Iron & Steel, Foundries Melting cast iron in a furnace by charging it with charcoal,...

Iron & Steel, Foundries Melting cast iron in a furnace by charging it with charcoal, 1734. Fonderies de Fer et d'Acier: fusion de la fonte en le chargeant de charbon. scene de travail avec les artisans effectuant les etapes dela fusion et la partie inferieure decrit les outils et l'equipement necessaires au processus. Engraving showing 'the ordinary furnace in which cast iron is melted by charging it together with charcoal, without placing it in a special crucible'. Like many eighteenth century technical illustrations the plate is separated into two: the upper part shows artisans using bellows to heat one of these furnaces, in which the iron is melted. It also shows how iron melted in a second furnace is being poured into moulds. Tools and equipment used in the process are shown below. Illustration from 'Regnum subterraneum sive minerale de ferro' (The Subterranean or Mineral Kingdom in respect to Iron) by Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) published in Dresden in 1734. ©SSPL/Science Museum