10 BULLETIN 102, PART 4, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 
of economics than of technology. When the need of artificial anthra- 
cite is generally appreciated, a suitable process for its manufacture 
will be forthcoming . 1 
Granted the necessity for a smokeless fuel other than anthracite 
and recognizing that it is chemically feasible to make such a product 
from bituminous coal, we may examine the existing economic prac- 
tice that bears on this matter, with a view to ascertaining at what 
place, if any, a process as outlined above may be introduced and 
placed on a working commercial basis. 
II. 
We naturally turn first to the coke industry, for here the greatest 
progress in coal utilization has been attained, and besides coke has 
already been used to a limited extent for domestic heating. The 
coke industry consumes nearly one-sixth of our bituminous coal, 
and has as its immediate purpose the production of coke, a substance 
required by the iron industry, which absorbs most of the output . 2 
Coke is made by heating certain classes of bituminous coal at high 
temperatures, with the production of a hard, porous residue, com- 
posed essentially of carbon . 3 Two methods of manufacture are in 
general commercial use. One employs beehive ovens, so called from 
the shape of early types; the other makes use of retort ovens, which 
are usually long and narrow and assembled in batteries. The 
latter are also appropriately termed by-product ovens. 
The beehive oven delivers a product well suited to metallurgical 
use, but the process is objectionable because of the waste involved. 
It not only fails to yield the maximum of coke, but it effects no re- 
covery of other valuable constituents. The products lost represent 
a measurable waste in terms of dollars, but they carry greater sig- 
nificance as being the raw materials upon which could be built an 
adequate manufacture of fertilizers, dyes, drugs, and explosives. 
It is a strange anomaly that the beehive oven has been made neces- 
sary by American economic policy. 
The by-product oven receives raw bituminous coal and subjects 
it to destructive distillation. This process consumes none of the coal, 
but breaks it up into five components — coke, gas, ammonia, benzol, 
and tar — of which coke is the main product, while the other four are 
called by-products. About half of the gas produced is used to 
supply the heat essential to the operation ; the by-products are partly 
1 When a specific industry is in need of a process to attain a certain end, it goes ahead and perfects the 
process. No individual industry is in need of artificial anthracite, but public interest demands it. The 
responsibility is obvious; it falls upon the public. 
2 From 1 to If tons of coke go into the production of 1 ton of iron, so that the coke industry is essential to 
the iron industry. Coke also enters into a number of other metallurgical processes. 
3 Much of the bituminous coal in the United States is not suited for the manufacture of coke because it 
yields a product not physically adapted to metallurgical use. 
