Iron in Ancient India c8.s1.15

c8.s1.15

Heyne gives a drawing of an iron-furnace used at Yeragutty which is reproduced here. "The furnaces are made of red loam mixed with sand and consists of two parts. The lower and larger is about three spaces high and a foot in diameter; quite cylindrical, and erected over a hole in the ground, about four inches deep; its sides are everywhere about two inches thick. The upper part is conical, with the higher portion of the cone reversed. It is about eighteen inches high, and at the opening not quite a foot in diameter. The bellows are of a kind used by the iron smiths, and made of sheep's skin: a hole is left near the bottom of the cylindrical part of the furnace to receive their nozzle." When smelting iron the two parts of the furnace are cemented with some loam and the bottom is filled with charcoal which is then ignited. One part of ore and four parts of charcoal are added at a time at the interval of about fifteen minutes, and the bellows are worked. This produces sufficient heat, if not to melt the iron, at least to [Figure: Iron Furnace. (Heyne's Tracts on India, 1814, page 190)]