(Update: A web site about this coke plant. I just scratched the surface of these pages. But the interview with D.J. Podgorny caught my eye. And the Resources page provides the "how it works" information that I have been wondering about.)
Rod Sellers posted, cropped By Products Coke plant, 1907. Eventually became Acme Coke Plant. |
Tony Margis posted Acme Coke Plant, aerial view, in 2004, 109th & Torrence. |
safe_image for ACME COKE PLANT |
This coke plant supplied the ACME iron plant, which supplied the ACME steel plant.
See "Lost/Interlake/Acme/Federal Furnace" for more photos of the suspension bridge.
(I added the wwCalRiver label to make it easier to access all three Acme plants and because they did build a conveyor over the river to transport coke from here to the iron plant.)
A comment Rod Sellers added to his post Acme Coke Plant 112th Torrence Avenue. Top of coke ovens Battery #1. Coal was loaded into the ovens through the round openings in the top of the ovens. Attached photo shows view from top of Battery toward the coal bunker (large concrete structure) which loaded coal into a Larry Car which then loaded the individual coke ovens where it was baked into coke, the fuel for blast furnaces. |
1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
Rod Sellers posted East Side / South Chicago #5 trolley at approximately 116th and Ewing view WNW. Republic Steel blast furnace and coke plant in background. [The gasometer on the left side of the photo would be for Wisconsin Steel. The "dimmer" one that is left of center would be for Interlake/Acme/By Products Coke Corp.] |
Rod Sellers posted Where am I? |
Rod commented on his post Answer: Acme Coke Plant coal car rotary dumper. Attached photo shows dumper in May 2004 a couple of years after plant closed. |
acme coke plant: car dumper
map of By Products Coke Corp (predecessor to Interlake and Acme)
Eight photos from an album by Gabe Argenta. Since he considers being copied as flattering, I'm more than willing to flatter him.
map of By Products Coke Corp (predecessor to Interlake and Acme)
Coal bunker and battery #1 of coke ovens from ACME Coke Plant share |
Rod Sellers comment on a share |
Rod Sellers posted Torrence Avenue approximately 112th Street view north, 1938. Wisconsin Steel on the right, Acme / Interlake Coke Plant on the left. First building on the left (partial view) was the light oil building. Next building on left is the gatehouse and entrance to the coke plant. Attached photo is gatehouse and entrance to plant a few years after the plant closed. Lucille Tidmarsh Torrance ave, I went to the building on the left to apply for a job in the office, I was all dressed up but that building was so grimy and dirty I had to stand the whole time, not a clean chair in the place. |
Rod Sellers commented on his post Attached photo is gatehouse and entrance to plant a few years after the plant closed. Photo by Rod Sellers Sept 14, 2004. |
Street View |
Bob Green commented on Rod's post |
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Rod Sellers posted Where am I? |
Rod Sellers commented on his post Quench Tower at Acme Coke Plant, August 2004. Coke plant is located at 11200 Torrence Avenue but the tower is located on the south portion of the property, approximately 115th or so. The tower was used to dump water on the freshly baked coke to stop it from burning any further. The upper portion of the tower was made of wood and over the years has fallen apart and is no longer standing. Attached photo was taken in May 2004 a couple of years after the plant closed. John Orlando Plant closed in 2002. Ernie Sanchez As a child riding in the car with mother I believed that the tower made clouds, which caused it to rain. Needless to say, I wasn’t a fan of tower. My great grandfather Giovanni DiFillipo worked there if it is the gas plant near 112th and Torrence. Roger Yates The old Republic Steel plant on Ave "O" had a similar coke making facility on the north end. I worked there as a millwright helper during the summers of 1969, 70, 71 and 72. Recall the huge cloud of steam that would erupt when the hopper car loaded with red-hot coke was "quenched". A great job meeting interesting "real" people and learning what "real work" is all about. For a good read...."Fireflies in a Jar...A Milltown Reverie" by Georgia Nejak Kraff. |
Michael Mora posted Great vintage photo of activity at Interlake Steel coke plant, April 1958, 112th & Torrence. "Hot cargo of coke being dumped into a wharf from which it will be transferred by conveyor system to blast furnaces for use in melting iron ore." GE Photo Collection, Museum of Innovation and Science, available at https://cdm16694.contentdm.oclc.org/.../p16.../id/7929/rec/1 Andy Nossem: I worked at a coke plant a few years ago and they still do it the same way, furnace to car to quench to warf. |
1997 Art Gross Flickr of Acme Steel Coke along Torrence with a plume of steam from a quenching another view
Bob Green posted seven photos "What left of Acme Steel’s Coke Plant Chicago. Shut down November 2001. Photo taken in 2016 and 2018."
I copied this one because of the comments ShawnandDebby Arlow: They shut it down fully charged? Bob Green: Not full charges. Enough to crate gas to keep them hot till the sale failed. |
Michael Mora posted nine photos with the comment:
Great vintage photos of original Semet-Solvay/ By-Products Coke plant in South Deering at 112th & Torrence, later Interlake/Acme Steel facility. "Coal Unloading Crane and Apparatus, Semet-Solvay Company, South Chicago IL," May 1917.From B&O Railroad collection, Smithsonian National Museum of American History archives. https://collections.si.edu/search/results.htm?dsort=title...
Mike Kemp: My favorite part of this place was the suspension bridge over the river!
Bob Lalich: Interesting photos Michael Mora! Thanks for sharing. This would seem to indicate that at the time of the photos, Semet-Solvay/By-Products Coke Co was an important customer of the B&O.
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Bob Huffman commented on Mike's comment, cropped |
Bob Huffman commented on Mike's comment, cropped |
See "Lost/Interlake/Acme/Federal Furnace" for more photos of the suspension bridge.
excellent photos i have not seen before! i launched acmecoke.com recently, i have been pulling old documents out of the plant and scanning them for a few months and recently got in touch with an ex-employee (manager) who is giving me great insight. i hope we can share information and continue to build a database of information on the coke plant because it just isnt out there! great site my friend and please reach out!
ReplyDeleteAll that I know about this facility is in the notes. I added links to your work at the top. May I use some of your photos in my notes with a link to the specific post in the caption? The one that caught my eye is the ruin that still had coke in it. I learned about larries just a couple of weeks ago: https://industrialscenery.blogspot.com/2021/01/larry-cars-in-steel-mills.html
DeleteI added a link to your salvaged Larry Car training documents to those notes.
While chasing a different topic, I just found a photo collection that has three ACME coke plant images at the beginning.
Deletehttp://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/pshs03
I'm not going to pursue how much it costs to use a copy for low-res, non-commercial blog use. But if you do, let me know the results. For now, I'm just going to use a link:
http://www.idaillinois.org/digital/collection/pshs03/id/886
photo marked "quenching tower and bank of coke ovens from ACME Coke Plant" is not the quench tower, that is the coal bunker and battery #1. the quench tower is a few minutes walk south from there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for correction. The notes have been fixed.
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