No. 100. JULY, 1959. ,1

J!iijl~0)' !:iULPlIUJE CORPOHATION PTY. LIMITED

POTTED BIOGRAPHIES

HARRY ESLER

Born at Ballymena, North Ireland,in December, 1909,Harry was educatedat Harryville P.E. School and obtainedhis leaving certificate at 13years of age.When he was aged 14 years he startedworking in a textile mill. After eightyears he joined a trucking companyand was a truck driver with them forfour years. In 1936 Harry went toEngland and worked on the construc-tion of the Royal Ordnance Factory,Risley, until 1940. Then he was trans-ferred to the Air Ministry as Foremanon Aerodrome construction and aftersome time to the Royal Naval TorpedoDepot as trainee fitter.

Harry was married in 1940,and withhis wife and two children, Harry(Junior) and Elizabeth came out toAustralia early in 1959. After somemonths on a fruit farm at Mildura,they came to Argenton to live andSulphide became Harry's next placeof employment in May, 1949. First hewas a pumpman in the Cement Plant,then a tester in the Cement Lab. anduntil the closure of the Plant, a burneron the kilns. Transferred to the AcidPlant, Harry is now an operator onNo. 2 Chamber Unit.

Harry has taken an active interestin both Sulphide Employees' Union andWelfare Club affairs. He was a repre-sentative on the Management Com-mittee of the Union for three years,Vice-President for three years andPresident for a term. A member ofthe Welfare Club Management Com-mittee, Harry is also a keen bowlerand member of the Pennants Team.He has been runner-up for two yearsin Club championships.

MRS. ELAINE HOCKING

Elaine was born in Melbourne on13th December, 1938, and attendedGardenvale Public School until 1949,when the family left the Victoriancapital and came to Newcastle to live.On arrival in this district Elaine con-tinued her education at New LambtonPublic School and then NewcastleGirls' High, where she gained her

intermediate certificate.

After leaving school in 1952 Elainewent to work for S. and W. Miller asa typiste/clerk, remaining with thatorganisation for 18 months. Then shetransferred to the carrying firm ofW. E. Bramble & Sons and was ashorthand/typiste with them for fouryears before joining us at SulphideCorporation as Cenfile Clerk in Oc-tober, 1957.

In November, 1956, Elaine wasmarried to Dick Hocking, of WestWallsend, at the Presbyterian Church,Newcastle, and they now live in theirown home at Warners Bay.

Since assuming her housework dutiesElaine has not had much time forwhat, in the past nine years, had beenher main sporting activity-sailing herown V.J. Dinghy and competing regu-larly in races. Nowadays badminton(both Elaine and Dick are membersof Sulphide Badminton Club) andtennis have taken the place of sailing.

There is no use arguing with the inevitable the onlyargument with the west wind is to put on your overcoat.

COLOMBOPLAN STUDENT

Fore some months now we havehad with us Tung Sastrosoenarto,who, under the sponsorship of theColombo Plan, received his degreein Chemical Engineering at theUniversity of N.S.W. in March thisyear.

Hailing from Solo, Java, Indo-nesia, Tung came to Australia tofurther his studies in ChemicalEngineering in 1955. He had com-pleted three years of the samecourse back home before comingto this country.

Tung is due to return home inSeptember, and will take up aposition in the Fertilizer Industrythere. We feel sure that when hefinishes up here and departs forhis native country, Tung will carrywith him the very best wishes fromall those with whom he had beenin contact at Cockle Creek.

SULPHIDE EMPLOYEES' UNION

As a result of the ballot conductedamong all members of the SulphideEmployees' Union recently, the follow-ing Officers for the ensuing year weredeclared elected at the annual meetingof the Union on July 20th:-

Executive:

President J. RobertsonVice-President J. MaxwellSecretary R. DickTreasurer A. Sullivan

Committee (Departmental Rep's.)

