BADIN bulletin
Page Four
THIS IS HOW THE CARBON PLANT LOOKED ON AUGUST 1, 1913
The Badin Carbon Plant
{Continued from page 3)
they never got that far. “Lo,” as LiP
Bulla says in her history of Badin, “the
sound of cannon interrupted the sound of
Ed’s cussing”—or something like that.
So the Frenchmen went back to fight and
get shot without ever usin’ the Usine.
Some folks say they should have been
shot for putting in some of the equip
ment that they did; and other folks say
that they probably preferred being shot
to staying here to try and operate. And
so posterity will never know just how
the plant would have operated under
French management, they will have to
guess.
We do know that they intended to use
calcined coke and tar instead of pitch
in making their electrode. The tar was
to be stored in three large tanks located
just north of the Carbon Plant Coal
Storage. One of these tanks was given
to “Jersey” for tar storage, on the condi
tion that he get t’hell out of the Carbon
Plant with his Pot Lining Department;
but, say, we seem to be getting ahead of
our story a bit. Another is used for Oil
Storage, being placed north of the Spur
leading to 50-C, adjacent to the petite
chateau and kennels of Monsieur Ed Bid-
dix. The other tank was cut in two, and
the Electrical Department did something
with the halves. Like everything else
that they acquire, the fragments of that
tank have disappeared.
The tar was to have been removed
from the tanks and heated in huge ket
tles long since removed to make way for
our present butt pulverizing room. The
Coke Storage was in 50-C, and the Cal-
ciner also. This Calciner was built in
ten sections, with four retort tubes per
section, to operate with producer gas.
The coke was to be crushed in a Sturte-
vant “Coffee Mill,” and elevated to a bin
over the Calciners. It was to be drawn
from the bin, weighed and dumped into
the calciners. After calcining, it drop
ped on a flight conveyor, carried to an
elevator which in turn fed it to another
flight conveyor hung on the bottom
chords of the roof trusses. This convey
or dumped the red hot coke on a cooling
floor, which would have been great stuff
—for the fire department. The coke was
to go from the cooling pile to another
Sturtevant Mill, through a Lehigh-Fuller
Pulverizer, and then elevated to a screw
conveyor which distributed it to the over
head dustbin. The calcined coke was to
be drawn from the bin, properly propor
tioned with the hot tar in a weigh car,
and dropped into small Werner Pfleiderer
Mixers for preliminary mix. It was then
to be transferred to Chilean Mills (Chil
ean Mills is a polite name for blank-
dashed pan grinders), and kneaded to a
frazzle before going to the crushers.
The electrodes were to be molded, and
not extruded, so they only had the one
type of press; and I’ll say they were
some mean presses. Turret type, like
our Elmes, but sixteen hundred ton
against the Elmes two hundred and fifty.
Squeeze? Well, say Sally, B. S. wouldn’t
be nuthin’ alongside of that old Fre’^^^
Press.
From the presses the electrode
to the baking furnaces, located whei^
ours are. They were producer gas
ring furnaces, but designed differently
from ours. There was no cleaning
partment, so Mr, Chrisco would
been out of luck, as the saying is-
says though that he has always undef'
stood the French were good housekeeper®'
In dashing over the above outline, se'^'
eral items have been omitted, such
the Casey Hedges Boilers, Dean PumP’
Accumulator, some jolly little hand
ed Gas Producers—which also date
the upper Silurian epoch before
“Lo, the sound of cannon” business
noted.
The present or carboniferous era date®
from the Fall of 1915, when the
see Power Company took over
French holdings, and Mr. S. E. Broa ^
well came down to make a Carbon
out of the old Usine d’Electrode. ^
he partially accomplished by calling
“The Carbon Plant,” and numbering ^^
different sections of the building '
50-B, and 50-C. He then stepped
side and took a long look around, ^ ^
which he dashed to the Telegraph
fice and wired for the late Mr. G. F- ^
phy, of the Pittsburgh Office, s’’
French Grammar for Beginners. , ,
Most of the Chapter on Carbon
was torn out of the Grammar, and
was decided to lay off of the old
or European Plan, and go to it on