352 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



the active coking constituent and that the insoluble 

 material or cellulosic residue is inert, and when it does 

 not predominate in too great an amount over the soluble 

 material, a good coke results. In this view of the theory 

 of coke formation, the active coking material, the soluble 

 or so-called resinic bodies, plays the part of a binder to 

 the non-coking portion. 



This theory would seem to have substantial confirma- 

 tion by so simple an experiment as the following : Sup- 

 pose we take a sample of the original coal of the type 

 here used and coke the unaltered material in a crucible 

 according to the ordinary procedure for the determina- 

 tion of volatile matter. We shall obtain a sample of nor- 

 mal coke such as this particular coal may be expected to 

 produce. If now we take these type substances as illus- 

 trated in Fig. 8 and reassemble the non-soluble or cellu- 

 losic residue with the proper proportion of the coking 

 substance, we . shall have after the carbonizing process 

 again a sample of coke which can in no way be distin- 

 giiished from the first or normal sample. Hence the 

 * demonstration of the simple binding function of the resi- 

 nic material would seem to be established. 



But suppose now we proceed a few steps farther. We 

 know that freshly mined coal has a tremendous avidity 

 for oxygen and that if we permit a finely ground sample 

 of Illinois coal to become fully saturated with that ele- 

 ment all tendency on the part of the coal to produce coke 

 is lost. Let us, therefore, saturate a portion of each of 

 these subdivisions with oxygen and recombine them in 

 their proper proportions, and for comparison, to make 

 the circle complete, we will retain the sample already 

 made in which both subdivisions were in the fresh or un- 

 oxidized condition. In Fig. 8 we have illustrated on the 

 left, one sample of coke which has resulted from a re- 

 combination of the fresh or unoxidized portions in their 

 correct ratios, and at the. right we have a sample of coke 

 resulting from a recombination in correct proportions of 

 an oxidized resinic substance with a fresh or unoxidized 

 residue. Note especially that the resulting coke is in- 

 distinguishable from the normal sample at the left in the 