Acid G. ChalmersEngineers R. JonesFertilizer ' ' K. MansfieldYard & GeneraL E. Fox

TONIGHT--FRIDAY, JULY 31

WELFARE CLUB

ANNUAL MEETINGWELFARE HALL

8.00 P.M.

TONIGHT

TONIGHT TONIGHT

OUR BACK COVER

A close watch and regular maintenance can play. a major part in arresting

the staggering cost of the effects of corrosion in industry. Here Tom Brooks,on the left, and Jack Chamberlain, right, are shown cleaning down pipelines

at "C" Acid Plant preparatory to their being painted.

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the ecent nu l eting the lphide the e sident,. O. C. is, e i ti ess to entitled o e

C e O en ctice H ing in ind the i nt t is destinedto pl in uh~ e ope ions o lphide Co po tion, e e the e e publishing thedd ess the inte est o ou s. (Ed. Coc le C ee e s. )

"SOME ASPECTS OF COKE OVENPRACTICE"

BY O. C. LEWIS.

"In 1957I was given the opportunityof going abroad with the object ofstudying coke oven practice in NorthAmerica, Europe and Africa with par-ticular reference to carbonisation oflow grade coking coals and the opera-tion of small coking plants.

It is my aim in the short timeavailable this evening, to just brieflyreview some of the highlights of thisinvestigation. Before, however, con-sidering these, it would be well to con-sider first the general background ofcoking practice.

The efficiency and economy of theactual coking process have not im-proved to any marked extent. Cokeovens to-day are very little differentto what they were20 years ago. How-ever, reserves of the best quality cokingcoals are limited, and mechanical min-ing has resulted in the production ofcoal which is smaller in size andhigher in ash. There is a definitetrend to-day to reduce ash by washing,but this results in a wet coal passingto the coal charge whereas formerlyit had been relatively dry.

The chief coke user is, of course, theiron and steel industry, which Iunderstand uses over two-thirds of thecoke made. Let us now consider thevarious aspects of coke over practice:-

Coking Coals:

The greatest single factor influencingthe quality of the products from acoking plant is the nature of the coalcharged. Both type of coal and itsphysical state on charging are import-ant. The choice of the type of coaldepends on what is locally available

and on selecting economically suitable"foreign" coals and/or other materialfor blending purposes.

Knowledge of the constitution ofcoal is increasing. C.S.I.R.O. here inAustralia at their Coal Research Lab-oratories at North Ryde, are doing agreat deal of interesting work in thisdirection. However, there is still noprecise knowledge of the processes andreactions involved in coking, and nolaboratory tests are available whichwill establish beyond doubt the be-haviour to be expected from a givencoal in a full scale coke oven. Conse-quently, much of the testing of coalis carried out in test ovens capable ofcarbonising a charge of severalhundredweights-B.H.P. for instancehave an 850 lbs (coal dry weight) testoven for their Works Research.

The cause of the development andpressure in the carbonising charge isnot known, and a movable wall testoven is generally used to ascertain acoal's behaviour in this respect. TheWongawilli seam coking coal from theSouth Coast field is one which is saidto exhibit dangerous swelling pressuresduring carbonising.

Coal Handling, Preparation:

The dwindling reserves of good cok-ing coal have, in several countries, ledto more earnest attempts to utilisecoals as fully as possible. Almost allnew plants overseas are equipped withblending facilities.

Although much of the blending isdone empirically, research is beingcarried out to place blending on a

(Continued on Page 5)

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RECENT VISITORSLEFT: Mr. T. A. Thompson, of

"Caledonia," Eumungerie, N.S.W.

(right), is shown with Mr. J. O.

Reynolds at the Fertilizer Depart-

ment during his recent visit to the

Works. Mr. 'I'hompson is Secretary

of his local branch of The Farmers

and Settlers Association.

LOWER: A party of three re-

cently-appointed Field Officers,

Messrs. Wesley West, Allan Langdon

and Kevin Huggett and two District

Controllers, Messrs. John Hume and

Rowley Barrett, from the Sales

Office of Australian Fertilizers

Limited, Sydney, visited our Works

installations earlier this month.

They were photographed with Phil

Happ when leaving the T. L.

