Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c24.13

c24.13

11. Formerly a kind of furnace called in Germany a ‘steuck often’ was sometimes used, which was from ten to fifteen feet high, and three feet in diameter, resembling very much an iron founder’s cupola furnace, but with a larger door, which was broken open after the operation was finished, which required about twelve hours, and the lump of cast iron weighing about a ton, was removed with powerful tongs to the refining furnace. The quantity of charcoal used was from two and a quarter to three and a half cwt. for every cwt. of cast iron, and about one and half cwt. more was required in the refining and forging, making the whole expenditure from four to five cwt. for every cwt. of bar iron.