OT: Charcoal Briquette Making(Pics)

Weekend Warrior

I buy my lump by the pallet from Humphrey Charcoal in Brookville, PA. Today, I asked for, and was given a quick tour of the briquette making plant, so I thought I would share, realizing most of you would never have("take" might be a better word) the opportunity. There is no better word to describe the place than filthy, but no one would expect anything less. It is also hotter than Hades due to the gas-fired dryers that dry the briquettes on a long enclosed conveyor after they've been molded. Most of the time I was walking in inch deep charcoal dust that would "puff up" around my feet with each footstep.

The office on the main road


Turning in the drive to the plant


A couple of the buildings



The hopper where the char is mixed with starch, sodium nitrate.


The starch and sodium nitrate


It's hard to see, but this machine crushes and mixes the char with the other indredients and water is added at this stage. (notice how filthy the worker is here and others were worse). You couldn't pay me enough to work in this place.


This is the machine that actually molds the briquettes. The bright, shiny things are the molds.


This is where the briquettes emerge from the drying conveyor. The drying process takes about 3 hours and the heat is produced by six gas fired blowers. It is UNBELIEVABLY HOT in this area. Anymore than a few minutes at a time standing in this area and you would start to burn. I apologize for the quality of the pic here, but my camera lens was getting loaded up with coal dust.


These are a couple of the old bee hives. They have not manufactured lump at this location for a number of years due to PA's stringent air quality regs, but the bee hives are where the lump used to be made. The Humphrey lump is trucked in from a mfg in Missouri in raw form, then graded, sized and packaged in Brookville.


A couple of shots of the warehouse




This was my fourth trip to buy lump from Humphrey's and I've gotten to know them a bit. They are a great little company and Gary, the shop foreman, treats me almost like family. I hope you enjoyed this brief tour of the briquette making process and their facilities.

Mark

PS. Oh, and before you ask, the lump is $8.44 per 20 lb. bag. :woohoo:

Spring Chicken

Cool... Uh I mean Hot!

Thanks

Spring "Brick-Eates" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Jeffersonian

Nice photo essay, Mark. I used to work in the rubber industry and, depending on the plant, the black-handling and mixing areas weren't too terribly different from what you've described here. If I worked for any length of time in either, it would take at least two showers to get clean at night.

Lothar

Looks like it would make a good episode of Dirty Jobs! Has Mike Rowe ever done a show on making charcoal? I don't think I've seen one but I know I haven't seen every episode.

FlaPoolman

great tour Mark,, I remember as kids my brother and I playing in the basement coal bin for the house heat dirty is an understatement :laugh:

Weekend Warrior

Thanks Brad. It was cool to see the process, but something appalled me that I didn't want to say in the original post.....none of the workers were wearing breathing masks. The coal dust in the air was so thick, it was choking me at times. The lungs of these guys must be something to see on an x-ray. I understand why they don't wear them, because a mask would just make them hotter than they already are. I don't know how they do it. I was wilting from the heat of the dryers in seconds. I hesitate to guess what the temperature was in the drying area, but it was WELL over 120 degrees I'll bet. Dirty Jobs was right on the money.

Fidel

He did one or two shows at Streumph's charcoal in south-central Missouri. They manufacture Fire King -- a really good lump.

HungryMan

That was my first thought with the dust. Thanks for the tour.

Little Steven

Mark,

Thanks for that! Love to see old mechanical ewuipment still in action. Been in a few dirty places myself so I can empathise with the guys. You would think they would wear masks though.

Steve

Big'un

Really enjoyed that! Thanks.

cookn biker

Thanks for sharing, cool indeed!! I saw a show on PBS on how lump charcoal is made. That was fun to watch.
Imagine what comes out of their noses and what goes in their lungs...ewww

Weekend Warrior

Steven, the foreman that I mentioned, Gary, talks/sounds like he's been smoking for 40 years. I've never seen him with a cigarette or smelled smoke on him..........He's going to pay some day.

Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker

isn't that the place where Mike Rowe went for 'Dirty Jobs'?

Clay Q

Hey Mark, thanks for the tour. I'm always interested in how things are made. I learn something new every time I view this forum.
And that's a great price for a 20# bag!

thebtls

Thanks for the tour. I would love to see a beehive in action someday...I'd like to play around with one in my back yard even if I had some welding tools an a couple of steel barrels...maybe someday.

Jai-Bo

Looks like a dirty job fer Mike Rowe???? :laugh:

Thanks fer the info and pics!..... Cheap fer a 20lb bag...what's the breakdown fer a pallet???