Roasters building.

"SOME ASPECTS OF COKE OVEN PRACTICE"(Continued)

more scientific basis. An instrument common practice. In the United statescalled a Gieseler Plastometer is playing it is usual to add :5 to 12% of eithera useful role for indicating the pro- ground coke breeze or anthracite finesperties of coals for blending. The to produce a more blocky, dense typeGieseler plastometer is a rotary type of coke for foundry use. In theof instrument which measures the Lorraine area of France, approximatelyapparent viscosity of coal at increasing 7% of either ground coke breeze or atemperatures at a constant torque. mixture of breeze and char is added

A French process 'whereby special to stamp charged ovens to lower thesystems of grinding and selective rate of contraction of the poor Lorrainescreening have been introduced to coals and thus reduce fissuring.produce a partial separation of the With the. advent of sintering in thepetrographic constituents of the coal iron and steel industry, there is anis receiving quite a lot of publicity. acute shortage of coke breeze in FranceThis system( which is known as the and Germany, and I understand aBurstlein or Sovaco process, enables similar shortage is now becoming evi-more uniform coal preparation, the dent on our South Coast. Tests intheory being that individual grinding France indicated that char was notof each petrographic fraction to an as effective as ground coke breeze,appropriate size, and reblending in which is an expensive item becausecarefully controlled proportions, ensure of the difficulty of grinding. Howevera controlled and uniform charge to the a lot of research work is currently inovens. This process is generally used progress on the use of chars for thisin association with electrically heated purpose.screens (screens heated to 40°C.). Also Stamping of the coal charge as aoil (of order of 0.3%) is sprayed onto means of increasing bulk density isthe coal to facilitate the screening an old procedure seldom practisedprocess, and to increase the bulk to-day. It is no longer practised indensity of the charge. The system is the U.S.A. or Germany, and only oneused extensively in the Lorraine coal- plant at 'Coedely, South Wales, usesfield of France with the object of this procedure in the U.K. On thereducing the quantity of good imported other hand the largest batteries ofRuhr or U.S.A. coking coals. coke ovens in France use modern

A number of plants in New South stamp-charged ovens to produce aWales, as well as numerous plants in satisfactory furnace coke from weaklythe U.S.A. and Europe, are using oil caking Lorraine coals. Stamping isadditions to the coal charge with generally a noisy, unpleasant operationsuccess as a means of increasing or necessitating extra maintenance, andcontrolling the bulk density of the care during charging.charge. Usual application is two pints An interesting development inof oil per ton of coal. There is, how- France is that of drying the coalever, a view amongst a few isolated charge. Pilot scale work indicatedUnited States authorities that oil that a coke of equal strength to stamp-addition is detrimental to blast furnace ing plus ground coke breeze addition

. could be made by simply drying theperformance. A new development m coal charge and using conventional topthe U.S.A. is an automatic bulk density charged (as opposed to side, stampcontrol hereby oil and/or water are charged) ovens. Tl1is process shouldadded as necessary. now be working at a new installation

. . .' at Hagondange, France, but no reportsAdditions of finely ground coke of its success have come to my

breeze, anthracite fines, or char to attention."the coal charge are becoming quite (To be contrnued.)

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A OUND THE ]ACID

In last issue we mentioned that BertMasters' two daughters were appearingin a production of "A MidsummerNight's Dream"-now we learn thatthe younger of these, Margaret, hasbeen awarded a scholarship inDramatic Art Hearty Congratu-lations.

Excited preparations are going on atBob Chedzey's home for daughter Kay'smarrrage to Warren Magin in August....... The best of best wishes from allthe boys at the Acid Plant.

Frank Storey recently surprised mostof us in this section of the Works byquietly announcing that he had becomethe proud father of a bouncing babygirl. Frank has just returned fromholidays and we extend hearty con-gratulations to him and Mrs. Storey.

With No. 2 Chamber Unit now backin production we have with us onceagain as operators Dick Coles, PatYoungberry, Jack DilIon and HarryEsler Working as holiday relieffor Pat and Harry recently were JackYoungberry and Taff Watson.

