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| The Coke drawer at work pulling the quenched
coke from the bee-hive coke ovens. After he pulls the coke, he will
then use the coke fork to shovel the coke into a waiting railroad
car. (Drawing courtesy of the HABS/HAER, Historic American Building Survey / Historic American Engineering Record, National Park Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.) |
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| The watering pipes have been inserted into
several of the bee-hive coke ovens at the Shoaf Coke Works, about every other
oven is being watered down at the same time, this was done to cool the
coke, so it can be drawn from the ovens. By watering every other oven,
the bank of ovens remained hot from the ovens that were still burning, thus
ready to be charged for another burn. (Photo courtesy of the Collections of the "Coal & Coke Heritage Center," Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA.) |
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| Watering the coke ovens to be pulled, to cool the burning
coke. After the coke was cooled down the coke
machine in the background would pull the coke from the oven and load it into
a waiting railroad coke car. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' Book, "The Beehive Coke Years." and the photo collections of Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA.) |
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| Knowing where to direct the watering pipe
and for how long to keep it in that position was important. Not only
was it skiiled work, it meant statring about 3:30 a.m. Tis was necessary
to get a head start, seven to nine ovens, on the coke drawing machine. The
Shoaf bee-hive coke ovens were large ovens, measuring fifteen feet across
by ten feet high and used about eleven hundred gallons of water to quench
each charge. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' Book, "The Beehive Coke Years." and the photo collections of Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA.) |
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| Water was still poured on the coke as it
was being loaded into the railroad cars. This was a precautionary measure
against the reignition of the coke. The piles of coke ash seen here
contained very fine coke that remained after the bigger pieces had been drawn.
It was hauled to the ash dump and was considered waste in the early years.
Later in time, it became a valuable asset and was screened for size
and sold to the steel companies. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' Book, "The Beehive Coke Years." and the photo collections of Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA.) |
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| The coke drawing machine draws the finished
coke out of the oven and feeds the coke into a waiting railroad car. Water
is being applied to the coke, to prevent its catching on fire in the railroad
car. The coal charging larries wait on top of the ovens to charge the
hot oven with a fresh supply of coal. At the Shoaf Coke Works, the
ovens were usually charged with coal within thirty minutes after the coke
was drawn. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' Book, "The Beehive Coke Years." and the photo collections of Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA.) |
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| A coke yard switcher engine moves in to
pick up one of the last railroad hopper cars of bee-hive oven coke at the
Shoaf Coke Works. This was March, 1972. It was the ninth day
of the month that the last bee-hive coke oven was charged with coal and five
days later that was the last coke oven to be drawn. This was the last
of the bee-hive coke ovens in operation, ending a segment of industrial America,
the bee-hive coke ovens are no more. (Photo courtesy of the USX Resource Managment Division, Uniontown, PA, & John K. Gates' Book, "The Beehive Coke Years." and the photo collections of Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus, Uniontown, PA.) |
| Support the Coal & Coke Heritage
Center, a non-profit research center and museum. Want to know more about the women who lived in the coal patch towns? You need this book. One of the few studies done on the women of the coal & coke era. Common lives of Uncommon Strength: The Women of the Coal & Coke Era of Southwestern Pennsylvania 1880-1970 Complied, written and edited by: Evelyn A. Hovanec, PhD 227 pages. Voices of the women tell unique stores of the coal and coke era, plus vintage photographs, documents, maps, and newspaper articles. Hardcover $35.00 Soft cover $25.00 Add $5.00 shipping / handling. Send Check or money order to: Coal & Coke Heritage Center, Penn State University Fayette Campus P.O. Box 519, Uniontown, PA 15401 |
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