Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to the making of coke
from coal and, more particularly, to the top charging of hori-
zontal coke oven batteries by means of a larry car mounted on top
of the coke oven battery.
The top charging of horizontal coke oven batteries is
commonly accomplished by a larry car movable on rails on top of
the battery. The larry car is comprised of multiple hoppers,
the number corresponding to the number of charging holes in the
tops of each of the coke oven chambers which, together, make up
the battery. A typical arrangement of a larry car in relation
to a coke oven battery is depicted in the drawings of U.S. Patent
No. 1,900,753. Coal is loaded into the hoppers. Then the larry
car traverses the coke oven battery and is positioned over the
charging holes of the particular oven to be charged. The bottoms
of the hoppers are commonly frusto-conical in shape, tappering
down to an annular orifice at their bottom ends which is generally
equivalent in dimension to the diameters of the charging holes.
Some means is required to contain the coal in the larry
car hoppers until the hoppers are in position above the designated
oven to be charged and the charging hole covers have been removed.
In practice, generally a slide-gate plate is used. Such a gate
is illustrated in German Patentschrift No. 848,643. A somewhat
different positioning of such a gate is illustrated in U.S.
Patent No. 3,576,263. Additional means for containing coal in
the larry car hoppers have been developed, but are not commonly
used as they present practical, economic and operational problems.
Ideally, a coke oven will be charged with dry, preheated
coal. However, actual practice is to charge the coke ovens with
whatever coking coal is available at the given moment, rather than
shutting down the ovens to prepare coal for charging. Thus, coal
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at ambient temperature, both wet and dry, is typically charged
into coke ovens. Such a situation is taken in account in the
design of modern coke ovens, and means are provided therein to
adjust the coke making operation to compensate for the different
initial consistencies of the coal.
One problem that has developed in ovens designed to
operate with wet, dry or preheated coals is that the flow char-
acteristics of these different coal consistencies differ to a
significant degree. Because it is beneficial to charge an oven
within a preset time interval, it is desirable to provide means
for controlling the flow rate of different consistencies of coal.
The flow rate of wet coal is slower and more sluggish than for
dry coal; thus a larger opening is required to flow a given volume
of coal into an oven within the preset time interval. But such a
large opening creates problems when dry and/or preheated coal is
charged. Since the flow pattern of dry and/or preheated coal is
more rigid and more expansive, charging such coal consistencies
through an opening ideally sized for wet coal causes uncontrolled
flow resulting in irregular over-filling, and much dust and part-
iculate matter suspended in the elevated temperature atmosphere
- within the oven. This suspended matter tends to be carried over
into the ascension pipes where it buiIds up and rapidly clogs the
ascension pipes. The result is frequent downtime to clean the as-
cension pipes. Further, the uncontrolled flow causes increased
turbulance within the coke oven resulting in the unnecessary es-
cape of polutants as back pressure through the charging holes.
Attempts have been made to use screw feeders and con-
veyor systems to regulate the flow of coal. These have proved
unsatisfactory due to the tendency of coal to flow more like a
liquid than a solid. The only practical method employed to date
has been to simply size the hopper outlet and the charging hole
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properly to gain the desired flow rate of dry and/or preheated
coal and attempt to control the use of wet coal. Alternately, a
separate larry car with hoppers containing larger orifices for
wet coal has been proposed to overcome the problem. The cost of
such a solution is untenable.
Thus, some means is needed to provide and control the
flow rates of both wet coal and dry and/or preheated coal inter-
changeably on a given coke oven battery and it is to fulfilling
this need that th~ present invention is addressed.
The present invention is directed primarily toward
providing a means for quickly changing the hopper bottom opening
dimension to suit either wet or dry and/or preheated coal being
chaxged into a coke oven chamber from a larry car hopper, thereby
fully adapting a coke oven battery, designed for coking these
various consistencies of coal, for controlled coal charging flow
rates into coke oven chambers.
Thus, the lnvention provides, in combination with a
horizontal coke oven battery having a larry car movable along its
top, means for controlling the rate of flow of coal from a hopper,
mounted on said larry car, into coke oven chambers, comprising:
; a) means within said hopper to direct coal within said
hopper towards a discharge point;
b) discharge means through which said coal, within said
hopper,is discharged;
c) single movable element means, interposed beneath said
discharge means, to regulate said rate of flow of said
coal from said hopper;
d) means to actuate said single element means;
e) means to commence and halt the discharge of said coal
through said discharge means;
f) means to operate said means to commence and halt the
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discharge of said coal through said discharge means;
and
g) conduit means, beneath said single element means and
said means to commence and halt, by which said coal is
directed into said coke oven chamher.
In a preferred embodiment, a selector plate is inter-
posed between the orifice at the bottom of the larry car hopper
and the drop sleeve used to guide the flowing coal through the
coke oven charging hole. The selector plate contains a plurality
of circular apertures. One aperture is sized to accommodate the
desired flow rate for wet coal. Additional apertures, successively
smaller in dimension, being sized to accommodate the desired flow
rate for dry and preheated coals are positioned through the sliding
gate plate. Means for closing and opening the larry car hopper
bottom orifice is interposed above the drop sleeve to maintain
coal in the larry car hopper as required. Means for sliding the
selector plate perpendicular to the flow path of the coal is
utilized selectively in relation to the particular consistency
of coal within the larry car hopper.