Another welcome-back is to BobThornton, who has once again assumedduties at the Ammonia Plant.

Maybe Jack Lee had better employa guide when backing his car out ofthe garage in future! He took bothgates with him when driving out onenight recently.

Another proud "Poppa" hereabouts isDave Crawford, whose wife recentlypresented him with their fourth son.Hearty congratulations.

TRAFFIC AND YARD

Farewell and best wishes to EmilWuolanne, who after nine years inAustralia, has decided to pack up andreturn to his native Finland in orderto see how things are progressing inthat country Before he left hereEmil intimated that it was not hisintention to stay there permanentlybut to return here once again .We, for our part, sincerely trust that

this is so and hope to renew acquaint-ances with him again one day.

Taking over Emil's chores we haveex-shunter ,Bob Greig. Bob is nowsettling in to his new duties and wewish him well for the future. 1

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~ THANKS ~~ ~~ I wish to thank Sister Connor ~~ and Dr. Rundle for their prompt ~~ attention and care, for tele- !>t

~ phone calls and also all my ~~ workmates who kindly assisted ~~ me in any way at the time of ~~ my accident, and to those who ~~ visited me at my home. Thank ~~ you. ~~ Waiter H. Bull. ~

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BUILDING

Mick Kedwen had an unfortunateentanglement with a power mower athome recently and came off secondbest-sustaining a cut in his foot whichnecessitated four stitches You'dbetter stop the motor before pickinganything up off the lawn in futureMick!

Another to suffer troubles was JackKerr, who had the windscreen of hiscar shattered by a stone thrown upby a car which flew past him .We understand that this was thesecond motoring mishap which befellJack in recent weeks. The first ne-cessitated some bodywork repairs, but 1'.

we have no details as to the cause .. . . . . .Straying horses again Jack?

