"Owing to the imperfection of the furnaces, the quantity of charcoal
used must have been quadruple the present consumption for the same
results. The metal, as it was extracted from the ore, fell down into the
bottom of the crucible. In proportion as the mass of metal increased, a
workman, with a poker made of damp green wood, brought out the scoriæ
which floated on the top, and stirred the metal so as to fine it. It is
proved that these wooden pokers or poles were made use of in all the
furnace-works. A quantity of morsels of scoriæ is found which, having
been in a soft state when extracted, have retained the imprint of the
piece of wood, the end of which was evidently charred. M. Morlot, in his
article on the Roman ironworks at Wocheim, in Upper Carniola, has also
noticed the existence, in the scoriæ, of frequent traces of pokers,
sometimes round and sometimes three-cornered in shape, but all of them
must have been made of iron, whilst throughout the whole of the Jura we
have never recognised the traces of any but wooden implements of this
kind.
"Owing to the imperfection of the furnaces, and especially, the
deficiency in the draught caused by the want of bellows, the metal
contained in the ore could be but very imperfectly extracted; the scoriæ
are therefore still so very rich in iron that, about twenty years ago,
the manager of the ironworks at Untervelier tried to use them over again
as ore. Accumulations of this dross, measuring from 100 to 200 yards
square, may be seen near certain furnaces-a fact which would infer a
somewhat considerable production of iron. The examination of these
scoriæ proves that iron was then made by one single operation, and not
liquid pigs fit for casting, or to be converted into iron by a second
series of operations.
"The iron produced was introduced into commerce in large blocks, shaped
like two quadrangular pyramids joined at the base, weighing from 12 to
16 lbs. One of these pieces was found near a furnace which had been
demolished in order to establish a charcoal furnace, in the commune of
Untervelier, and another in one of the furnaces of Boécourt.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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