Accordingly, a simple and inexpensive means is dis-
closed to control the flow rate of different consistencies of coal
desired to be fed into a given coke oven chamber.
Brief Description of *he Drawings
Fig. 1 is a side elevation view of a preferred embodi-
ment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a top plan view upon the line II-II of Fig. l;
and
Fig. 3 is a front elevation view upon the line III-III
of Fig. 2;
The present invention will now be described further by
way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings
wherein:
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Briefly, a conventional larry car, which is movable
along the top of a horizontal coke oven battery, is provided with
a means for controlling the rate of flow of coal from the larry
car hopper into the oven chamber of a coke oven. Referring to
Fig. 1~ the flow rate controlling means includes a frusto-conical
bottom section 11, an orifice 30 forming the bottom section of the
frusto-conical bottom section 11, a single movable element means
in the form of a selector plate 21 positioned under the orifice
30, means to actuate the single element means, in the form of a
fluid actuated piston-cylinder 29, by which the selector plate 21
can be operated to commence and halt the discharge of coal through
the orifice 30 and to regulate the flow rate of discharge of that
coal, and a conduit means in the form of a drop sleeve assembly 15
positioned under the selector plate 21.
Referring to Fig. 1, a frusto-conical shaped bottom of
a larry car hopper is provided with a vertical tube portion 13.
A flange means 14 is fixed to the lower extremity of the vertical
tube portion 13. The upper flange 16 of a drop sleeve assembly 15
coacts with the flange means 14 to prevent disengagement of the
drop sleeve assembly 15 from the vertical tube portion 13.
The drop sleeve assembly 15 is vertically reciprocal
in a telescoping manner about the vertical tube portion 13. Re-
ciprocation of the drop sleeve assembly 15 is effected by means of
the action of a fluid actuated piston-cylinder 17 on a weighted
pivot lever 19 which, in turn, exerts force on bail 20 fixed to
the drop sleeve assembly 15.
Interposed on the vertical tube portion 13, about where
shown in Fig. 1, is a selector plate 21 operable between an upper
wear plate 22 and a lower wear plate 24. The upper wear plate 22
is fixed to the outer periphery of the vertical tube portion 13
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and includes an aperture through which the vertical tube portion
13 extends. The lower wear plate 24, likewise, is also fixed to
the outer periphery of the vertical tube portion 13 and, likewise,
includes an aperture through which the vertical tube portion
extends. The upper wear plate 22 and the lower wear plate 24 are
spaced apart and define a gap in the vertical tube portion 13, and
form a frame 27. With that gap, surrounded by frame 27, the sel-
ector plate 21 is horizontally slidable.
The selector plate 21 extends beyond the upper wear
plate 22, as shown in Fig. 1. On the extension of the selector
plate 21 is mounted a pair of rollers 31 that coact with a guide
33 to maintain alignment and linear motion of the selector plate
21 as it is slid within frame 27.
Referring to Fig. 2, means for sliding the selector
plate 21 within frame 27 is provided by a fluid actuated piston-
cylinder 29 fixed to the larry car superstructure ~not shown) and
operably connected by clevis 28 to the selector plate 21.
The selector plate 21 includes a dry coal hole 23 and
a wet coal hole 25, each positioned adjacent an end of the selector
plate 21, as shown in Fig. 2. Between the dry coal hole 23 and the
wet coal hole, the selector plate 21 is continuous and solid, pro-
viding a sufficient blockage valve means for the coal hopper. The
wet coal hole 25 is of equal diameter to the internal diameter of
the vertical tubular portion 13. The dry coal hole 23 is smaller
in diameter than the wet coal hole 25 and is sized to permit the
optimum flow rate for dry and/or preheated coal into the oven
chamber (not shown) located beneath the drop sleeve assembly 15.
In like manner, the wet coal hole 25, as well as the vertical
tubular portion 13, are sized to permit the optimum flow rate for
30 wet coal into the oven chamber.
In operation, the larry carr (not shown) is positioned
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above the oven chamber (not shown) which is to be filled. The
larry car hopper has been previously filled with either wet, dry
or preheated coal. The charging hole cover (not shown) is removed
and the drop sleeve assembly 15 is dropped to engage the charging
hole (not shown). There is sufficient horizontal play designed
into the drop sleeve assembly 15 so that precise center alignment
of the larry car hopper and the vertical tube portion 13 with the
center of the charging hole (not shown) is not required.
Up to this point in the sequence of operations, the
selector plate is positioned as shown in Fig. 2 to block the
passage of coal downward from the larry car hopper r through the
vertical tube portion 13 and drop sleeve assembly 15. At this
point, piston-cylinder 29 is actuated to center align either dry
coal hole 23 or wet coal hole 25 with the vertical tube portion 13
by linear sliding motion of the selector plate 21. Thus, the coal
within the larry car hopper is-dispersed within the coke oven
(not shown). Once the larry car hopper is emptied, the drop
sleeve assembly 15 is raised, the charging hole cover (not shown)
is replaced and the larry car (not shown) is moved to a loading
station to receive more coal.
According to the provisions of the patent statutes,
the principle, preferred construction and mode of operation of
the present invention have been illustrated and described in what
is now considered to be its best embodiment. However, it is
to be understood that, within the scope of the appended claims,
the present invention may be practiced otherwise than as speci-
fically illustrated and described.