In the exciting closing stages of the jrecent rugby league match at New '~Lambton Oval, when Wests went down

~~~.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~IF YOU MUST GO TO HOSPITAl~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EPARTMENTS

,1

to Norths on the bell, Keith "Nails"Collinson was spotted jumping up anddown as though on "tacks."

A new canvert to the league eode isTich Elliott, whose boys have appar-ently switched from soccer to the 13a-side game. Dad and the lads werealso seen at the Wests/Narths game.

STORE

by"Pedro."

"Old Soldiers Never Die" WalBull, a victim of many attacks wastaken aback when assailed by a 10 feetlength of shafting recently Aftera spell in bed far a while, Wal is nowBack at work and has added the inci-dent to his list of experiences.

Bailermaker Foreman, Les McClena-han has discovered a means of locatinghidden drains with the help of twobrass rods! He backed up his claimwith a demonstration!!

Tom Adamson can now stop any-time Somebody has suggestedthat an investment in new batteriesmight be the answer.

MAIN OFFICE

\I.

Hearty congratulations on their suc-cess in recent examinations go to:

Dave Williams an his passing anexamination an Advanced Accounting"A," conducted by the AustralianSociety of Accountants recently.

Also to George Hamilton, who.by hispasses in the fallowing papers-His-torical Cost Accounting; and Planningand Installation of Cost AccountingSystems and presentation of Cast

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L LET IT BE AS A VISITOR. ~4'i4'i

;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Informatian, has now successfullycompleted all examinations of the Aus-tralasian Institute of CastAccountants,

Whilst an the subject of congratu-lations, Gerry Ebbeck came in far hisshare of back-slapping also when itbecame known that he had recentlybecame the father of a bouncing babybay.

Electrical apprentice John Cooper isnow domiciled temporarily in theDrawing Office, replacing BobbyMitchell, who has returned to theMachine Shop.

LABORATORY

Reg Hodgins' familiar blue Singerhas been disposed of and in its steadReg has invested in a Spacemaster.

A quick trip to Brisbane to attend aSymposium on Aluminium in Australiabeing held in that City, was recentlymade by Don Young.

OBITUARY

VICTOR JENKINS

To those of us who heard thenews not so long afterwards,the sudden' passing of VicJenkins recently came as a pro-found shock, and in closeassociates the deep sense of theloss of a highly esteemed work-mate. For whereas Vic had notbeen in the best of health forsome time, his death coming asit did was totally unexpected.

Vic, who was sixty-two yearsof age, commenced here at Sul-phide Corporation on 9th March,1948, and was an extremelypopular member of the AcidDepartment, where he hadworked on both Chamber andChemico acid-making units.

To Mrs. Jenkins a:nd family,"Cockle Creek News" on behalfof readers extends our deepestsympathy in their recent sadbereavement.

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Sulphide Welfare ClubBADMINTON CLUB

Climaxing the conclusion of our tri-angular series of matches withBoolaroo and Teralba Clubs a highlysuccessful presentation dance was heldin the Welfare Clubhouse and Hall onThursday, 11th June.

During the evening, Mr. C. Turner,of Boolaroo Club, presented a trophyin the form of an inscribed cup to Mr.A. Kilday, Secretary of the winningClub, Teralba.

Among the guests present were Wel-fare Club President Bill Ingham andMrs Ingham.

Before supper a number of ourfemale members performed a comedyact when dressed in 1910 style bathingcostumes, they pranced around swing-ing badmmton racquets and singingsome very appropriate parodies (ex-plaining how Sulphide was defeated).Judging by the applause which greetedtheir efforts, they should be bookedfor the Tivoli Circuit by this!

Some photographs of the evening arepublished on the opposite page.

Following this enjoyable evening apicnic to One Mile Beach was held,and the Sunday chosen for the outingprovided us with perfect weather con-ditions. After fun and games membersof the party adjourned to the CountryClub, Shoal Bay, for refreshments ....We anticipate !;liiaving more of theseoutings in the coming summer months.

-B. Gibbins.

RECORDED MUSIC CLUBAt our June meeting, held at the

home of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Pellow,Don Young presented a most enjoyableprogramme arranged from his ownrecord Collection.

Don's programme included selectionsfrom "Carmen" by Bizet, Hungarian.Rhapsody No. 2 by Liszt, Peer GyntSuite by Greig, and Sonata for twoViolins with David and Igor Oistrach.. For the main work Don presentedBeethoven's 5th Piano Concerto (Em-peror) with The Vienna FestivalOrchestra.

We welcomed a new listener in PeterMead, who is taking his music veryseriously since acquiring a stereophonicradiogram.

-J.J.D.

BOWLING CLUBThe Bowling Club's annual meeting

was held in the clubhouse on Sunday,June 28th, when the following officerswere elected for the 1959/60 season.

Patrons: Messrs. J. H. Standish andR. Gibson.

