Coke
Coke names 3 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Coke one of the products of the distillation of coal in ovens and retorts
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
one of the products of the distillation of coal in ovens and retorts. It bears the same relation to coal that charcoal does to wood. Coke was originally produced by burning coal in piles, with a limited supply of air, much after the modern method of charcoal burning. This plan occasioned a considerable loss of coal, and led to the building of coke ovens, the coke so produced being found to be much harder and denser than that made in open heaps. This open heap or yard-coke, and that produced in retorts, when coal is distilled for gas and other volatile matters, may be used in place of oven coke with a proper blast. The most efficient method of coking is by the use of coke ovens. The Beehive oven is probably the simplest. Ovens of this pattern are either circular or rectangular in form and the height and diameter vary upward to 10 feet. These ovens are built of brick, with dividing walls 2 feet thick, lined with fire brick. They are charged from the top, from coal cars running on rails on the top The volatile matter escapes through the charging openings and the coke is removed through a door in the Air is admitted front of the oven. through the door for about 24 hours after firing, when all openings are plas- The entire process occupies about 36 hours, at the end of which the coke is raked out and quenched with water. The heat required to carry on the combustion is usually obtained by burning the volatile gases given off by the coal. The oven most used in the States is the Semet - Solvay. This is long and narrow with a door at each roof is supported by heavy A zigzag flue of four turns 7,106,600.00 runs along each side of the oven, and 9,373,500.00 the gases pass alternately from front to back through the flue to a return flue leading to the chimney at the back. The coal is charged through three charging cha roof, which are then closed. roo The distilled gases pass through an outlet at the end of the roof (the only hole left open), into a hydraulic main, where they mix with the gases from other ovens, and are passed through purifiers for the removal of tar and other condensable matter. From the purifier the gas is blown by fans through pipes passing beneath the ovens to branch pipes where it is burned, heating the ovens. The air used in the blast is pre-heated by passing through channels in the heated masonry. The coking lasts about 24 hours, at the end of which time a mechanical ram is brought behind the oven and the coke is pushed out by it to a space in front of the oven where it is quenched. The ram is then withdrawn, the doors closed, and the oven recharged while still hot. Coking is carried on to a large extent throughout the United States, both by the use of ovens and as a by-product of gas producers. The total production of coke in the United States in 1918 was 56,478,372 short tons. The State producing the largest amount was Pennsylvania, with a production of 26,- 723,645 tons. Ohio was second with a production of 5,364,242 tons; Alabama third with 4,352,172 tons; and Indiana fourth with 3,898,215 tons. Other States having a production of over 1,000,000 tons were New York, Utah, and West Virginia. The estimated production in 1919 was 41,821,000 tons. Coke produced in bee-hive ovens in 1919 was 19,- 650,000 tons, and the production of coke ovens was 25,997,580 tons. There were imported in 1919 16,486 short tons, valued at $140,653. The exports were 716,- 956 tons, valued at $5,128,119. The value of the by-products from coke ovens in 1918 were $74,602,458. The most important by-product was sulphate of ammonia, with a value of $19,061,777. Toluol was produced with a value of $12,249,702, and benzol, with a value of $11,966,367.
Coke the solid portion that remains after coal is subjected to intense heat
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
the solid portion that remains after coal is subjected to intense heat. Coke is produced ordinarily in so-called coke ovens of the beehive type. One hundred bushels of coal are poured into the oven, which is then heated gradually to a temperature of 1400 deg. C. As soon as the heat reaches 100 deg. C. gas begins to escape; tarry products are given off up to 600 deg. C. First class coke rings with a metallic sound and has a silvery luster. It is of much importance in melting metals, as it burns with a pure flame without gas or smoke, and, being pure carbon, gives a most intense heat. In some sections of the country, where coke is in great demand for iron furnaces, the gas and tar products are sold cheaply as by-products, or allowed to go to waste. In the sections remote from the iron regions coal is heated for illuminating gas, and coke is a by-product. Where there is a demand it is sold chiefly as fuel. It is not so easily kindled as coal, but is an excellent fuel for heat. Coal is expected to yield about sixty-five per cent of its own weight in coke. The annual coke production of the United States is about 22,000,000 tons, over half of it in Pennsylvania; that of Great Britain is somewhat greater. See Charcoal ; Coal ; Gas
Coke SIR EDWARD, an English lawyer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
SIR EDWARD, an English lawyer; born in 1551. After finishing his education at Cambridge he went to London, and entered the Inner Temple. He was chosen recorder of the cities of Norwich and of Coventry, knight of the shire for his county, and, in spite of the rivalship of Bacon, attorney-general. As such he conducted the prosecutions for the crown, notably those of Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1613 he became chief-justice of the Court of King's Bench; but his rough temper and staunch support of constitutional liberties brought him into disfavor with King James and his courtiers. In 1621 Coke was committed to the Tower, and soon after expelled from the privycouncil. In 1628 he was chosen member of Parliament for Buckinghamshire, and ηηπa BEEHIVE COKE OVEN greatly distinguished himself by his vindication of the rights of the Commons, and by proposing and framing the famous Petition of Rights. On the dissolution of the Parliament he retired to Buckinghamshire, where he died, in September, 1634. His principal works are: "Reports, from 1600 to 1615," "Institutes of the Laws of England," in four parts; the first of which contains the celebrated commentary on Littleton's Tenures ("Coke upon Littleton"); "A Treatise of Bail and Mainprise," "Complete Copyholder," etc.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 the beehive oven was still the standard and the United States burned 56 million short tons of coke a year, most of it in Pennsylvania. The beehive is now essentially extinct in America, killed by pollution rules and by the sheer waste Collier's already noted; almost all coke is made in by-product slot ovens descended from the Semet-Solvay design the article describes, and US output has collapsed to under ten million tons as steelmakers switched to electric arc furnaces melting scrap. The by-products that mattered most in 1918 he wwar then paid handsomely, benzol and toluol, are now made overwhelmingly from petroleum rather than coal tar, while coke itself has moved east: China makes roughly half the world's supply. Coke remains indispensable to blast-furnace ironmaking, which is exactly why it is now a climate problem, with hydrogen-based direct reduction being built in Europe to replace it. On Sir Edward Coke, nothing in the account needs correcting; his Reports and Institutes are still quoted in British and American courtrooms, and Dr. Bonham's Case is still argued over as an ancestor of judicial review.
Written for this edition, 2026.