Alexander knew the significance gas lighting could have on a civilization as it was capable of transforming the dark, economically useless night into a productive time almost equal to the day, and almost doubling it's industrial output.
He also knew that none of the challenges of collecting the gas by heating coal through pyrolysis was nowhere substantial enough to be unassailable.
But the main reason why he was using such a crude method was due to the time constraints Alexander faced when building this facility and also because there was no competition forcing him to lower his prices.
The setup was simple and it worked for the time being.
But the key point was 'for the time being' and as Alexander was not the type to sit on his laurels, he said to himself, 'I should design a new coke oven as soon as possible, with all the improvements.'
And soon a blueprint began to take shape inside his mind, the schematics of which contained facilities to trap the precious flue gases.