President: W. Ingham.Vice-Presidents: Dave Crawford

(Senior) and E. Collins.Hon. Secretary. S. Skelly.Treasurer: H. Esler.Games Secretary: R. Duggan.Asst. Games Secretary: E. Collins.Publicity Officer: C. Glackner.Selectors: A. Hughes, D. Crawford,

S. Dennett.Asst. Social Selectors: R. Duggan, E.

Collins.Handicapper: A. Hughes.In recogtnitlon of his sterling services

to the Bowling Club over a period ofmany years members at this meetingbestowed a life-membership upon AlexHughes.

A trip arranged by Bill Gibson wasrecently made to Nundle, in NorthernN.S.W. The party of bowlers and theirwives, numbering 20 in all, was underthe capable leadership of the President,Bill Ingham. On their return to Sul-phide members of the party were soloud in their praises as to the successof the week-end that Bill Gibson hasbeen given the job of arranging asimilar trip.

Readers of earlier editions of "CockleCreek News" will recall that some yearsback we had a very successful ladiesbowling club functioning under theauspices of the Welfare Club. Thiswas subsequently disbanded a fewyears ago. NOW, however, anotherLadies Bowling Club has been formedand all ladies interested in becomingmembers are cordially invited to do so.Any further information concerningthe Club can be had by contacting theHon. Sec. Mrs. M. Forster, or thePresident, Mrs. V. Hughes.

The various club competitions arealmost completed and the final detailsof these will appear in the next issueof the "News." .

Our popular relief steward, JimBroga:n has been in hospital for sometime and all members join in wishinghim a speedy recovery and return tothe "bar."

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MR.W. C. RUTHERFORD

An unexpected but nontheless

welcome visitor recently was Mr. W.

C. Rutherford (right) who retiredsome two and one-half years ago

from the position of Superintendent,Traffic and Yard Department.

Wally, who looked in remarkably

good health, had just returned froman extensive overseas trip to South

Africa and England lasting about 18

months.

He has promised to let us have

some of his impressions gatheredduring the trip for publication in

a future issue of "Cockle CreekNews"---We shall certainly lookforward to receiving them.

t.

SULPHIDE STAFF SOCIETYThe seventh annual meeting of the

Sulphide Staff Society was held in theWelfare Hall on Tuesday, 7th July,when the following Officers for the1959/60 term were elected:-

President: 1. D. Moon.

Vice-Presidents A. Thomson, A.Johnson.

Secretary -Treasurer: T. Dick.Committee: B. C. Smith, R. Croger,

H. Nettle.A review of the closing year's opera-

tions and a most informative addresson aspects of coke manufacturethroughout the world (which is pub-lished elsewhere in this issue.-Ed.)was given by the retiring President,Mr. O. C. Lewis.

Eleven ordinary and one specialmeeting which took the form of aconducted tour of Stockton BoreholeCOlliery, were held during the year.

As a trial, some meetings were heldat 7.30p.m, in the evening and mem-bers' wives and friends were invited toattend. This innovation proved suc-cessful, particularly from a social angle.Meetings dealing with subjects of a

technical nature were held at theusual time of 4.45 p.m.

In the course of the year's proceed-ings guest speakers gave addresses atsix of the meetings with the remainingfive being taken by "locals." The con-siderable variety in subject mattercovered by the various speakers isshown by the following programme:

Guest Speakers:

"The Objects of Medical Service inIndustry," Dr. W. E. George.

"Plant Nutrition," Dr. A. J. Anderson."The Hunter Research Foundation,"

Mr. Leo Butler."Nippon Saga," Mr. C. D. Reynolds.

"The Great Barrier Reef and CentralAustralia," Mr. N. K. Leeder.

"An Indonesian Evening," Mr. T.Sastrosoenarto.

Local Speakers:

"Rum Jungle Activities," Mr. B.O.Smith.

"Activities of T.A.Z.1. at StradbrokeIsland," Mr. C. P. Bishop.

(Continued on Page 11)

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SULPHIDE STAFF SOCIETY (Contlnued)

"Functions of Hawkesbury Agricul-

tural College," Mr. A. Johnson."Development of the 1. V. Furnace,"

Mr. W. Robertson.

The Society's annual dinner was

again held at "Mara-Lynne" andthoroughly enjoyed by all those present.

Three retired members of the staff inMessrs. W. H. V. Nettle, R. Bordiss and

W. J. Richards were present at thisfunction, as well as other guests, Dr.W. E. George and Mr. W. Brisbane.In response to the "Toast of theYear's Speakers," Dr. W. E. George,who is the C. Z. Group's Chief MedicalOfficer in Australia, showed some ex-cellent and unusual colour slides ofWeipa, South Africa, Mauritius andCocos Island.

DEMOLITION OF No. 1 CHAMBER ACID PLANT

Stark against other plants rearing high,

Spindly relics of days gone by--

Where once stood Glovers and Galas too,Each playing its part as sulphurous gases went through.

Now soon to fall, as chambers have done,And most other sections of Plant No. 1.

But when debris is cleared and of No. 1 there's no trace,

In the history of Sulphide it will have a proud place.

Davies & Cannington Pt.y. Lt.d., Printers, 137-139 King street, Newcastle.