Bloomery facts for kids
A bloomery is a type of furnace that was once widely used for smelting oxides. Bloomeries were the first smelters able to smelt iron. The result of using a bloomery is a mass of iron and slag called a bloom. This is called sponge iron, because it is porous like a sponge. Sponge iron is usually refined into wrought iron. Bloomeries are no longer used in smelting, because blast furnaces are better.
Contents
Process
A bloomery consists of a chimney with heat-resistant walls made of earth, clay, or stone. Near the bottom, pipes (made of clay or metal) enter through the side walls. The pipes allow air to enter.
To use a bloomery, charcoal is inserted into the chimney, then heated. Then roughly the same volume of iron is inserted. A common product of this process is fayalite, which occurs when iron mixes with slag.
History
Iron began to be used around 1200 BC.
China appeared to not use bloomeries, seemingly skipping to blast furnaces. However, bloomeries have been found in China, though these were likely only brought from other locations, and not built in China.
Bloomeries had been used in Sub-Saharan Africa before 500 BC.
European Bloomeries started very small, smelting about 1kg of iron with each use, but got larger over time, smelting about 14kg on average in the fourteenth century.
Images for kids
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A bloomery in operation. The bloom will eventually be drawn out of the bottom hole.
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An iron bloom just removed from the furnace. Surrounding it are pieces of slag that have been pounded off by the hammer.
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A drawing of a simple bloomery and bellows.
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Bloomery smelting during the Middle Ages, as depicted in the De Re Metallica by Georgius Agricola, 1556
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A Catalan furnace, with tuyere and bellows on the right
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A view of the bloomeries ('Catalan forges') at Mission San Juan Capistrano, the oldest (circa 1790s) existing facilities of their kind in California.
See also
In Spanish: Horno bajo para niños
