The investigations carried on at the fuel-testing plant of the
United States Geological Survey at St. Louis in 1904-1907 included
tests of the steaming and gas-producing qualities of many coals and
of the possibilif3 of their improvement by briquetting, together with
washing and coking tests and tests of some of the resulting coke in
the cupola. These tests were part of a general inquiry into the manner
of utilizing most efficiently each of the coals under investigation.
The equipment used in the cupola tests of coke, the manner of
conducting the tests, and the essential results have been described in
publications of the Geological Survey," and only the more important
conclusions to be drawn from the tests are mentioned in the following
pages. The tests were made to show the fitness of the cokes for
foundry purposes, but an incidentlll result was to show foundry men
and the coke producers the advisability of studying the conditions
of foundry practice. The present bulletin, published by the Bureau
of Mines because the analyzing and testing of fuels have been transferred
from the Gilological Survey to the Bureau of Mines, briefly
reviews the status of the coke industry, some features of practice in
the use of coke in the foundry, the probable happenings of a cupola
heat, and the reasons for modifying charging practice so that a
particular coke can be used to best advantage.
Bulletin 3 The Coke Industry Of The United States As Related To The Foundry