the lower terminal of which dips into a water tank e, so that the coke is thoroughly quenched on its way to the screen I, which delivers the large coke on to a chute leading to the railway truck, whilst the screenings are discharged into a special hopper. The overflow water from the quenching tank runs into a drain extending the whole length of the battery, the tank being replenished with water from a trench f, by means of a centrifugal pump g, coupled direct to the motor operating the machine. Since the conveyor c is sufficiently long to hold a full charge from one oven, the machine, when filled, can be run to any part of the track for discharg- Fig. 543. The Coke-Handling System ing into trucks, so that all shunting is dispensed with, of Stole, of Farlowitz. For blast-furnace work, the machine discharges into hoppers, from which the charging skips can be loaded. A modified form which was successfully installed at the cokery of the Soc. des Mines de Bethune, Bully (Fig. 545), consists of an inclined conveyor delivering the coke to a z77777n77777777777777777/77777777/777777////77/77/7777/77/7//7/7777/77 Fig. 544. Showing the Portable Quenching, Sifting, and Loading Machine of Méguin. screen forming a part of the machine and loading it direct into trucks. The coke is exposed to the action of a quencher, and the work is afterwards completed on the