History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c13.s2.t4.201

v1.c13.s2.t4.201

After the crucible was dried up it was filled with the charge pellet and its mouth was sealed after inserting a piece of reed stick and attaching over the stick a clay pipe shaped like a tubular end of the Dhatura flower, which was 8 to 10 digits long. The condenser pot was fabricated separately and fitted to the tube after the retort has been placed on the perforated bottom plate of the furnace. *Table 10* gives the chemical analysis of the retort clay. Lowe et al. (1990) have done detailed study of similar material used for the manufacture of ‘Wootz’ steel crucible and they have found it to be consisting of ‘mullite’ network with free quartz, graphite and some prils of iron.